Manasse

The appellant, charged with the murder of one John K. Cook, was found guilty of murder of the first degree, and judgment of death was pronounced against him. He appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The fact of the killing was admitted, the appellant seeking to justify his act on the ground of self-defense. The finding of the jury against this plea is fully sustained by the evidence, and the only points now made by the appellant are that the trial court erred in overruling two objections to offered testimony, and that its charge to the jury embodied an incorrect definition of “reasonable doubt.”

1. It appeared that the defendant, with his wife and others, lived in what was known as “The Big House,” at the junction of the American and Sacramento rivers. The deceased, Cook, lived near by in a scow moored in the American River. On the night of December 23, 1906, Cook, together with the defendant's wife and one Hopkins, were in Cook’s room on the scow. Hopkins testified that the defendant came to the scow and asked his wife whether she was going up to the Big House with him. Upon her answering in the negative he left. After a few minutes he…