People v. Dotson

The defendant Lawrence Gene Dotson appeals from a judgment of conviction in violations of sections 187 (murder), 459 (burglary) and 211 (robbery) of the Penal Code, and from an order denying his motion for a new trial. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The defendant and an accomplice were interrupted by Francisco Herrera while in the act of ransacking his home. At gunpoint, Herrera and his party of two other men and women were herded into a bedroom, where the women were barricaded in a closet and the men were bound and gagged. The men were forced to empty their pockets and all members of…