People v. Chin Hane

The defendants were charged by the district attorney of Sacramento county, upon information, with the crime of murder. They were tried jointly and convicted, and, under the verdict of the jury, the court sentenced Chin Plane to be hanged, and Hoey Yen Sing to be imprisoned for life. This is an appeal from such judgment, and from the order denying a motion for a new trial. The killing occurred at about the *601 hour of 10 p. m., in a building upon I street, in the city of Sacramento, at the inception or during the progress of an affray, carried on, very probably, by two rival Chinese societies, several Chinamen being killed at the time and others wounded as the result of the discharge of many firearms. The principal witnesses upon both sides of the case were Chinese, and, as is the universal rule in this class of cases, the evidence on the main questions involved was directly conflicting. There is no complaint made upon the law given to the jury by the trial court, and the grounds for appeal consist of twenty-three specific, numbered specifications of errors of law committed by the trial court, largely in the admission and rejection of evidence. Many of these specifications are…