People v. Castro

YORK, P. J.

Appellant was charged with the murder of his wife, Gloria Castro, was tried by the court sitting without a jury, was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to San Quentin prison for life. Upon this appeal it is contended that the judgment of conviction “should be either reversed or the degree of crime reduced from first degree murder to a lesser degree”, in other words, that the evidence is insufficient to warrant a judgment of first degree murder.

At the trial, appellant took the stand in his own defense and gave his version of the crime in terms almost identical with a statement which he made to the officers at the time of his arrest, substantially to the following effect:

He resided with his wife and three small children, ranging in age from five years to ten months, in one room in a rooming house' on the east side of Los Angeles, and was steadily employed in a menial position at the Biltmore Hotel, where he worked nights. On June 1, 1939, when he returned home from his work shortly after 1 o’clock in the morning, he found his children sleeping in his room but his wife was absent. After speaking to a Mexican couple, who lived in a near-by apartment, about taking care of the children, he went to the lavatory and while there he heard his wife come into the house, accompanied by her brother, both talking loudly and apparently in an intoxicated condition. He heard his wife ring a bell for the landlady and ask for another room. Meanwhile appellant went upstairs to a porch on the second floor of the house where he could ‘ ‘ watch

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everything”. The landlady located an unoccupied room to which appellant’s wife took the three children, the blankets from the bed and other personal effects. The appellant then went to his room and finding it in a disordered condition, the blankets gone and the mattress wet, he rang for the landlady whom he asked for 50 cents so he could get another room. The landlady gave him the money and said to him, “Well, Joe, I glad to see you find your wife come drunk, you know, every night take a drink and come drunk.” Appellant then told the landlady and her husband that he had a card from a lawyer and wanted to make a complaint about his wife; that he wanted to get a divorce and take the children. Appellant then went out to get a cup of coffee and later returned and stayed in his room until 6 o’clock when he went next door to a restaurant and drank two bottles of beer and brought a quart of beer into his room and drank that. He remained in his room until he heard the children outside on the porch when he went out and saw them running around barefooted and partly dressed, whereupon he went to his wife’s newly acquired room and asked her “Why don’t you dress the babies?” The argument which then ensued, as told in the words of appellant, was as follows: “I tell her its a shame to see the babies that way. She say 1 what the hell do you care you son-of-a-bitch, its none of your business’. I tell her, ‘ Sure I care, its my babies. ’ And she say, ‘Well you go to hell’ and I tell her ‘I call the cops last night and the cops see the babies alone, ’ and then my wife say ‘Tell them you and the cops dirty son-of-a-bitches.’ She say, ‘I not afraid of the cops.’ My wife say, ‘Anyway, what the hell you want in this room you son-of-a-bitch.’ She got up from the bed and pick up the knife from under the pillow? Q. What kind of a knife? A. Pearl handle. Q. Was she drunk? A. Yes. Q. Was the knife open? A. No, she open it. Q. Then what did she do? A. She try to stick me. Q. Did she have the knife in her hand? A. Yes. Q. She was holding the knife in her right hand? A. Yes. . . . I hold her arms (indicating holding wrists), she pushed me against the wall; she was trying to get loose and I tell her throw the knife on the floor and she say ‘you and who else is going to make me drop the knife, you son-of-a-bitch’, and while I still have hold fighting she say ‘you son-of-a-bitch, you God-damn fool’, she stick herself in the stomach.