People v. Gray

FOURT, J. This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction of murder in the second degree.

In an information filed in Los Angeles on January 20, 1967, defendant with Edward Arnold Normant as a eodefendant was charged in count I with the attempted robbery of Joe Virgil Long and Nancy Long on December 21, 1966, and in count II with murdering Joe Virgil Long on December 21, 1966. Both defendants were represented by the public defender, a jury trial was waived by each of the parties, and the right to a separate trial also was waived by each of the parties and counsel. Both defendants were found guilty of murder in the second degree. The attempted robbery charge was dismissed. Probation was denied and defendant was sentenced to the state prison. A timely notice of appeal from the judgment was filed.

■ A résumé of some of the facts is as follows: Joe Long and his wife Nancy were waiting for a bus at a bus stop at the corner of Venice Boulevard and Hill Street in Los Angeles at about 11:30 p.m. on the night of December 21, 1966. Defendant, Arnold Normant and John Spain walked behind. the bench where the Longs were seated and one of the three walking persons above named asked some directions of the Longs. [694]Mrs. Long answered the question. Mr. and Mrs. Long continued with their conversation when she noticed John Spain approach them with a gun in his hand saying, “Shut up; don’t give me any trouble.” At this time Long was standing up and Mrs. Long was seated. Spain shoved Mrs. Long and they ended up behind the bench. Long appeared to be attempting to push Spain away as he backed up. Long said, “You are not getting my money,” and then three shots were heard. The three persons who were together then ran away. In about 10 minutes an ambulance arrived. Long was dead from a gun shot wound in the chest. Two .22 caliber bullets were found in his body at the autopsy.

Mrs. Long identified defendant and Normant as the two persons who were with Spain. In her opinion, the three persons were together as they were side by side as they readied to cross the street. Long said after the shots, “They got me.”

Officer Schmidt of the Los Angeles Police Department at about midnight of December 21, 1966, was in the area of the shooting and saw defendant and Normant being held at gunpoint by a plain clothes officer in the area of 15th and Hill Streets about one block north of the scene of the shooting. Schmidt made a search of the area and apprehended Spain in a telephone booth at the California Hospital. The hospital is about three or four blocks from 15th and Hill Streets.