People v. Corrales

EDMONDS, J.

Victoriano Corrales was convicted by a jury upon two counts of first degree murder and has been sentenced to death. Upon the appeal from the judgment and the order denying a new trial, the only questions presented for decision concern the sufficiency of the evidence to establish the corpus delicti of one crime and to justify the conviction of first degree murder in either of them.

In September, 1948, at Steamboat Slough on the Sacramento River, the torso of a woman was found floating about 5 feet from shore. It was wrapped in two blankets tied with electric cord. Inside the blankets there was a scrap of cloth. The severed members were not recovered, and there was nothing to identify the body.

Six months later, a body was seen floating in the American River. It was found to be “the body of a female and the head had been taken off and both legs.” A head and leg, which were later recovered from the river, proved to be those severed from this body. Medical evidence based upon an examination of the severed head indicated that death resulted from blows upon it. Although a bracelet was found on one of the arms, the body was not identified.

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For a number of months before the first of these bodies was found, Corrales, an agricultural worker, occupied a cabin on the Anderson farm near Sacramento, about one mile from the American River.- During that time, a woman known as his wife lived with him. The woman disappeared. Corrales also left and, after a short absence, he returned to the ranch with another woman. Later this woman also disappeared.

Soon after the discovery of the second body, the Andersons became suspicious and notified the sheriff. Officers arrested Corrales, who, upon being questioned, voluntarily made a detailed confession of the murder of Alberta Gomez and Maria Pulida, which included a statement as to the disposal of each of the bodies. He did not testify during the trial, but the brief presented in support of his appeal from the judgment states the facts in regard to the two homicides as he related them to the officers. These facts may be summarized as follows:

In December, 1946, Corrales went to Mexico for the purpose of visiting his mother. During his visit there, he met Alberta and asked her if she cared to return to the United States “for the purpose of keeping company with him.” She agreed to do so and came across the border from Mexico illegally.