People v. Lee Gow

BURNETT, J.

The defendants were convicted of murder in the first degree and the jury fixed the punishment at imprisonment for life. The appeal is from the judgment and the order denying a motion for a new trial. That a foul murder was committed is not disputed. It was deliberate, premeditated, and malicious. It was one of a series of bloody episodes that attended what is known as a “tong war” between rival societies of Chinese. The principal contention in the case is in reference to the defense of

“alibi,”

upon which appellants relied. It must be admitted that their claim in that regard was strongly supported. Not only Chinese witnesses, but several Caucasians, including prominent members of the police force of the city of Stockton, testified positively that the defendants were in said city on the very day and at the very hour when the offense was committed near Gridley, in the county of Butte. Their testimony was entirely inconsistent with the theory of the guilt of the defendants, as the time of - the murder was definitely fixed. But the jury, probably believing that some of the witnesses were mistaken and that others were falsifying, rejected their said statements, and based their verdict upon the evidence offered by the people. We can readily understand how the testimony in support of the

“alibi”

might have led the jury to acquit the defendants, but after a careful - reading of the entire record, we are compelled to say that there is abundant evidence of the identification of these men as the murderers of the deceased, and that under the familiar rule we are not permitted to hold that the verdict is unsupported. Many witnesses, including white men, testified unreservedly that the defendants were in the vicinity of the scene of the crime at or near the time it was committed, and one Chinese testified unequivocally that he was at the home of the deceased and witnessed the perpetration of the deed. His testimony, if fully credited, compels the conclusion that the crime was deliberate murder and that the defendants committed it. Nor can it be accepted for a moment that the testimony of these wit

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nesses for the people is inherently improbable. Of course, the possibility of a mistake as to the identification of an individual under such circumstances is ever present, and innocent men may be unjustly convicted, but it is hardly necessary to add that the accuracy of the memory of the witnesses as to the identification of the parties, and the disposition of said witnesses to tell the truth were considerations entirely for the determination of the jury.