People v. Mott

RICHARDS, J.

This appeal is from.a judgment of conviction of the defendant upon a charge of murder, following a verdict of guilty by the jury without recommendation. The evidence convincingly shows the defendant to have been guilty of a deliberate, premeditated and unprovoked murder. Upon his arraignment therefor he entered a plea of “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of insanity”, and he also denied the two prior convictions of felonies charged in the information. Thereafter and before trial he withdrew his plea of “not guilty by reason of insanity”, and

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proceeded to trial upon his plea of “not guilty”, and upon his denial of his previous convictions. In statements made after his arrest and before his trial he admitted the homicide, but indicated that his only defense thereto would be that of self-defense, and upon his trial he undertook to support this plea by his own testimony, in which, however, he was contradicted by every other witness to the homicide.

The appellant makes three contentions upon this appeal. The first of these is that the trial court committed prejudicial error in allowing incompetent evidence to be admitted and considered by the jury. This contention is based upon the following state of the record: A witness named Boyer was called on behalf of the prosecution and testified that he was and for several months prior thereto had been the manager of the radio shop in which the shooting had occurred and the employer there during that period of the deceased. He also testified that he was an eye-witness to the crime, to the circumstances which preceded it, and to the attempted escape of the defendant, whom he had followed from the scene of the crime to the place where he accomplished his arrest. This witness was cross-examined at considerable length by counsel for the defendant, in the course of which he endeavored to show that immediately before he was killed the deceased had reached under his desk as though, it was claimed, to draw a weapon. The purpose of this cross-examination was obviously that of seeking to support the testimony which the defendant was about to give in support of his plea that he acted in self-defense. Following this cross-examination the witness Boyer was recalled by the prosecution during the presentation of its main ease, and was asked the following questions by counsel for the prosecution: