Vukich

The defendant was charged with the murder of one Richard T. Stone on September 27, 1925, in Placer County. He was convicted and sentenced to suffer the extreme penalty. He has appealed from the judgment and an order denying his motion for a new trial. The facts leading up to and attendant upon the killing are briefly as follows: The deceased had charge, management, and control of the Alta Lumber Company’s sawmill located on the Baker ranch, on the Foresthill Divide, in said county. The defendant, a Montenegrin, about thirty-six years of age at the time of the trial, was sent to the Baker ranch, for employment as a millhand from an employment office in Sacramento, in June, 1923. He worked at miscellaneous jobs on the ranch and about the mill until September, 1923, when, following a controversy and a personal encounter with Stone, he was discharged and ordered off the premises. The defendant thereupon demanded the wages due him and was given a time-check for $161, which he claimed was sixty-five cents short. The time-check was directed to a bank at Roseville. He immediately went to the district attorney at Auburn and complained about an alleged attack on him by Stone, and also about…