Lead Opinion
Opinion
Herbert Charles Miller appeals from a judgment upon convictions by jury of robbery in the first degree (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 211a),
Defendant contends on apрeal that the increased punishment provided by section 213 for the robbeiy conviction cannot be imposed because there is no evidence or finding that he intentionally inflicted great bodily injuiy on the victim of the robbery. We agree, but we also conclude that the finding that defendant intentionally inflicted great bodily injury on an occupant of the burglarized premises was properly made by the juiy and that the increased punishment provided by section 461 was properly imposed. Defendant also contends that he was improperly sentenced for multiple violations arising out of the same course of conduct. (§ 654.) We agree and modify the judgment in the manner hereinafter provided.
Defendant and an accomplice entered the sales department of a jewelry store during business hours in November 1973. The accomplice asked to see some watches and John Keating displayed watches and otherwise waited on the accomplice. Defendant approached Charles Burk, a nonuniformed security guard, and made inquiries concerning merchandise. Burk unsuccessfully attempted to direct defendant to salespersons and after the third inquiry defendant advised Burk that “This is a goddam holdup,” and attempted to draw a gun from a shoulder holster. Burk grabbed defendant’s wrist and in an ensuing struggle the two men fell to the floor. According to Burk’s testimony, as he attempted to rise, defendant, who had retained possession of the weapon, “pulled the trigger” and shot Burk in the chest area. Burk fell back and defendant shot him a second time, the bullet piercing Burk’s right arm. Burk attempted to crawl along the floor but stopped when defendant stated: “You better lie down there, old man.” Thereafter Burk hеard noises like gunshots and glass being broken.
Mrs. Betty Sherman, an employee at the jewelry store, heard a disturbance and then observed defendant who held a gun and told her to get under a display case. She watched as defendant broke into a second display case, stating “Let’s get some of this and get out.” Mrs. Marjorie Diaz, still another employee, gave testimony similar to the testimony of Mrs. Sherman.
Jewelry having a retail value of approximately $441,000 was taken during the robbeiy. Witnesses for the People established that defendant and perhaps three accomplices arrived in the vicinity of the jewelry store in a stolen vehicle, parked nearby with the motor running and, after the robbery, returned to the car аnd drove off. Shortly after the robbery the car was found illegally parked in an alley with some of the stolen property in it. Other items of the stolen property were found in a clothing bag buried in the yard of the house occupied by defendant’s father and a brother, one of defendant’s accomplices. The fingerprints of such accomplice were found on the stolen vehicle.
Defendant does not challenge, as manifestly he cannot, the sufficiency of the evidence in support of his convictions of the substantive crimes.
Evidence and Findings of Bоdily Injury to the Victim of the Robbery and to the Occupant of the Burglarized Premises
We deal initially with defendant’s contention that there is no evidence or finding that he inflicted, with intent to do so, great bodily injury upon the victim of the robbeiy. The information charges that defendant by means of force or fear took personal property “from the person, possession and immediate presence of Jon [s7c] Keating, and in the course of the robbery, with the intent to inflict great bodily injury upon Charles Burk, did inflict great bodily injury upon Charles Burk.” The pertinent portions of section 213 provide for increased punishment in the case of a defendant who is found to be guilty of robbeiy if the trier of fact also finds upon proper allegations that such person “with the intent
Defendant makes two attacks on the conclusion that he intentionally injured the victim of the robbery. First, the alleged victim as charged in the information is John Keating, who in fact suffered no bodily injury, and the injury which was suffered by Charles Burk, not alleged as a victim of the robbery, cannot be substituted in lieu of injury to Keating. Second, even if it is assumed thаt section 213 encompasses an injury during the course of a robbery inflicted on a person other than the one from whom personal property is taken, the evidence is nevertheless insufficient to establish that defendant intended to inflict great bodily injury on Burk.
In attempting to refute defendant’s first contention that it was not alleged that Burk was a victim of the robbery, the People contend that Burk was in fact a victim on the record presented. They argue that as a security guard on duty Burk had constructive possession of the personal property he was chаrged with safekeeping, and that the jewelry was taken by force from his immediate presence. “Robbery is an offense against the person; thus a store employee may be the victim of a robbery even though he is not its owner and not at the moment in immediate control of the stolen property.” (People v. Johnson (1974)
Notwithstanding the fact that Burk could have been designаted a victim of the robbery, he was not expressly so designated in the information. Section 213 provides in pertinent part that if a defendant “inflicted great bodily injuiy on the victim of the robbery, such fact shall be charged in the indictment or information and if found to be true” the defendant shall suffer the augmented penalty. (See fn. 3, ante, italics added.) The People would have us read into the information language which designates Burk as a victim by adding after the allegation that defendant “did inflict great bodily injuiy upon Charles Burk,” the phrase “another victim of the robbery.” The information otherwise in no way describes the role of Burk in the robbeiy; for all that appeаrs as to the events constituting the robbeiy he may have been a complete stranger who was unintentionally and accidentally injured during the course of the commission of the crime.
Defendant was also found to have inflicted great bodily injury on Burk in the course of the commission of the burglary. Section 461 provides for increased punishment for a person convicted of a burglary if in the course of the burglary “with intent to inflict such injury” he “inflicted great bodily injury on any occupant of the premises burglarized,” and such facts are charged in the indictment or information.
Defendant also contends that he cannot be held for the augmented penalty for the reason that the evidence does not support a finding that he specifically intended to inflict Burk’s injuries. Although defendant appears to argue this contention only with respect to the robbeiy count, the issue is equally presented with respect to the burglary count. Defendant’s argument is that the gun was first discharged while he grappled with Burk for its possession and that those circumstances precluded a finding that he intentionally sought to injure Burk. But defendant fired the second shot while Burk was falling backwards and defendant cannot reаsonably argue that such shot was unintended. He argues instead that this shot which struck and pierced Burk’s right arm near the elbow did not cause great bodily injuiy.
Defendant’s contentions are without merit. The jury might well have found that defendant intentionally fired both shots with intent to cause injuiy. According to Burk’s testimony he was rising from the floor when defendant first “pulled the trigger,” and Burk was falling away when defendant fired the second shot. Both Burk’s chest wound and the damage caused by the bullet which pierced Burk’s arm could reasonably have been found by the jurors to constitute great bodily injuries. That term has been defined аs meaning significant or substantial bodily injury or damage as distinguished from trivial or insignificant injury or moderate harm (see People v. Wells (1971)
Imposition of Multiple Sentences for Crimes Arising Out of the Same Course of Conduсt
The trial court sentenced defendant to the state prison on each of three convictions, the terms to run concurrently. Upon objection by defendant’s counsel that defendant could not be punished for both the robbery and the burglary convictions, the court purported to “merge” the sentences for those convictions and, as merged, ordered that the terms therefor run concurrently with the term for the assault conviction. Such
Section 654 does not preclude multiple convictions but only multiple punishments for a single act or indivisible course of conduct. (See People v. Beamon (1973)
Notwithstanding the foregoing determination that defendant entertained but a single principal objective during an indivisible course of conduct, he may nevertheless be punished for multiple convictions if during the course of that conduct he committed crimes of violence against different victims. (In re Ford (1967)
Section 654 does, however, preclude the imposition of sentence аs to the assault conviction. That crime was committed during the same course of conduct and against the same victim as in the case of the aggravated burglary conviction and defendant cannot be punished for both of those convictions.
When a defendant suffers multiple convictions, sentencing for some of which is precluded by operation of section 654, an acceptable procedure is to sentence defendant for each count and stay execution of sentence on certain of the convictions to which section 654 is applicable. Such stay is to be effective pending the successful service of sentence for the more serious conviction, at which time the stay is to become permanent. (See People v. Beamon, supra,
Section 654 when applicable precludes punishment “under” more than one criminal provision. It has long been established that the imposition of concurrent sentences is precluded by section 654 (see In re Wright, supra,
Although defendant has not urged that he is being further subjected to multiple punishment, it nevertheless appears that he may be subjected to no more than one additional period of imprisonment pursuant to section 12022.5.
As so modified the judgment is affirmed.
Tobriner, J., Mosk, J., and Sullivan, J.,
Notes
Unless otherwise specified, all statutory references are to sections of the Penal Code.
Defendant also contends that he was deniеd effective assistance of counsel on appeal, as appointed counsel failed to raise crucial issues before the Court of Appeal. (See People v. Feggans (1967)
The full text of section 213 is as follows: “Rоbbery is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, as follows:
“1. Robbery in the first degree, for not less than five years.
“2. Robbery in the second degree, for not less than one year.
“The preceding provisions of this section notwithstanding, in any case in which defendant committed robbery, and in the course of commission of the robbery, with the-intent to inflict such injury, inflicted great bodily injury on the victim of the robbery, such fact shall be charged in the indictment or information and if found to be true by the jury, upon a jury trial, or if found to be true by the court, upon a court trial, or if admitted by the defendant, defendant shаll suffer confinement in the state prison from 15 years to life.”
We have previously held that section 213 should be given a meaning in light of the objective sought to be achieved by it. (People v. Carroll (1970)
We think it clear, contrary to the People’s further contention, that the Legislature did not intend to provide for an augmented penalty in the case of injury to persons who, unfortunately, are incidentally caught up in the events constituting the crime, as the statute expressly provides for its application upon great bodily injury to a “victim” rather than to a “person.” (See also People v. Carroll, supra,
The instructions to the jury also failed to advise that the person on whom the injuries were inflicted must be a victim of the robbery.
The full text of section 461 is as follows:
“Burglary is punishable as follows:
“1. Burglary in the first degree: by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than five years.
“2. Burglary in the second degree: by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison for not less than one year or more than 15 years.
“The preceding provisions of this section notwithstanding, in any case in which defendant committed burglary and in the course of commission of the burglary, with the intent to inflict such injury, inflicted great bodily injury on any occupant of the premises burglarized, such fact shall be charged in the indictment or information and if found to be true by the jury, upon a jury trial, or if found to be true by the court, upon a court trial, or if admitted by the defendant, defendant shall suffer confinement in the state prison from 15 years to life.”
Although the information fails to expressly allege as to the burglary count that defendant intentionally inflicted great bodily injuiy “on any occupant of the premises burglarized” it nevertheless alleges facts which support the conclusion that Burk was injured on the premises burglarized. Thus it is alleged that defendant burglarized particular premises and that “in the course of the burglaiy” did inflict the injury upon Burk. Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the allegation of great bodily injury with respect to the burglary.
The instruction, in the form proposed by defendant, is as follows:
“The specific intent with which an act is done may be manifested by the circumstances surrounding its commission. But you may not find the defendant guilty of the offense charged in Count [ ] [this case] unless the proved circumstances not only are consistent with the hypothesis that he had the specific intent to_but are irreconcilable with any other rational conclusion.
“Also, if the evidence as to such specific intent is susceptible of two reasonable interpretations, one of which points to the existence thereof and the other to the absence thereof, you must adopt that interpretation which points to its absence. If, on the other hand, one interpretation of the evidence as to such specific intent appears to you to be reasonable and the other interpretation to bе unreasonable, it would be your duty to accept the reasonable interpretation and to reject the unreasonable.”
Section 654 provides in pertinent part: “An act . . . which is made punishable in different ways by different provisions of this code may be punished under either of such provisions, but in no case can it be punished under more than one ....”
Our conclusion that defendant may be punished for both the robbery and the burglary convictions does not depend on our earlier determination that Burk was not alleged as a victim of the robbeiy. Even had defendant been convicted of a robbery involving both Keating and Burk as victims, section 654 would not be applicable to preclude punishment for both that crime and the burglary involving Burk as a victim, as each crime would involve at least one different victim.
Sectión 669 provides in pertinent part that when a person is convicted of two or more crimes and one of the prescribed punishments is life imprisonment, “then the terms of imprisonment on the other convictions, whether prior or subsequent, shall be merged and run concurrently with such life term ....”
Section 12022.5 provides in relevant part: “Any person who uses a firearm in the commission ... of a robbery, assault with a deadly weapon .... [or] burglary ..., upon conviction of such crime, shall, in addition to the punishment prescribed for the crime . . . , be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a period of not less than five years____”
Retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court sitting under assignment by the Chairman of the Judicial Council.
Concurrence Opinion
I concur under the compulsion of In re Culbreth,
For the reasons expressed in the concurring and dissenting opinion in In re Culbreth (1976)
