People v. Montgomery

The defendant was indicted by the grand jury of Orange County. The indictment contained two counts, the first charging him with the murder of John D. Callicott and the second with the murder of Orlie R. Mahon. The jury acquitted defendant of the first count, but found him guilty of manslaughter under the second charge. The appeal is from the judgment and from an order denying a motion for a new trial.

The appellant on November 15, 1928, was employed by the California Gun Club as keeper and caretaker of its grounds, ponds and hunting blinds and for the purpose of spreading grain in the ponds, to attract aquatic game birds. It was also his duty to warn trespassers off the property, advising them that it was private, and not open to the public for hunting, and presumably to make this work the easier for him, the land was inclosed by fences except across a slough where tide-water ebbed and flowed, and it was sur rounded by an embankment from a half to two and one-half feet in height. Between 1 and 2 o’clock P. M. on the day in question the appellant heard a. commotion in the pond, which investigation disclosed was caused by a dog, unaccompanied, so far as appellant could see, by its…