Stuart

Defendants Stuart and Baldwin were charged in two counts: (1) violation of Penal Code section 459 (burglary) and (2) violation of Penal Code section 496 (receiving stolen property). (Another count for assualt had been dismissed before trial.) After a court trial they were found not guilty of burglary, guilty of receiving stolen property. They appeal.

There was substantial proof that four radios had been stolen. Later two of them were found in the locked trunk compartment of an automohile which defendant Stuart had heen driving. Thereafter the other two were found in a motel room occupied by the defendant Baldwin.

Possession of stolen property alone is not sufficient to support a Penal Code section 496 conviction. Knowledge by a defendant that the property has been stolen is a necessary element of the crime to be proved by the prosecution. Here the prosecution sought to establish Stuart’s knowledge by proving flight. Baldwin’s knowledge was sought to be proved by introducing an extrajudicial statement made by that defendant to a police officer. Evidence adduced at the trial relating to the flight and statement respectively might be said to justify inferences of knowledge. But…