Ray

James Lee Moore, Christine Sandra Ray, Barbara Ruth Bush and Johnnie Stigall, Jr., were convicted of felony murder committed in the course of an attempted robbery, and each of them was sentenced to life imprisonment. Moore and Ray appeal. The four defendants were tried together and the appeals of Moore and Ray are in this court upon a single transcript.

Moore was represented at the trial by the public defender who, pursuant to the discretion vested in him by section 27706, subdivision (a), Government Code, elected not to prosecute an appeal in his behalf. Defendant Ray had private counsel throughout the trial. Both of said defendants requested appointment by this court of counsel to represent them on appeal. This we did. Counsel so appointed reported that there was no discernible merit in the appeals and requested to be relieved. It was so ordered and the appeals were submitted upon the merits. A careful examination of the record confirms the opinion of counsel that there is no merit in either appeal.

Under the management of “Lawyer” Dennis (who, as the transcript indicates, was not a lawyer in fact but had had that name conferred upon him by his parents or himself), the four…