People v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 05 April 1962
• Docket Number: Cr. 4074
• Citation: 20 Cal.Rptr. 592,202 Cal. App. 2d 179
• Court: California Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Eldridge JACKSON, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 592

20 Cal.Rptr. 592

202 Cal.App.2d 179

The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v.Eldridge JACKSON, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 4074.

District Court of Appeal, First District, Division 1, California.

April 5, 1962.

Eldridge Jackson, in pro. per.

Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., John S. McInerny, Robert R. Granucci, Deputies Atty. Gen., San Francisco, for respondent.

BRAY, Presiding Justice.

Defendant was convicted by a jury of murder in the second degree.The jury separately found defendant sane at the time of the commission of the offense.On motion for reduction of judgment under section 1181, subdivision 6, Penal Code, the court reduced the offense to manslaughter.Defendant appeals from the judgment of manslaughter.

QUESTION PRESENTED.

Defendant was represented in the trial court by the public defender.Defendant prosecutes this appeal in propria persona contending only that the evidence is not sufficient to support the conviction of manslaughter.

EVIDENCE.

Defendant's specifications of claimed lack of evidence are very meager.The Attorney General, because of this situation, very fairly scrutinized the record and detailed the evidence.We, likewise, have carefully studied the transcript of the evidence and are well satisfied that the evidence amply supports the judgment and that the public defender ably represented the defendant.

The deceased, Willie Stevenson, about 8:30 in the morning, was sweeping the sidewalk in front of Pearl's Grill.Defendant had been up all night and had been 'shooting pool and drinking, and coffee and stuff' at John Singer's.From there he went to Harvey's, a bar.Leaving there he saw Stevenson.Defendant started 'hurrahin" Stevenson, saying, "You ain't doin' nothin' but flunkying up and down the street."Stevenson objected to defendant 'johnnyin" him every morning and stated that he would "* * * wear the broom out on * * *"defendant.Thereupon defendant ran into Stevenson and hit him.Stevenson fell on his face.Defendant then took Stevenson's head and bumped it on the shoulder part of the concrete paving.Defendant bumped Stevenson's head four or five times or more before Cruise, who came from across the street, was able to pull defendant off Stevenson.The latter's head was badly swollen.

Two witnesses testified that although Stevenson raised the broom in the air, he had not touched defendant with it when defendant knocked him down.Four witnesses testified to defendant bumping Stevenson's head on the pavement.Defendant testified that he and Stevenson had merely exchanged pleasantries, and then he asked for a taste from the bottle out of which he said Stevenson was nipping.He said Stevenson refused and instead struck him with the straw end of the broom.Defendant contended that this precipitated a fight and that he was merely defending himself.When questioned by the police defendant claimed that he did not remember the fight at all.At the trial he claimed to remember it clearly.At one point, though, he stated that he did not bump Stevenson's head against the concrete; at another point he stated that he did not remember doing so.

After Cruise pulled defendant off of him, Stevenson picked himself up and went about his daily business.That evening he was found in the Van Dyke barber shop on his hands and knees.About 10 o'clock he was taken to the hospital, where he died at about 4 o'clock the next morning.

Dr. Allen B. McNie, a qualified pathologist who performed an autopsy on Stevenson, testified that death was caused by a subdural hemorrhage due to trauma.The trauma could have been the physical force from the described beating Stevenson received, although it would also be consistent with any later blow.The doctor would expect that a subdural hemorrhage would not cause immediate death and in his opinion the trauma which caused Stevenson's death occurred approximately 18 to 48 hours prior to the time he performed the autopsy, which was approximately 20 hours after the encounter between Stevenson and defendant.Deceased was 49, defendant 31.Both were about the same weight.Several witnesses testified to deceased's sobriety at the time of the beating and up to the time of the death.The autopsy surgeon, however, found evidence of .10 to .15 grams per cent alcohol in his blood.Defendant testified that he did not intend to kill Stevenson.

At the hearing on defendant's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, the prosecution relied upon the presumption of sanity and the opinions of two psychiatrists that defendant was sane at the time of the killing.Another psychiatrist opined that defendant was insane at that time.A Veteran's Hospital electroencephalogram taken of defendant in 1954 showed a grossly abnormal pattern.However, one taken in conjunction with the later inquiry failed to reveal any abnormal pattern.

Manslaughter is defined in Penal Code section 192 as the 'unlawful killing of a human being without malice.'The section also states that there are three kinds, voluntary, involuntary and while driving a vehicle.Obviously, the third type is not involved here.In reducing the offense of murder in the second degree the court was not required to designate which of the other two types applied, as long as the evidence would support a finding that one of those types existed.As said in People v. Huntington(1908)8 Cal.App. 612, 616-617, 97 P. 760, 762: 'If...