People v. Phillips (1970)

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. HENRY CLEVELAND PHILLIPS, Defendant and Appellant

(Opinion by Brown (Gerald), P. J., with Coughlin and Whelan, JJ., concurring.)

COUNSEL

Henry Cleveland Phillips, in pro. per., and James H. Miller, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Thomas C. Lynch, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, and Diana C. Woodward, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

BROWN (Gerald), P. J.

Henry C. Phillips possessed a sawed-off shotgun, and was convicted for violating Penal Code, section 12020.

[1] After the gun was taken from Phillips in a cafe tussle the cafe cook, Mildred Malone, asked Phillips why he had come to the cafe with a gun. He answered some people had tried to rob him that night. This answer was admissible as an admission he intended to exercise dominion and control over the weapon (Evid. Code, § 1220).

[2] Testimony Phillips appeared to be reaching for the shotgun's trigger was properly admitted as factual and within the witness' personal knowledge (Evid. Code, § 702).

[3] The crime is possessing a sawed-off shotgun, not requiring its [10 Cal. App. 3d 490] criminal use (People v. Stinson, 8 Cal. App. 3d 497, 501 [87 Cal. Rptr. 537]; People v. Wasley, 245 Cal. App. 2d 383, 385, 386 [53 Cal.Rptr. 877]).

Judgment affirmed.

Coughlin and Whelan, JJ., concurred.