People v. Brown

SHAW, J.

Upon an information charging him with the crime of murder, defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree, followed by a judgment of imprisonment, from which he appeals.

It appears from the record that in the performance of their duty as officers of the United States immigration service, Alphonse G. Bernard and Henry Y. Hackett were, on the night of July 10-11, 1920, stationed at a point near Campo on the highway leading from Calexico to San Diego for the purpose of apprehending persons engaged in the

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unlawful transportation of liquor by automobile, the drivers of which they signaled to stop by the waving of flash-lights, with which both were equipped. At about 3 o’clock on the morning of the 11th of July, at which time Haekett’s position was on the north side of the highway and that of Bernard was on the south side at a point a short distance west of the former, an automobile driven by defendant approached from the east, going westerly toward San Diego. When first seen by them it was distant about one-fourth of a mile and was being operated at a speed of thirty to thirty "five miles per hour. By waving their flash-lights they signaled defendant as the driver thereof to stop the car, but instead of doing so, he increased the speed thereof and, when near the point where Haekett stood, swerved his car toward him, to escape a collision with which he was compelled to jump back to the side of the roadway; whereupon defendant immediately turned his car to the left or south side of the road to the place farther west where Bernard was stationed, at which point he caused the car, traveling at high speed, to collide with Bernard, as a result of which the latter was instantly killed. At the time the car contained 244 pints of whisky which the defendant was unlawfully transporting from the town of Mexicali, in Mexico, to some place in the United States. After striking deceased, whose body, being badly crushed and stripped of its clothing, was dragged some 200 or 300 feet, the car, at increased speed, was run a distance of a mile or so over the highway, when it was driven off the road into the brush and the liquor taken therefrom and cached, after which the automobile returned to the highway, over which it proceeded to San Diego. It further appears that some two or three weeks prior to the time in question defendant, in discussing the efforts of officers to apprehend whisky smugglers, had said: “If anybody undertakes to stop me, I will put on all the gas I have and run them down.” That defendant knowingly refused to recognize the stop signals of the officers and intentionally swerved his ear at great speed, first toward Haekett on the right of th.e roadway and then to the left, where deceased was standing, and with the purpose of causing the same, which in both instances as shown by the wheel tracks left the driveway, to collide first with Haekett and then with Bernard, admits of no doubt; indeed, his