People v. Cole

A jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder and fixed his punishment at life imprisonment. The principal questions raised on this appeal are whether the trial court erred in ruling upon the admissibility of evidence and whether the evidence is sufficient to support the verdict.

The body of the victim, Mrs. Helen Roberts, was found near a road in Sutter County on the afternoon of November 15, 1954. Dr. Paxton, a pathologist, examined the body and performed an autopsy. He testified that Mrs. Roberts was an obese woman about 50 years of age, that her death was caused by a gunshot wound,…