Sica

On October 23, 1924, Norval M. Hyde, twenty-one years of age, was killed by the accidental discharge of a shotgun in the hands of the defendant Angelo Sica, seventeen years of age, while the latter was pointing the gun, in play, at Hyde. Sica was informed against by the district attorney for the crime of manslaughter, and upon trial was convicted, the jury recommending leniency. After denying a plea for probation, the trial court sentenced Sica to imprisonment in the state prison at San Quentin. Sica has appealed, and for a reversal of judgment urges two principal grounds—first, insufficiency of evidence, and, secondly, errors of the trial court in the matter of giving instructions to the jury, which he claims deprived him of a fair trial.

The circumstances leading up to and attending the death of Hyde, as shown by the evidence, were as follows: Hyde and a young man named Far linger were employed on certain premises near Fresno operated as a gun club, and lived in a tent on the property. Hyde and Sica were friends. About a week previous to the fatal shooting Sica had called on Hyde at the gun club’s property and was invited by Hyde to visit him again. On the day of the accident…