Maughs

The jury returned a verdict against the appellant of murder of the first degree, and, in the exercise of the discretion conferred upon it by section 190 of the Penal Code, fixed the penalty at imprisonment for life.

After the presentation and denial of a motion for a new trial, the defendant was, in accordance with the terms of said verdict, sentenced by the court to imprisonment in the state penitentiary for the term of his natural life.

This appeal is from the judgment and the order refusing defendant a new trial.

The crime of which appellant was convicted grew out of the killing by him of one Charles Zander by means of a pistol or revolver.

This is the second trial of the cause, the first having resulted in the conviction of the defendant of murder of the first degree and the imposition of a judgment involving the death penalty, but the judgment and order therein were reversed upon appeal to the supreme court and the cause remanded for a new trial. (People v. Maughs, 149 Cal. 255 , [ 86 Pac. 187 ].)

The defendant, for some time prior to the homicide, had been in the service, as a sort of general “utility man,” of the deceased and one B, E. Cole, on a “ranch” in Merced…