People v. Phillips

TAGGART, J.

Information for murder. Verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree and judgment ordering imprisonment in state’s prison for term of fifty years.

The defendant, the man whom he killed, Jim Alonzo, and all the witnesses who testified, except the officers and the complaining witness, were California Indians. The complaining witness, who is a Mexican and the son in law of the deceased, was the only witness, other than the officers, who could make himself fully understood in English; the others being assisted more or less by an interpreter who was sworn to interpret from English into Indian and from Indian into English. These Indians and the complaining witness were all staying at a sheep-shearing camp at the time of the killing of Jim Alonzo. The day of the occurrence, August 22, 1909, was Sunday, and some or all of these Indians had been to one of the neighboring towns and returned to camp toward night. The defendant and his wife were the last to reach camp, arriving about dusk or a little after dark, the former

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bringing with him some whisky. The deceased immediately upon defendant’s arrival asked him for a drink, which was freely given, the complaining witness and another Indian, Andrew Tip or Tepe, also taking a drink. Upon Jim Alonzo asking for .another drink a little later, some altercation took place between him and defendant which ended in the defendant pulling a pistol and firing three shots, one of which hit Jim Alonzo and caused his death. The conversation between the two men while quarreling was carried on principally in the Indian language, and the complaining witness was unable to understand the purport of it, but the testimony of the other witnesses for the prosecution, who testified, in part, at least, through an interpreter, tends to show that defendant was at all times the aggressor and that the deceased was acting in a conciliatory manner. So far as the complaining witness could understand what was said, or see what was done, his testimony supported the same view. The testimony of the witnesses for the defense (who were relatives and friends of the defendant, as the witnesses for the prosecution were relatives and friends of the deceased), tended to show that the deceased was the aggressor, and at least one of them testified that the first two of the three shots fired by the defendant were fired in the air to deter the deceased from advancing upon defendant; and that the third and fatal shot was only fired after these had failed and when (Deceased was making a demonstration which might have indicated an intention upon the part of Jim Alonzo to pull a weapon. There can be no question that, if the evidence of the prosecution be believed, it was shown by the testimony of eye-witnesses that the crime was committed and that defendant was guilty of committing it. This was supplemented by evidence that the defendant ran away immediately after the killing.