Villalovas

Defendant was convicted of committing the crime of murder in the second degree, the judgment of the court being a sentence to imprisonment for a term of fifteen . years. He appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The ground upon which defendant’s attorneys argue for a reversal is that the evidence is insufficient to justify the verdict.

It appears that Samuel Smith, an old man 87 years of age, lived alone in a shack located upon the waterfront in San Diego; that about 4 o ’clock p. m., June 10, 1915, he was discovered in his house with wounds on the back and front of his head which had apparently been inflicted by a blood-stained club found near him. The blood resulting from his wounds was dry, indicating long exposure. It also appeared that defendant, for some three or four nights immediately preceding the attack, had slept at the house of deceased, and that he left the city on the evening of the day when deceased was found in his wounded condition. While other facts and circumstances were established tending to prove defendant’s guilt, the chief evidence, as to the competency of which no attack is or was made, was that given by one Isais…