Epps

Appellant has appealed from a judgment of conviction which, subject to the provisions of Penal Code section 1168, sentenced him to state prison following jury verdicts that found him and a codefendant each guilty of burglary in the second degree. He contends: (1) that in violation of principles set down in Bruton v. United States (1968) 391 U.S. 123 [ 20 L.Ed.2d 476 , 88 S.Ct. 1620 ], he was denied due process of law and confrontation of witnesses because his codefendant’s out-of-court statement implicating him was admitted in evidence at a trial where his codefendant did not take the stand; (2) that insofar as his separately appointed counsel failed to raise the foregoing objection at trial, he was denied the effective assistance of counsel; and (3) that the instructions given by the trial court were contradictory, confusing and misleading to the jury and contained a misstatement of the law.

Appellant’s contentions must be viewed within the framework of the following facts which were established by evidence in the record.

On March 27, 1971, at approximately 2:17 a.m. a burglary report came in to the Berkeley Police Department for the Bryant Laboratories, a company…