People v. Hagemann

DORAN, Acting P. J. This is an appeal from the judgment and order denying a new trial.

Defendant was charged by information with murder and was found guilty by a jury of manslaughter. The victim was defendant’s wife. As recited in appellant’s brief, “Recurrent quarrels and separations between them culminated on the night of February 22, 1948, or early morning of February 23, 1948, when the defendant fatally shot his wife and seriously wounded himself at their home near Océano, California. No third persons were present at the time of the shooting, and the affair was not discovered until some ten hours later.

“At the trial the defendant admitted the shooting, but contended that he acted in self-defense. He testified that he and his wife had been drinking quite heavily the evening of the tragedy, although he less than his wife, and the deceased in particular was considerably intoxicated and belligerent. His accounting of the immediate circumstances leading up to the fatal event was that during the continuation of an argument between them at their home as to whether they should resume normal married relationship, the deceased procured a revolver from another room, whereupon the defendant ran out the front door. ’ ’ Defendant returned about 30 minutes later; “. . . at this point the defendant testified, his wife started to rise up out of the chair, at the same time pulling a gun from her purse and saying to him, ‘I’ll kill you this time for sure, you son-of-a-bitch’, whereupon he lunged for her, grappled for the gun, and obtained it and fired five shots in rapid succession into the woman’s body. Approximately 10 or 15 minutes later, as near as the defendant could recall, he shot himself twice in an apparent attempt to take his own life.”

According to Officer Hardman, who was first to visit the scene, “I asked him what happened and he said-—well, he says, ‘I lost my head, I guess, and shot my wife and shot myself.’

‘ ‘ Q. And what did you reply, if anything ? A. I just said, ‘Ed, what did you do that for?’ Well, he says, ‘We was drinking and I lost my head.’ ”

[750]In a statement made by defendant to the district attorney the day following the shooting, defendant answered in reply to the following questions as follows:

“Q. Had you and she both been drinking? A. Yes.

“Q. How much? A. We had about four drinks.