Matthew

The four defendants in this case were jointly indicted and jointly tried for the crime of murder. The defendants Matthew and Sinuel were convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to suffer the death penalty. The other two defendants, Pope and Williams, were convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to imprisonment for life in the state penitentiary. The appeal to this court is by the defendants Matthew and Sinuel. The other two defendants, Pope and Williams, appealed to the district court of appeal. (People v. Matthew (Cal. App.), 228 Pac. 417 .) Included and intermingled in the brief presented in support of the appeal to this court of the defendants Matthew and Sinuel are the points made in support of the appeal of the other two defendants which is now pending in the district court of appeal. Apparently it was the purpose of the respective counsel for all of the defendants to make the same brief serve a single purpose in both courts. This is a practice which is not to he commended and should not be resorted to again. Whatever may have been the necessity for a resort to such procedure, the confusion which results in the consideration of the law and facts…