Wilson

By information the defendant was charged with the crime of murder in that on the ninth day of April, 1922, he did kill and murder one Herbert Cox. He was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He has appealed from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

Departments seventeen and eighteen of the superior court of Los Angeles County are located on the second floor of a building known 'as the Hall of Justice. The county jail and the Hall of Justice are separated by an alley twenty feet wide. For convenience in conveying prisoners between the jail and the courts a bridge spans this alley, connecting with the jail on the south and the Hall of Justice on the north. This bridge is somewhat above the ground, its floor and sides are of cement, and its roof is flat. The bridge is on the level of the jail door. On coming out of the jail one crosses the bridge and then ascends a short flight of steps to the floor of the court building. The passage there leads to the left through a door in which there is a wicket covered by bars and a screen. Through this door one passes into a vestibule in the rear of the two courtrooms.…