Janssen

The appellant Joiner and one Janssen were jointly charged with the crime of extortion. Joiner, who, with his codefendant, was found guilty as charged, appeals from the judgment of conviction and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The sole point upon which appellant relies for a reversal is that the only evidence tending to connect him with the crime was that of three accomplices, D. E. Edwards, Jim Chadwick and G-. W. Tucker, whose testimony was not corroborated as required by section 1111 of the Penal Code. That section, so far as applicable, reads: “A conviction cannot be had upon the testimony of an accomplice unless it be corroborated by such other evidence as shall tend to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense; and the corroboration is not sufficient if it merely shows the commission of the offense or the circumstances thereof.”

The facts attending the immediate commission of the crime, as distinguished from appellant’s alleged connection therewith, are practically undisputed and are substantially these: About midnight of September 1, 1924, Edwards, Chadwick and Tucker went to the house of a Japanese who was living on a ranch about four and…