People v. Smith

Defendant Samuel Edward Smith and his two codefendants Ralph White and Willie Lee Wright were charged in count II of an information with burglary (Pen. Code, § 459) in having entered the store and warehouse building occupied by Mutual Wholesale Liquor, [Inc.], 838 East Fifth Street, Los Angeles, on or about the 11th day of September 1966, with intent to commit a felony and a theft therein. All defendants waived jury trial, and the case was presented to the trial court upon the reporter’s transcript of the preliminary hearing supplemented by the testimony of each defendant. The trial court found all three defendants guilty and fixed the crime as being of the second degree. (Pen. Code, § 460, subd. 2.) Defendant was sentenced to state prison while his codefendants received county jail sentences. Defendant Smith appeals from the judgment. Smith contends upon this appeal that: (1) evidence of his intoxication rendered the proof as to specific intent insufficient to uphold his conviction, and (2) his state prison sentence was unduly severe, constituting discrimination and abuse of discretion by the trial court. We have concluded that both contentions lack merit.

Whether a person…