People v. Black

The defendantsdefendants were charged and jointly tried upon a charge of burglary. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of burglary in the first degree against the defendant Bodie Black, and a verdict of guilty of burglary in the second degree against the defendant Blanche Welch. From the judgments pronounced upon the verdicts the defendants prosecute this appeal.

The facts as disclosed by the testimony are as follows: Mrs. Caldwell, whose home was entered during her absence, returned at about 12:10 A. M. on the morning of January 27, 1926, in company with a friend named Brown. Upon arriving at the steps to the front porch they found an upholstered chair and victrola records, and upon entering the house discovered that rugs, lamps, bric-a-brac, console, gas stove, clothes, shoes, and other furniture and personal effects had been taken from the house; that the glass in the rear door. had been broken in, a key which had been tied to another key with a ring had been turned in the door and were then missing, which keys were subsequently found by the officers in the hip pocket of the defendant Black. Prior to the discovery of the chair and victrola records and upon approaching Mrs.…