Lawrance

This is an automatic appeal (Pen. Code, § 1239) from a judgment of conviction of murder in the first degree and from an order denying a motion for a new trial.

The defendant, John Chauncey Lawrance, was tried by a jury, found guilty of murder of the first degree and was given the death sentence. The defendant was charged with having murdered one Kathryn Wells, also known as Kathryn Knodel, a human being, to which charge he pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was later withdrawn, and he went to trial on the single plea of not guilty. After having been found guilty by the jury of the crime, as charged, defendant moved for a new trial on all the statutory grounds (Pen. Code, § 1181), which motion was denied.

The victim, Kathryn Knodel, a girl 16 years of age, lived with her mother and stepfather in Redlands. The defendant, Kathryn’s mother’s brother, had been living two or three miles from the Knodel home, but had stated, about two or three weeks prior to the crime, which occurred on August 19, 1952, that he was driving to Tennessee for a visit. At the time he informed the family that he was going on the trip, he…