Opinion
Appeal from the District Court of the Eleventh Judicial District, County of Placer.
[Note.--The record in this case is voluminous, and to give the facts it would be necessary to state the most of the evidence, which would occupy a great space in this volume, without any benefit to the profession.--Reporter.]
COUNSEL:
M. E. Mills, for Appellant.
Attorney-General, for Respondent.
JUDGES: Burnett, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Terry, C. J., and Field, J., concurring.
OPINION
BURNETT, Judge
Indictment and conviction for murder in the first degree.
We have carefully examined the voluminous testimony in the record, and we can see no substantial contradiction in the evidence of the different witnesses. Taking the testimony for the prosecution alone, and leaving out that of the defense, and we must say that we cannot see any ground upon which the verdict could stand. The principles laid down by us in the case of People v. Payne, (8 Cal. 341,) are quite applicable to the facts of the present case. It is with reluctance that we disturb the verdict of a jury in any case; but from the testimony, as stated in the record, it seems most manifest that the verdict must have been given under a state of great excitement, preventing a fair and just trial. The Court below should have granted a new trial.
Judgment reversed, and cause remanded.