Reaksecker

This is an appeal from a conviction of burglary.

At about 4 o’clock in the morning of March 2, 1962, the janitor of a bar on the Napa-Vallejo Highway was forced by a masked man who was carrying a pistol to allow entry to the building and to point out the location of the cash register. He was struck over the head by something which felt like a bag with sand in it. He was forced to lie on the floor and heard an exchange of men’s voices. Shortly after this, the manager of the bar entered, saw a masked man, drew his own gun, fired, killed the intruder, and then saw another masked man coming through the doorway. This was appellant. The manager shot at him, and appellant fled after firing a single shot which, he stated variously, was by accident, or perhaps to discourage pursuit. Appellant was found lying on the front seat of an automobile. A stocking made into a sap by being stuffed with a potato was in the back of the car. He had tossed the gun into a farm machine, had thrown away the stocking mask, and had reversed his jacket because, he said later, the outside had a patch which might be recognized. Both men had been wearing masks made of women’s stockings, in which slits for eyes…