Griffin

Defendants were convicted of the robbery and murder of Laurence L. Lyon, as charged in an information. Defendant Smith appeals from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

It appears from the record that decedent was a medical student at the University of Southern California in the city of Los Angeles; that he spent the evening of November 11, 1934, with friends, and that around the hour of 1:20 A. M. these friends drove him in their automobile to his fraternity house where he made his home, which was located near the university. About an hour later, in the neighborhood of Eighth Street and Central Avenue, in the city of Los Angeles, decedent was shot by defendant Griffin, who robbed him, struck him in the head and left him lying in the street. He died shortly thereafter as result of the injuries received at the hands of Griffin.

As to defendant Smith’s connection with the crime, the theory of the prosecution was that Smith was an accomplice of Griffin and that he acted as a lookout for Griffin, as he stood leaning against the corner of a building at a point near the intersection of Ninth Street, Central Avenue and Linden Street, which…