Roman
People v. Roman
Opinion
Opinion
Fleming, J.
Hubert Arthur Roman appeals a judgment of conviction for second degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer engaged in the performance of his duty, and felony child-beating.
On 3 November 1965, Officer Richard Tapia of the Santa Monica Police Department went to Roman’s apartment house in response to a child-beating complaint, and was informed by a resident of the building that she believed the children in Roman’s apartment were being beaten. On a previous occasion Officer Tapia had investigated a similar complaint against Roman, and he had once accompanied Mrs. Roman to the apartment to pick up the children after the Romans had quarrelled.
After talking to Roman’s neighbor, Tapia went to Roman’s apartment and knocked on the open door, which then opened wider and disclosed an apparently unconscious child on the floor. Roman was seated in a chair in the living room. Tapia entered the apartment and examined the child and found welts on the back of its neck and blood in its nostrils. He placed Roman under arrest and called for his sergeant, while Roman attempted to call the FBI for information about his rights.