Melissakis

*55 Opinion

On July 5, 1973, appellant, Theodore Adam Melissakis, registered at the Kern Hotel in Bakersfield, California, under the nomenclature “Smith”; he paid for one week’s occupancy and took up residence in room number 12. The hotel was located across an alley way from a building owned by the Pacific Telephone Company, and room number 12 faced two metal doors which were on the second floor of the telephone building.

On July 12, 1973, appellant paid in advance for another week’s occupancy at the hotel, this time using his true name. On the same day appellant went to a gun shop in Bakersfield and purchased a .22 caliber rifle and a box of ammunition; when purchasing the rifle he gave the hotel as his address.

On July 15, 1973, Arthur Jordan, an employee of the Pacific Telephone Company who was working in the telephone building, opened the two metal doors that faced appellant’s hotel room. As Jordan did so, appellant shot him in the right shoulder with the rifle he purchased from the gun shop. Then, when Jordan started to close the large double metal doors, appellant fired a second shot at the injured man; this shot ricocheted off the side of one of the doors. About an hour…

I dissent.

The chronology of events shows that: (1) On November 13, 1973, after a full pretrial hearing on the issue of present sanity at which the reports of three court-appointed psychiatrists were considered, a pretrial judge found appellant presently sane and able to proceed to trial. The majority opinion raises no issue concerning the propriety of this ruling nor the adequacy of the evidence to support it. (2) At the close of the prosecution’s case on November 21, 1973, defense counsel made an in camera request that the trial judge reconsider appellant’s present sanity. The record indicates that prior to counsel’s request appellant had asked the court to subpoena the documents and witnesses referred to in the majority opinion. The court denied the request to reopen the sanity hearing and, in doing so, did not rely exclusively upon the prior psychiatric reports but expressly stated that the court had observed appellant during the trial. (3) During appellant’s defense case he testified as set forth in the majority opinion.

The majority raises no issue regarding the pretrial ruling nor, indeed, as to the ruling denying the request to reopen made before appellant took the…

On July 5, 1973, appellant, Theodore Adam Melissakis, registered at the Kern Hotel in Bakersfield, California, under the nomenclature "Smith"; he paid for one week's occupancy and took up residence in room number 12. The hotel was located across an alley way from a building owned by the Pacific Telephone Company, and room number 12 faced two metal doors which were on the second floor of the telephone building.

On July 12, 1973, appellant paid in advance for another week's occupancy at the hotel, this time using his true name. On the same day appellant went to a gun shop in Bakersfield and purchased a .22 caliber rifle and a box of ammunition; when purchasing the rifle he gave the hotel as his address.

On July 15, 1973, Arthur Jordan, an employee of the Pacific Telephone Company who was working in the telephone building, opened the two metal doors that faced appellant's hotel room. As Jordan did so, appellant shot him in the right shoulder with the rifle he purchased from the gun shop. Then, when Jordan started to close the large double metal doors, appellant fired a second shot at the injured man; this shot ricocheted off the side of one of the doors. About…