People v. Odom

McCOMB, J.

From a judgment of guilty of murder in the second degree after trial before a jury, defendant appeals. There is also an appeal from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

[73]

The evidence being viewed in the light most favorable to the People (respondent), and pursuant to the rules set forth in

People

v.

Newland,

15 Cal.2d 678, 680 [104 P.2d 778], and

People

v.

Pianezzi,

42 Cal.App.2d 265, 269 [108 P.2d 732], the essential facts are:

On December 24, 1944, defendant struck and beat Matilda Williams so severely that she received injuries from which she died.

Defendant relies for reversal of the judgment on two propositions which will be stated and answered hereunder seriatim:

First:

There was not any substantial evidence to sustain the verdict of the jury.

This proposition is untenable and is governed by the evidence hereinafter related and the rule of law that if circumstantial evidence reasonably justifies the finding of the trier of fact an opinion of the reviewing court that those circumstances might also be reasonably reconciled with the innocence of the defendant will not warrant interference with the determination of the trier of fact.

(People

v.

Newland, supra.)

In the present case the evidence discloses that defendant had resided at 1573 East 41st Place, Los Angeles for two years with Matilda Williams, the deceased. About two or three a.m., December 24, 1944, Mr. Warr, who lived in the house next to defendant’s residence, heard a noise which he recognized as that of defendant arguing and fighting with certain other persons. About twenty or thirty minutes after hearing the first noise he heard a woman “scream and holler’’ and the following morning he noticed “a pretty good spot of’’ blood on the sidewalk near defendant’s residence. The same afternoon defendant came to Mr. Warr’s house and asked him and his wife to come, to his home. When the Warrs entered defendant’s house, Matilda Williams was lying in bed with her hands lying across one another. Mrs. Warr endeavored to take the deceased’s pulse and finding none told defendant Matilda Williams was dead. The deceased had a scar under her left eye and dried blood around her nose. At defendant’s request the police were called. Mrs. Warr further testified that she was also awakened on the morning of December 24, 1944, at about the same time that her husband had been and that she heard a scuffling in the driveway between her home and defendant’s, and heard the defendant say, “I am going to get rid of the rest of you four-eyed bitches.’’ She in