People v. Griffin

YORK, J.

Defendants were convicted of the robbery and murder of Laurence L. Lyon, as charged in an information. Defendant Smith appeals from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

It appears from the record that decedent was a medical student at the University of Southern California in the city of Los Angeles; that he spent the evening of November 11, 1934, with friends, and that around the hour of 1:20 A. M. these friends drove him in their automobile to his fraternity house where he made his home, which was located near the university. About an hour later, in the neighborhood of Eighth Street and Central Avenue, in the city of Los Angeles, decedent was shot by defendant Griffin, who robbed him, struck him in the head and left him lying in the street. He died shortly thereafter as result of the injuries received at the hands of Griffin.

As to defendant Smith’s connection with the crime, the theory of the prosecution was that Smith was an accomplice of Griffin and that he acted as a lookout for Griffin, as he stood leaning against the corner of a building at a point near the intersection of Ninth Street, Central Avenue and Linden Street, which commanded a view of the adjacent neighborhood. The two defendants lived together, were seen in each other’s company earlier in the evening in a speakeasy, where they displayed the guns which were used to perpetrate the crime, and remained in each other’s company subsequent to the crime, until arrested by police officers at their apartment.

There were several witnesses, who testified at the trial, who were attracted by an argument between Griffin and Lyon and the subsequent shooting, two of whom arose from their beds and looked out of windows just above the scene of the shooting and saw Griffin and decedent, but were not able to see

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appellant, who, according to the testimony -of Dennis Wells, was standing at the corner of the building, above referred to, at the time of the shooting; that appellant shortly thereafter slid around the corner, and after defendant Griffin had turned decedent over and had robbed him and struck him in the head, appellant walked over and kicked decedent on the feet, left the scene of the crime and later joined defendant Griffin about a block away.