Schuler

The defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree and appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

It appears that the defendant was employed as a gardener by Harrison Chandler and had been so employed for several years. The deceased, Godfrey Repensek, had also been employed by Chandler as a chauffeur for a little more than one year prior to his death. On March 3, 1925, when Chandler was approaching his home, about seventy-five yards from the garage he heard two shots which he thought was the exhaust from his automobile, as he knew the chauffeur was working on the car in the garage. After the lapse of about one minute, he heard a third shot, and then went into the house. Ten or fifteen minutes later the maid informed him that something had happened to the chauffeur; whereupon he went to the garage and found Repensek lying underneath the automobile. After the shots were heard, Chandler saw the defendant proceed to the yard, where he worked on the lawn until the police officers arrived. Chandler testified that, so far as he knew, the defendant and the deceased were good friends, and "that during all the time Schuler was working for him he…