Hathcock

The defendant was convicted of perjury in violation of section 118 of the Penal Code. The facts upon which her conviction was predicated are substantially as follows:

On the last day of January or the first day of February 1968, Barbara Simmons was driven from Fresno to Madera County and shot to death. Sometime later appellant, who was the wife of one of the suspects, Weldon Lee Hathcock, was granted immunity pursuant to Penal Code section 1324 from prosecution for any offense arising from the murder. Thereafter, she gave a written statement to the district attorney implicating her former husband in the killing. Appellant also testified as a witness for the prosecution at Hathcock’s first trial; that trial ended in a mistrial.

At Hathcock’s second trial, appellant was again called as a witness for the prosecution. She testified that her former husband ordered her to drive the murder victim and another man to Madera County. She said that when they arrived near the place where the murder occurred, she was told to stop the vehicle, and the two men and Barbara Simmons got out and walked several feet away; appellant heard a shot and then she heard several more shots before…