Vogel

The appellant was convicted of

murder in the first degree and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The appeal is from the judgment and from an order denying a motion for a new trial.

The crime for which the appellant is sought to be punished was in the shooting of one Joe Ming, the occurrence having taken place near El Centro. Ming operated a dairy and Vogel was employed by him as a milker. Both the men were Swiss and had been acquainted at least as long as Vogel had been in the United States, a period of six years. Vogel had been employed by Ming for eighteen months and they had been friends the entire time. Several other persons, including Ming’s wife, were regularly on the ranch, and they all testified that not only had there been no trouble between the men on the day of the shooting, but that there had never been trouble of any kind between them. Ming himself stated, within a short time after he was shot, death not resulting from his wound until more than thirty-six hours had passed, that he had never had any trouble with Vogel and that they had always been friends. The record shows no motive whatever for the commission of the crime by Vogel.

The shooting occurred in the…