People v. Bates

This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction of involuntary manslaughter (Pen. Code, § 192.2) a lesser and necessarily included offense in the charge contained in the information.

On or about June 15, 1966, in an information filed in Los Angeles defendant was charged with murdering Bobert A. Stevenson with malice aforethought on May 10, 1966. Defendant pleaded not guilty and after a trial a jury returned a verdict of guilty of involuntary manslaughter (violation of the provisions of section 192.2, Penal Code). Proceedings were suspended, probation was granted for five years, a part of the terms being that defendant spend the first year thereof in the county jail. A timely notice of appeal was filed from the judgment (order granting probation, Pen. Code, § 1237, subd. 1).

A résumé of some of the facts is as follows: Shortly before the closing hours of a bar in Bedondo Beach, defendant and six other persons, William Hodgson, Baymond Norman, Mr. Headley (Slim), Mr. Watts, Bobert Stevenson, and the barmaid, Sharon Skeen, engaged in conversation. Defendant bought a round of beer for those in the establishment and invited those present to his restaurant, the New Orleans Kitchen,…