People v. Trinidad

WASTE, C. J.

The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to pay the extreme penalty. He appeals from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

It is not denied that appellant shot Hernandez, the decedent. The defense in the court below was based upon the contention that the domestic happiness of the appellant and his wife was interfered with by Hernandez, and that an altercation arose between the two men, during which Hernandez attempted to assault Trinidad with a shoe knife and that Trinidad, in self-defense, fired the shots which killed the decedent. The defendant did not take the stand, and the alleged facts on which his defense Avas based were related by other witnesses. Police officers and a neAvspaper reporter testified that after the shooting the appellant surrendered himself to the officers, and, on being interrogated, confessed that he went to the place of the shooting to kill the decedent, because he thought he was trying to make a “bad woman” out of his wife; that the decedent had no Aveapon and that he, the defendant, killed him. Other testimony tended to further destroy the defense erected by the appellant. There was, therefore, sufficient evidence to support the conclusion of the jury that the defendant was guilty of murder as charged in the information. It is not contended here that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the conviction. The appeal is based upon alleged misconduct of the jury and errors of the' trial court in giving certain instructions.

It is first contended that the district attorney was guilty of misconduct in the examination of witnesses, and in the insistent repetition of questions and interrogatories to which objections had been sustained by the court, after the

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district attorney had overstepped the bounds of propriety in comment as to the admissibility of testimony offered. Appellant contends that the conduct of the district attorney throughout the trial was calculated to and aroused the passion and prejudice of the jurors, and was such that the defendant did not have a fair and impartial trial. It cannot be denied that the district attorney showed considerable zeal in the presentation of the ease for the People. Counsel for the defendant was equally zealous in the defense of his client, and overlooked no opportunity to save every point he felt would inure to the benefit of the appellant. Progress of the trial was tedious, and the defendant’s counsel complained of the length of time the case was continued. The district attorney was, it is also to be admitted, persistent in the propounding of questions and in his offers of certain testimony. Objections interposed by appellant’s counsel led to frequent and sometimes prolonged discussion between the court and counsel as to the admissibility of the evidence under consideration. The court and the district attorney frequently differed, but from our careful examination of all that occurred during the trial we have been unable to discover anything more than an earnest endeavor on the part of the prosecuting officer to present the case of the People in its best light. In none of the instances we are here called upon to review can we say with any assurance that the district attorney knew the questions to be improper or the evidence he sought to introduce to be inadmissible, or that any questions were asked by him without the expectation of answers directed to the point of his inquiry.