People v. Clark

Defendant was charged with the murder of his estranged wife. He entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. During the course of the trial in which he was competently represented by counsel of his own choice, he withdrew the latter plea. After a nonjury trial, the court found him guilty of murder of the first degree and decided that the penalty should be life imprisonment. Judgment was entered accordingly.

The same judgment convicts defendant of assaulting a second victim with a deadly weapon in violation of Penal Code, section 245. He does not question the correctness of this conviction.

Appellant’s Contention

Appellant’s sole contention is that the evidence is insufficient to support the trial court’s finding that this murder was murder of the first degree. This contention proceeds upon the mistaken assumption that the trial judge was bound to believe and give full faith and credit to appellant’s uncorroborated testimony that prior to the killing he had been taking barbiturates and imbibing intoxicating liquor in quantities remarkably prodigious.

On the basis of this self-serving testimony and testimony of expert witnesses given in response to…