People v. Bailey

JAMES, J.

Appeal from a judgment directing the imprisonment of the defendant in the state penitentiary.

Appellant was charged by an information of the district attorney with the crime of murder, alleged to have been committed on or about the fifteenth day of December, 1917, in the county of Imperial. There were two trials, the jury having disagreed at the first and upon the second returned a verdict of manslaughter, carrying the recommendation that there be imposed “the minimum sentence.” In view of the point made by appellant that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction, we will relate the story of the crime, as the evidence shows it, with considerable detail, giving particular emphasis to all of the testimony introduced on behalf of

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the prosecution which, it is claimed, tends to show the defendant’s guilt: On December 15, 1917, appellant was the owner of a small store at a little place called Rockwood, in Imperial County. The deceased was a friend of the defendant and resided alone in a small house or cabin a short distance away from the store—just how far does not appear. The deceased took his meals with appellant at the store. Another man, named Curran, was at the time residing with the defendant at the store. No other persons lived at that place. There was an apartment in the rear of the storeroom where there was a bed in which the men slept, and it was also in the real part of the building that they prepared and ate their meals. At about 12 o’clock on the night preceding the alleged murder, a trapper, named Moore, knocked at the door of the store and awakened appellant. At the request of the trapper, Bailey went out and assisted him in finding a sack which he had brought on the stage with him and which he had mislaid in the darkness. This sack contained some vegetables and two quart bottles of intoxicating liquor, one being com whisky and the other pure alcohol. The trapper remained through the night and at least through the larger portion of the next day. All of the three men, Curran, Moore, and appellant, were in the habit of using intoxicants to excess, as was also deceased. The. three men first mentioned, after the arrival of the trapper, had some drinks, and on the following morning they again partook of the liquor, at least appellant and Curran did. At that time they used the pure alcohol, diluted with water, into which was mixed sugar. At the time for the morning meal on the 15th appellant went to the house of deceased and brought him over to the store to have breakfast. Later on, in the morning, at perhaps about 10 o’clock, deceased and Curran went to a ranch owned by the deceased, which was located some distance out of the town of Rockwood. They returned from there between 12 and 1 o’clock, deceased going to his cabin and Curran returning to the store of appellant. No witness saw Curran or the deceased at the time the latter reached his cabin, and from this point on, up to the time of the discovery of the dead body of deceased in his cabin, between 3 and 4 o ’clock of the same afternoon, the story as to the movements of Curran and appellant is somewhat in dispute. It was several weeks after the alleged murder that appellant was arrested and charged with the crime, and up to the time of