People v. Bellon

The defendant appeals from a judgment of death pronounced upon a plea of guilty to an information charging him with murder and the trial court’s, determination that the murder was of the fisrt degree and without extenuating circumstance..

[1] Under our practice it is essential to proper pronouncement of judgment in the event of a plea of guilty of a crime distinguished or divided into degrees, such as murder or burglary, that the court first determine the degree. (Pen. Code, sec. 1192; People v. Jefferson, 52 Cal. 452.) This the court did in the case at bar, but it is claimed that the…