People v. Ung Sing

ANGELLOTTI, C. J.

Defendant and one Uee Quey, who gave his true name as Uee Quooey, two Chinese, were jointly indicted for the crime of murder, in the unlawful killing on November 4, 1914, of one Y. Iwanaga. Separate trials having been demanded by the defendants, appellant was tried first, and convicted of murder in the first degree. This is an appeal by him from the judgment pronounced on said conviction, and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

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1. The record discloses that the deceased was murdered a few minutes after 12 o’clock, on the morning of November 4, 1914. He was walking on the sidewalk of a street in the city of Stockton and was within a few doors of his place of business, when two men approaching him from behind fired three shots at him, and then ran away. Each of the bullets entered his body from the rear, and each inflicted a fatal wound. The only question in the case was as to the identity of the assailants, the theory of the district attorney being that they were appellant and Uee Quooey. The evidence very clearly pointed to appellant as one of them. Near the body of the deceased was found a Smith & Wesson 38-caliber revolver, and in the body of deceased, one of the bullets causing death was a 38-caliber. The other two bullets causing death which were found in the body were 25-caliber, and near the body were found two empty 25-caliber shells. Appellant was taken into custody a few minutes after the shooting, in a lumber yard near by, to which confessedly he had fled. He admitted having run from the scene of the homicide, denying absolutely, however, that he had participated therein, and giving as his reason for the flight a statement substantially to the effect that he thought he was being pursued by two men who were shooting at him. He did not deny having been at or near the place of the homicide at the time thereof. Upon being searched, there was found on him a Mauser automatic 25-caliber revolver, carrying nine cartridges, which contained only six loaded shells. He admitted having recently fired two or three shots therefrom, but, as above stated, said he had fired them at two men who were apparently pursuing him. November 3, 1914, was the day of a general election, and there was a polling place diagonally across the street from the place of the homicide, in and around which at the time thereof there were several persons who were witnesses on the trial. The evidence given by these witnesses was all to the effect that there were only two or three shots, and that, including the deceased, there were only three men in the vicinity of the homicide, the deceased and two others. The record is such as to indicate that the jury could not reasonably arrive at any other conclusion on the question of appellant’s guilt than the one evidenced by its verdict.