Ming

After a jury found Robert Lee Ming guilty of murder in the first degree without recommendation as to the punishment which he should suffer therefor, he was-tried upon his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and found to be sane. As grounds for the reversal of the judgment which imposed the death penalty, Ming challenges the constitutionality of the procedure concerning trial of the issue of insanity and also asserts that the district attorney deprived him of rights relating to the examination of jurors.

The record shows that Ming shot and killed his wife and James Graham, a soldier who was her companion at the time of the tragedy. The shooting occurred at the doorway of á hotel in Bakersfield where she was living and each of the victims died almost instantly. Jealousy of his wife, from whom he was separated, was the motive for the homicides. It appears that she had secured an interlocutory decree of divorce, but Ming was insistent that she live with him again. Upon several occasions he had threatened to kill her and, at one time, he said that he would not let any other man have her.

Mrs. Ming and Graham were shot shortly after midnight. Twelve hours before, Ming had…