Camperlingo

Defendant was convicted of the offense of having in his possession a pistol after a previous conviction of a felony. He appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The first point made for reversal of the judgment relates to the alleged erroneous admission by the court of certain testimony going to the identification of defendant as the person who had theretofore been convicted of a felony. But inasmuch as the fact of defendant’s prior conviction of a felony was established by evidence other than that to which objection is made, the error (assuming it to be such and that it did not result in a miscarriage of justice) was harmless.

Prejudicial error is also predicated upon the fact that the prosecution did not show that defendant’s admissions were not made under duress or promise of reward. Appellant cites no authority to support such specification of error. However, it may be stated that the rule requiring the prosecution to show that a confession was made freely and voluntarily, without promise of immunity or of reward therefor, does not apply to mere admissions. (People v. Ford, 25 Cal. App. 388, 418 [ 143 Pac. 1075 ].) Furthermore, the…

Concurring.—I concur in the judgment. If the evidence had proved that the defendant acquired his ownership of the weapon before the statute went into effect, I would hold that he may not, by mere legislative fiat, be convicted of a crime for continuing to own and possess that which had lawfully become his property. A person may not thus be deprived of his property without due process of law. But the only evidence here is that he possessed the weapon several months after the act in question became a law. This was, prima facie, an unlawful possession by him, since he had been convicted of a felony against the property of another. In the absence of any other evidence, I think that appellant is not in a position where he can successfully contend that the effect of the statute is to deprive him of property without due process of law.