Albritton

By an information filed in the superior court, three men named respectively Albritton, Smith and Shiraishi were charged with the commission by them of the crime of murder. In the same information the defendant Shiraishi was also charged with the commission of a prior felony. Shortly, following the date of the arraignment of the three defendants, Shiraishi presented a motion that he be granted a trial separate from either or both of his co-defendants—which motion was by the court denied. Two days after the trial of all the defendants had commenced, Albritton and Smith each withdrew his former plea of “not guilty” and in lieu thereof entered a plea of “guilty as charged in the information”. The trial then proceeded as against Shiraishi only, and following his conviction of the crime of murder and the finding of the jury that theretofore he had “suffered a prior conviction of a felony”, he has appealed to this court from the judgment and the order entered by the superior court by which his motion for a new trial was denied.

From the evidence received on the trial of the action it would appear that the murder in question occurred following an unsuccessful attempt made by the three…