People v. Campanella

STURTEVANT, J.

The district attorney filed an information against the defendant charging him with murder. The defendant entered a plea of not guilty. The action was tried before the trial court sitting with a jury. The district attorney conceded that the evidence did not disclose the crime of murder in the first degree, but contended it did disclose murder in the second degree. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with that contention. The defendant made a motion for a new trial which was denied. He has appealed from the judgment and from said order.

The defendant was living at 363 Page Street in San Francisco and occupied a three-room apartment together with Mrs. Hattie Jensen, the estranged wife of the deceased, and her three children by another marriage. He stayed there about two months. Mrs. Jensen was out nearly all of the time and defendant was allowed to stay in the apartment by Mrs. Jensen to look after her two boys, Bobby, aged ten, and another son, aged fourteen. He also helped Mrs. Jensen with the housework. He slept in the kitchen upon a cot. The defendant is fifty years old.

The deceased, James J. Jensen, aged thirty-eight, was the husband of Mrs. Hattie Jensen, but was separated from her and lived elsewhere for about fourteen months.

On the evening of the 14th of November, 1939, at about 5:30 P. M., the deceased went to 363 Page Street and entered the apartment where he found the defendant and Bobby, a son of Mrs. Jensen. The defendant was sitting in an easy

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chair in the living room. The deceased took Bobby into the kitchen and asked him what the defendant was doing there. He was told by Bobby that “he is helping my mother and taking care of us”, whereupon deceased said that before he would let that so and so help his mother he would kill the Dago. The deceased then went into the living room and while the defendant was sitting in the easy chair grabbed defendant by the shirt collar and threw him back in the chair. At about this moment Mrs. Jensen entered the apartment. At that time deceased was leaning over the front of the chair with his hands on both sides of the chair. She said to deceased, “Here, here. What is wrong, and come out here in the kitchen where I can talk to you.” The deceased went to the kitchen with Mrs. Jensen and took hold of her coat and shaking her said, “Before I will let that Dago son of a bitch have you, I am going in there and kill him.” That statement was made in a loud and angry manner and the defendant testified it could have been heard a half a mile. At once the deceased ran into the living room and up to the defendant who was still sitting in the chair. Deceased struck defendant and knocked his glasses off. He grabbed defendant by the throat. There was a short struggle. The defendant pulled out of his pocket an ordinary pocket knife, opened the blade and stabbed defendant four times while they still struggled. Three of the wounds were trivial but the fourth resulted in a stab in the neck, from which deceased bled to death some minutes later.