Figueroa

The defendant was convicted of the crime of murder of the first degree and sentenced to death. He appeals from the judgment and from the denial of his motion for a new trial.

The defendant was accused of the murder of his wife, Sarah M. Figueroa, on the night of May 22, 1910. The ease was submitted on appeal without oral argument on behalf of the defendant or the people, and no briefs have been filed by either party. Notwithstanding this failure of counsel to present the case upon appeal, we have, as is our usual practice in capital cases, carefully read the record and considered the rulings and proceedings upon the trial. The defendant was given a fair trial. The evidence of his guilt was clear and satisfactory. We find but one ruling worthy of notice. It was shown by direct and satisfactory evidence that the defendant shot and killed his wife with a pistol. A witness testified that on the evening before the 22d he saw the defendant and his wife, at their residence, and observed that the defendant had a pistol in his hip pocket, the handle of which was similar to a pistol found near the body of the wife soon after the shooting on the subsequent night. The homicide took place in…