Zaccaria

On December 30, 1961, at about 1:45 a.m., a man wearing sunglasses entered the Wishing Well Bar in Castro Valley, seated himself at the bar, ordered a beer, and when the bartender brought it, announced that he had a gun, which the bartender and a waitress saw in his lap, and demanded “all your money.” The bartender grabbed the gun and punched the man, who fled. The bartender and waitress identified appellant as the would-be robber from photographs and from viewings through a one-way mirror, and the waitress also selected him from a lineup. Appellant told a detective that he was home at 1:45 a.m. on December 30, 1961, but at the trial he testified that he was at a bar, Dell’s Place in Union City, at the crucial time, and that he had been in this bar from 12:30 to about 2:10 a.m. He had not mentioned this to the detective. On cross-examination, he admitted that he had told the detective he was at home, but testified that he had not mentioned the time, and he admitted that he might have left Dell’s Place at 10 o’clock. He denied having worn sunglasses at any time in December 1961, but the prosecution produced a witness who had given him a lift in an automobile about December 18,…