Jefferson

Appellant was charged in an information with the crime of murder committed on or about September 29, 1938, and pleaded “not guilty” to the charge. Thereafter the jury returned a verdict finding appellant guilty of the crime of manslaughter, a lesser offense than that charged in the information but necessarily included therein. This appeal is prosecuted from the judgment of conviction, as well as from the order by which appellant’s motion for a new trial was denied.

On the evening of September 29, 1938, William Yates and his wife, together with two other men and one woman, called at the home of appellant. Accompanied by appellant and his wife, the party, all colored, went to the Elks Cocktail Lounge on Central Avenue in the city of Los Angeles, where they all had drinks and danced, returning later to appellant’s apartment, where more drinks were served. About midnight the party broke up and everyone went out to the Yates’ car which was parked in front of appellant’s house. Mrs. Yates got in the front seat beside her husband who was sitting behind the steering wheel, and the other woman and the two men got into the rear. Lottie Jefferson, appellant’s wife, insisted on getting into…