People v. Jackson

Carl Edwin Jackson, who was charged and found guilty of burglary in violation of Penal Code, section 459, appeals his conviction. Jackson contends that he was denied due process of law on the following grounds: the public defender represented him against his wishes; his counsel was not present during one recorded conversation between Jackson, the trial judge, the prosecuting attorney and counsel for the nonappealing codefendant, Johnson; and, the trial court abused its discretion in the conduct óf the trial and thus deprived Jackson of certain rights, including confrontation. These contentions we find uniformly without merit.

Jackson was convicted of burglarizing the Athens Liquor Store. The store was equipped with a silent robbery alarm which could be activated by the opening of a drawer in which the proprietor customarily kept a Bank of America money bag containing fifteen single dollar bills. At approximately 3:20 a.m. on December 22, 1965, the store was entered and the money bag was taken; simultaneously the alarm alerted Officer Holyrod who approached the store in his patrol ear. Officer Holyrod first apprehended Johnson, the codefendant, leaving the store. He searched…