People v. Belencia
California Supreme Court
Appeal from the Eleventh Judicial District. Indictment for murder. Before the trial the prisoner asked a continuance upon the ground of the absence of witnesses, by whom he could show that at the time of the commission of the homicide charged he was so intoxicated as not to know right from wrong. The District Attorney objected solely upon the ground that the evidence, if produced, would be incompetent, and the Court sustained the objection, to which the defendant excepted.
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Appeal from the Eleventh Judicial District. Indictment for murder. Before the trial the prisoner asked a continuance upon the ground of the absence of witnesses, by whom he could show that at the time of the commission of the homicide charged he was so intoxicated as not to know right from wrong. The District Attorney objected solely upon the ground that the evidence, if produced, would be incompetent, and the Court sustained the objection, to which the defendant excepted. Subsequently, during the progress of the trial, the defendant asked a question of a witness for the purpose of eliciting…
1Opinion of the CourtCope, J.
Field, C. J. and Norton, J. concurring.
This is an appeal from a conviction upon an indictment for murder. On the trial of the case the defendant offered to show that when the homicide was committed he was so drunk as to be incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong. The Court excluded the evidence, holding that drunkenness, whatever its effect may have been upon the mental condition of the defendant, was no excuse for the commission of the offense. The exclusion of this evidence is assigned as error, and it is contended that under our statute creating two degrees of the offense the…
2Cited by22 opinions
- People v. GorshenCalifornia Supreme Court · 1959
- Hopt v. PeopleSupreme Court of the United States · 1882
- People v. WileyCalifornia Supreme Court · 1976
- Roberts v. PeopleMichigan Supreme Court · 1870
- People v. KingCalifornia Supreme Court · 1865
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