Serrato

On October 8, 1957, an information filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Madera charged the defendant with two counts of first degree robbery (Pen. Code, §211), two counts of assault with a deadly weapon (Pen. Code, § 245), and one count of violation of section 503 of the Vehicle Code. All of these charges arose from the robbery by two men of a Madera bar during which $15.25 was removed from the till (Count One), the automobile keys of one of the attendants, Velda L. Powell, were taken from her (Count Two), a pistol was exhibited to cow one Jim Kelly (Count Three) and the female assistant (Count Four), and the Powell automobile was taken by means of the keys acquired by the criminals as a fruit of the robbery (Count Five). All of these crimes were committed within a few minutes in the one incident which resulted in the robbery of the bar. The faces of the criminals were partly hidden by handkerchiefs during the period of the crimes. They escaped temporarily in the Powell automobile.

On November 1, 1957, an attorney was appointed by the court to represent the defendant; on November 8, 1957, he pleaded not guilty to all counts, but admitted…