People v. Baylor

WOOD, J.

Defendant was accused by information of the crime of murder. A jury returned a verdict finding him guilty of manslaughter and he has appealed from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

At about one o’clock in the morning of December 21, 1940, Howard Perks, who had been working on the afternoon shift at an airplane factory, entered Curley’s Café on South Western Avenue near 149th Street in the city of Los Angeles, where defendant was employed as a member of the orchestra. At the café Perks became acquainted with Ann Lorraine, a waitress employed in a Long Beach café, who had been living with defendant in a cottage in Long Beach. Shortly after 2 a. m. defendant, Perks and Miss Lorraine left the café. Defendant and Miss Lorraine entered Miss Lorraine’s automobile and drove south on Western Avenue. They had gone but a short distance when Perks drove alongside in his own car and called to them to stop. He invited them to have

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a drink and they accepted. They then proceeded down the street for about a mile and a half, when Perks again stopped them and suggested that they all go in one car to a place where they could finish a bottle of liquor which was in his possession. They all entered Perks’ car, leaving Miss Lorraine’s car parked, in the street, and defendant thereafter drove Perks’ car. They stopped at an auto camp but for some reason were unable to rent a cabin, and proceeded on to the house in Long Beach where defendant and Miss Lorraine lived, arriving there at about 3:15 a. m.

At the Long Beach house they had several drinks, finishing the bottle, and Perks and Miss Lorraine became intoxicated. Miss Lorraine asked for coffee and defendant went into the kitchen to make coffee. Miss Lorraine testified that Perks threw her backward on the bed and bit her several times on the leg and “on the left side on the privates.” Defendant returned from the kitchen and “grabbed Mr. Perks by the front of the shirt.” Miss Lorraine testified: “When Mr. Perks was in the reclining position on the bed, and Mr. Baylor grabbed him by the front of the shirt, Mr. Perks reached up and grabbed the zipper on the front of his trousers and tried to open his trousers. Q. And then what happened ? A. Then Mr. Baylor asked him if he was crazy. Q. What did he say? A. I do not know what Mr. Perks said, if anything. Q. Now, what did Mr. Baylor do then, if anything? A. Mr. Baylor slapped him.” Perks fell from the bed and received a laceration on his eye, causing blood to flow. Perks apologized for his conduct, which he attributed to his drinking, and Miss Lorraine bathed his face. They all thereupon left the house and drove back to the place on Western Avenue where Miss Lorraine’s car had been left and stopped about two car lengths back of the Lorraine car.