Redinger

The defendant was indicted for the murder of one James King, was tried in the District Court of Colusa County, under this indictment, and on the 16th of December, 1879, convicted of murder in the first degree. The defendant moved for a new trial, which was denied. The Court, in due course, pronounced sentence of death by hanging. The defendant prosecuted an appeal to this Court, notice of the same having been served on the 9th of February, 1880, and the cause was here for argument at the session of May, 1880, held at the city of Sacramento.

When the cause was called for argument, the Attorney-General, (Hon. A. L. Hart) moved the Court for an order dismissing the appeal, on the ground that since the appeal was taken the defendant had escaped from jail, and was no longer in custody, to abide the sentence of the Court. This fact is certified to the Court by the affidavit of John M. Steele, the Sheriff of the county aforesaid, in whose custody the prisoner had been since the conviction and sentence above mentioned, who deposes under oath that the defendant, by stratagem and force, on the 5th day of April last, escaped from the jail aforesaid, and was then at large. The affidavit…