Ford

Defendant appeals following conviction after jury trial of attempting to prevent a witness from testifying by means of threat (Pen. Code, § 136.1). We reverse.

I. Facts

Defendant and two others were engaged in a preliminary hearing on 16 felonies, mainly robberies and burglaries. When Alvin Scott, who had turned state’s evidence, finished his testimony, he was directed to a jury room. Scott was standing in the hall doorway of this room when, the proceedings having been adjourned for the day, defendant Ford and his codefendants exited the courtroom and were being escorted down the hall by the bailiffs, away from Scott, toward the elevator. Ford turned and looked at Scott and yelled, “You punk mother fucker, we’ll get you, you’ve got kids.” Defendant was 50 to 60 feet from Scott when he made the threat.

The bailiff who was escorting the defendants to the elevator, the sheriff’s detective who was the investigating officer and who had just testified, and an officer in a room off the hall on an unrelated matter, all heard the defendant yell. There was no testimony that any one else was in that hallway other than the defendants, the bailiffs and Scott.

Scott, who had…