People v. Williams

COUGHLIN, J.

Under a two-count information the defendant was convicted of assaults upon his wife, Noriko Williams, and upon Sharon Palmer, with intent to commit murder.

On April 4, 1963, the defendant shot his wife and shot in the direction of Sharon Palmer. He contends that the judgment should be reversed because the evidence is insufficient to establish that the assaults thus committed were with intent to commit murder. We have concluded that his contention insofar as it applies to the assault upon his wife is without merit, but insofar as it applies to Sharon Palmer, is well taken.

There was evidence showing that the defendant shot his wife at close range; had previously, on many occasions, threatened to kill her; had pointed a gun at her many times before; on one occasion had stabbed her with a knife; and had engaged in a violent quarrel with her on the night before the shooting. Such evidence, if accepted by the jury, was sufficient to support an inference that the shooting was with intent to murder.

(People

v.

Pineda,

41 Cal.App.2d 100 [106 P.2d 25];

People

v.

Cupp,

77 Cal.App. 472, 475, 476 [246 P. 1085];

People

v.

Martinez,

17 Cal.App. 579, 581-582 [120 P. 786].)

However, the judgment must be reversed for other reasons. After he was in custody, in response to interrogation by the police, the defendant made incriminating statements from which it may be concluded that he shot his wife with intent to commit murder. Under the exclusionary rule announced in

People

v.

Dorado,

62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361], which was decided after the trial of this case, the admission of these incriminating statements constituted prejudicial error requiring a reversal; they were made while he was in custody, after the police investigation had focused upon him, and during the process of an interrogation that lent itself to obtaining incriminating statements; and