People v. Griffin

PEEK, J. This is an appeal by defendant from a judgment of conviction of murder of the second degree following a trial before the court sitting without a jury.

The evidence shows that defendant had loaned a dollar to one Williams upon his statement that he would repay defendant that same evening. However when defendant asked Williams for the return of the money, Williams stated he would pay the defendant when he got it. The following morning while the two men were in a bar in the city of Stockton, the subject of the loan was brought up again. Williams informed defendant he wasn’t going to pay him the money. Williams thereafter left and with one Mingo walked across the street to a second bar. A few moments thereafter defendant entered the second bar and again demanded the money from Williams. When Williams informed him he had no money, defendant became angry and was admonished by Mingo to be quiet. Shortly thereafter Williams and the defendant came out of the bar and continued their argument on the sidewalk. Before leaving the bar defendant made sure that he had his knife in his pocket. Williams stood facing the defendant, holding his coat over his arm with his hands at his sides. According to one witness, Williams did not appear to be arguing with the defendant but did appear like a man who was “kind of drunk.” Defendant said something to Williams who shook his head. At that moment defendant sprang at him and stabbed him in the chest, the impact of [770]the blow knocking Williams off his feet. As he lay on his back on the sidewalk defendant kicked him in the face two or three times. Persons nearby helped Williams to his feet and to an adjoining hotel where he requested that someone call for an ambulance. Defendant immediately left the scene and went to his hotel where he hid the knife. When apprehended by the police that same evening, he denied any connection with the stabbing; however, he later admitted his acts hut stated they were done in self-defense. The autopsy revealed that the cause of death was a stab wound which entered the pericardium of the heart causing an acute hemorrhage in the left chest.

Defendant contends that under the record he at most could only be convicted of manslaughter. The Supreme Court of this state has defined murder of the second degree as “. . . a willful act characterized by the presence of malice aforethought and, at least ordinarily, by the specific intent to kill, and by the absence of premeditation and deliberation.” (People v. Bender, 27 Cal.2d 164, 181-182 [163 P.2d 8].) Applying this rule to the facts in this case, there can be no question but that all of the elements noted in the Bender case are present here.