People v. Lee Fat

In bank, Morrison, C. J.: The defendant was indicted, tried, and convicted, in the County Court of San Joaquin County, of the crime of perjury.

The indictment charges, that upon an examination of one Ah Sing before the Police Judge of the City of Stockton, the defendant was sworn as a witness, and thereupon testified to a material fact as true which he well knew to be false.

It appears from the transcript that the defendant made a [528]complaint before the Police Judge of the City of Stockton, charging that Ah Sing committed an assault upon him, the defendant, with intent to commit murder, and thereupon said Police J udge issued a warrant for the arrest of Ah Sing. That an examination of said Ah Sing upon said charge was had before said Police Judge, and on said examination, the defendant being •called as a witness on behalf of the prosecution, testified that he did not know Ah Sing, and that Ah Sing was not guilty of the crime with which he was charged. The defendant, Lee Fat, was convicted of the crime of perjury, and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in the State Prison. From the judgment of conviction he has taken this appeal.

On the trial in the Court below, the prosecution offered in evidence the complaint made by the defendant, charging Ah Sing with the assault. To the introduction of this evidence, the defendant by his counsel objected, and the objection being' overruled by the Court, an exception was duly taken. The object of the prosecution was doubtless to show the pendency of the case (The People v. Ah Sing) in the Police Court, and it was certainly admissible for that purpose. The complaint laid the foundation for the preliminary examination of the case in which the perjury .was charged to have been committed. The learned counsel for the defendant treats the complaint as being the proceeding upon which the perjury is predicated, but such is not the fact. The theory of the prosecution is, that the complaint was true, and that in making the complaint the defendant simply swore to the truth. It charges Ah Sing with the crime of assault with intent to commit murder, and the evidence for the prosecution on the trial of the defendant upon the charge of perjury was directed to the proof of that charge. But on the preliminary examination, the defendant testified that Ah Sing was not guilty, that he was not the person who committed the assault upon him, and it is for so testifying that he was indicted, tried, and convicted. The case, therefore, clearly comes within § 118 of the Penal Code, which provides that “ every person who, having taken an oath that he will testify, etc., truly, before any competent tribunal, etc., in any of the cases in which such an oath may by law be administered, will