People v. Ramos

WASTE, C. J.

The appellant was charged with the murder of Carmen de la Pena,- a seventeen year old girl, with whom

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he was desperately in love. The jury found him guilty, and imposed the death penalty.

The appellant had asked the girl to marry him. She refused, and complained to her parents that he was “bothering her”. Her father asked him to leave his daughter alone. The girl’s parents conducted a restaurant and poolroom in Salinas patronized by young Filipinos. On the evening of the murder Ramos went to the place and spent some hours there, interesting himself in working puzzles and talking with acquaintances. Near midnight, several Filipinos, young men who were frequent visitors at the place and with whom the deceased was acquainted, went to the restaurant for a meal. While they were eating, the deceased joined them in one of the booths, and partook of some of the food. About 12:30 o’clock, all parties prepared to leave the place. Some were already on the street, when, without any conversation being overheard between the appellant and the deceased, who were still in the restaurant, the appellant shot the girl twice, killing her instantly. In a struggle for the possession of the pistol, and apparently to prevent the appellant from shooting himself in the head, the girl’s father was also shot. The claim of the defense was that the appellant, as a friend, had assisted in supporting the family of the deceased; that she had agreed to marry him, but the father and mother had “double-crossed” the appellant and prevented the marriage.

There is no necessity for reciting other facts. In his statement to the jury, counsel for the defense said: “We will want you to hear these facts that go with the facts the prosecution will give, in order that you may bring in a judgment of manslaughter. We are not asking for an acquittal. We are asking for punishment, but we will ask that verdict on the facts of the ease.” The jury was not convinced that the defendant was guilty of only the lesser crime. There is ample evidence to support the theory of the prosecution that the appellant had premeditatedly formed an intent to kill the girl, and that this intent-flared into action when the appellant saw the friendly and familiar conduct of the deceased with the young' Filipinos on whom she waited and with whom she dined that night. The question of the intent to kill in this ease is well within