Wallace

This is an appeal by defendant Henry Wallace from a judgment convicting him of second degree murder, in violation of Penal Code, section 187. Defendant’s sole contention on appeal is that the court ought to have granted his motion, under Penal Code, section 1538.5, to suppress certain evidence obtained in an allegedly unlawful search of his home.

The evidence produced at the hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress may be summarized as follows: Sergeant Harmon testified that at 4:15 p.m. on March 1, 1971, he was on duty in a patrol car when defendant Wallace flagged him down on the street, stating that his wife had been hurt and that he needed help badly. Harmon asked defendant where his wife was, and defendant turned and led the officer into the open door of a house. The door led into a living room where Harmon observed a woman, subsequently identified as defendant’s wife, seated on a couch. She was bleeding from the nose and mouth. Harmon asked defendant what had happened, and he stated that his wife had fallen down. Harmon then went to his patrol car and called for an ambulance.

Sergeant Harmon returned to the house after completing the call, where he then had…