People v. Alviso

Citations

• 55 Cal. 230

Syllabus

<p>Murder—Indictment.—An indictment for murder, which charged that defendants ‘1 did feloniously, and unlawfully, and of their malice aforethought, kill and murder J. R., contrary,” etc., held to he good.</p> <p>Id.— Separate Trial—Discretion of the. Court.— The defendants in open court waived a separate trial, hut afterward, before the jury was sworn, moved for a separate trial. Held, that it was in the discretion of the Court to refuse the application.</p> <p>Id.—Practice — Bill of Particulars.—The defendant is not entitled to a bill of particulars of the evidence relied upon to sustain the indictment.</p> <p>Id.— Witness—Evidence.— A woman, who is living with the defendant as his wife, but not married to him, is a competent witness against him.</p> <p>Id.—Evidence.—Upon the trial of an indictment for murder, upon the question as to whether the place of the killing was within five hundred yards of , the boundary-line of the county of the indictment, the estimate of a witness i who had been upon the ground, but who had not actually measured the distance, was admitted. Held, not to be error.</p> <p>Id.—Corpus Delicti.—It is very seldom that a conviction occurs without a direct proof of the corpus delicti, either by eye-witnesses of the homicide, or the subsequent discovery of the body; yet there may be exceptions, as where the body has been consumed by fire, or boiled in potash, or dissolved by acids, rendering it impossible that it should ever be produced, and in such cases the corpus delicti may be proved circumstantially or inferentially. Held, accordingly, in this case, upon the evidence stated by the Court, that the corpus delicti was sufficiently proved.</p>