Planagan

By an indictment presented by the Grand Jury of Los Angeles County, defendant was accused of the murder of Dorothy Marie Courtemanehe on or about April 21, 1943.

Upon arraignment of defendant the cause was transferred for further proceedings to the juvenile court which court found him to be under the age of sixteen years and ordered him committed to the care and custody of the sheriff for suit *374 able detention, pursuant to section 731 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Thereafter, 'said juvenile court found defendant was not a fit and proper subject to be dealt with under the Juvenile Court Law, and the cause was “transferred to Department 43 for prosecution under the general law.” In said Department 43 of the superior court, defendant entered his plea of “not guilty as charged in the indictment,” and further pleaded that he was “not guilty of the offense charged because he was insane at the time that he is alleged to have committed said unlawful act.” Three doctors were “appointed under' section 1027 Penal Code to examine the defendant as to his sanity and report to the Court as to his mental condition.” When the cause was called for trial, defendant by leave of court,…

I dissent. Concededly, this is a case wherein circumstantial evidence alone is relied upon to sustain the conviction. It is also conceded that no motive whatsoever was shown for the commission of the homicide by the defendant. In connection with the absence of motive, our Supreme Court, in the ease of People v. Albertson, 23 Cal.2d 550, 567 [ 145 P.2d 7 ], uses this language:

In this state of the record, I am impressed that any errors of law committed during the trial might well assume proportions which could have turned the scales in favor of the prosecution and militated prejudicially against the defendant’s substantial rights. While the law makes no distinction between direct and circumstantial evidence in the degree of proof required for conviction and only demands that proof of guilt be established beyond a reasonable doubt by evidence of the one character or the other, or both, it is nevertheless, elementary law that the circumstances relied upon to establish the guilt of the accused must be consistent with that hypothesis and inconsistent with any other rational conclusion.

*420 In his opening statement to the jury, the district attorney referred to an incident which had…

By an indictment presented by the Grand Jury of Los Angeles County, defendant was accused of the murder of Dorothy Marie Courtemanche on or about April 21, 1943.

Upon arraignment of defendant the cause was transferred for further proceedings to the juvenile court which court found him to be under the age of sixteen years and ordered him committed to the care and custody of the sheriff for suitable detention, pursuant to section 731 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Thereafter, said juvenile court found defendant was not a fit and proper subject to be dealt with under the Juvenile Court Law, and the cause was "transferred to Department 43 for prosecution under the general law." In said Department 43 of the superior court, defendant entered his plea of "not guilty as charged in the indictment," and further pleaded that he was "not guilty of the offense charged because he was insane at the time that he is alleged to have committed said unlawful act." Three doctors were "appointed under section 1027 Penal Code to examine the defendant as to his sanity and report to the Court as to his mental condition." When the cause was called for trial, defendant by leave of…