People v. Wheaton

The appellants, James Wheaton and Calvin Rowell, together with William A. Bringhurst, Willard Thompson, and Jess Wendell, were indicted by the grand jury of the county of Los Angeles for the crime of murder, alleged to have been committed on the sixth day of December, 1921. Upon motion of appellants, the court ordered that Wheaton and Rowell be tried separately from their co-defendants Bringhurst and Thompson. Wendell was never arrested. The jury found appellants guilty of murder in the first degree and fixed their punishment at imprisonment in the state’s prison for life. Prior to judgment…