People v. Khair Din

The defendant was convicted of the crime of murder of the first degree and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a.new trial.

The victim of the alleged murder was one Fared Bakhsh and the date of the alleged billing was August 13, 1917. It appears that another man named Hassen Ali was killed at the same time, but this prosecution was for the killing of Fared Bakhsh. Hasson Ali, together with one Chanda Khan and the defendant, were living on a ranch in Imperial County of which they were lessees. The evidence tends to show that Chanda Kahn was not at the ranch at the time of the killing. No witness has been produced who saw the tragedy enacted or who was on the place at the time. The defendant did not testify, but his defense is that he was not there at that time. On the morning of August 14th a man who visited the ranch found the dead body of Fared Bakhsh lying on the ground a short distance away from the ranch house, and the dead body of Hassen Ali was found on a bed in the house. The evidence shows that on August 17th the defendant appeared at Tia Juana, in Mexico, more than a hundred miles away from the ranch…