Borchers

People appeal “from an Order of the Superior Court . . . modifying the verdict in the above entitled cause by reducing the punishment imposed.” (Pen. Code, § 1238, subd. 6.) Defendant does not appeal. A jury found defendant guilty of murder of the second degree and found that he was sane at the time of the commission of the offense. The trial judge denied defendant’s motion for a new trial on the issue of sanity and ordered that “Defendant’s motion for new trial on the case in chief is ruled upon as follows: In lieu of granting a new trial, the verdict of second degree Murder is reduced to Voluntary Manslaughter.” The People argue that the evidence was sufficient to justify the implied finding of malice aforethought, that the evidence did not show that defendant was guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and that the trial court erred in reducing the class of crime found by the jury. We have concluded that no ground for reversal is shown.

Defendant, a Pasadena insurance broker, aged 45, met deceased, referred to throughout the testimony as “Dotty,” aged 29, at a zoo on May 13, 1956. With Dotty was Tony, an illegitimate child of four whom Dotty had cared for since 16 days after his…