People v. Hakam

THOMPSON (R. L.), J.

The defendant was convicted of an assault with a deadly weapon. It is contended that the verdict is not supported by the evidence, and that the defendant was prejudiced by the admission of incompetent evidence which tended to prove another offense against him.

We are of the opinion that the evidence amply supports the verdict. The defendant Ali Hakam is a native of Afghanistan. .Together with a fellow countryman, he was engaged in harvesting a crop of rice on the Spaulding ranch in .Glenn County, California. For this purpose they had employed the prosecuting witness, Ben L. Blackburn and his two cousins. September 14, 1928, they were engaged in cutting and binding the grain. About 4 o’clock in the afternoon, while Blackburn was driving a Fordson tractor, the defendant visited the vicinity in his automobile, and taking a shovel on his shoulder crossed the field and intercepted the tractor, where he accosted the prosecuting witness, severely criticising the character of his work and inquiring in sarcasm if that was the best work he could do. A controversy followed, during which time Blackburn remained seated on the tractor while the defendant stood near by with his shovel in hand. Both individuals became angry. The prosecuting witness finally said: “If you don’t like the way we’re cutting the rice, go to the house and come back down here and pay us off.” He also asked the defendant

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why he did not get Mr. Boyd, who was the general manager of the Spaulding ranch, to come down and talk to. him. To the latter remark the defendant replied that Boyd was not the boss and he did not have to get him. After a somewhat heated dispute over the character of the work the defendant wrathfully told Blackburn to go on and finish his work and that he would get no pay until he had completed it. The- defendant testified that Blackburn said: “You go to h—1. ... Go and tell Mr. Boyd (to) come and talk to -us—not your black face.” In anger the defendant then -raised his shovel and struck at Blackburn, missing him and striking the tractor. The prosecuting witness immediately sprang from his seat to the side of the tractor opposite from which the defendant stood, and seizing an iron pinch-bar about two feet in length he followed the defendant, who slowly retreated for a distance of ten or fifteen feet. No further blow was struck, however, in this feature of the encounter. After a few moments of such threatening demonstrations,' the defendant said: “That’s all right, you stay here, I go to the house—I come back.” He then crossed the field in the direction of “Camp 7,” where he lived. Blackburn resumed his place on the tractor and continued cutting the rice. After an absence of half or three-quarters of an hour, with barely time to complete the journey, he again drove down the Norman road to a point opposite that part of the rice field where Blackburn and his cousins were engaged in working, and this time without the protection of his shovel, again crossed over and intercepted the prosecuting witness, who was still seated on his tractor. As the defendant approached his hand was concealed beneath the bib of his overalls. The prosecuting witness said: “I told him I knew he had a gun; if he would lay it on the Pordson we would settle our affair with our fists. . . . He said, ‘You want to settle with me, do you?’ And he pulled out the gun and started shooting. Q. Where did he pull the gun from? A. Under the bib of his overalls.” The defendant then stood only five or ten feet from the tractor. The prosecuting witness was unarmed. He sprang from the tractor and rushed upon the defendant, who fired at him but missed his mark. Mr. Blackburn testified in this regard :