People v. Tapia

The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He appeals from the judgment and from the order denying a motion for a new trial.

The appellant is an Indian, evidently unlettered and ignorant. He was charged with the murder of one Jacob J. Veitinger, who was a somewhat elderly man, and lived alone in a small house in the country. On July 28, 1899, his nearest neighbor, Mr. William Cooper, discovered that Veitinger’s house had been burned down since the previous day, and found among the ruins the dead body of Veitinger. A great deal of his body had…