Hoover

The defendant was convicted of murder of the second degree. He was a professional pugilist. He pleaded guilty to a charge of former conviction of burglary. About noon on the thirty-first day of January, 1930, in company with his brother Lester, he entered the office of Erickson, who was a dealer in used automobiles. This office was a small wooden shack situated in the yard at Broderick, where the automobile business was conducted. The Hoover brothers attempted to negotiate an exchange of their machine, which they had previously wrecked by colliding with a telephone pole, for a Dodge car. Erickson, Roy, the deceased, and his brother Henry Smith, Ray Eustes, Portlocb and Corey, together with the Hoover brothers were about the office most of the afternoon. They were all drinking wine from a jug. No one was noticeably intoxicated, however,- except Corey, who was employed by Erickson to paint old machines. A dispute arose between the defendant or his brother and Corey over the proposed exchange of machines. The defendant then sat in the office on a stool hacking at the floor with a hand-axe. Erickson was temporarily absent. Corey, who was assuming to act for the owner of the business,…