People v. Melendrez

SMITH, C.

The defendant was convicted of the crime of murder in the second degree, and appeals from the judgment and from an order denying a new trial.

The killing took place in the county of San Diego, near the village of Hedges. A man had been stabbed there by one Bosales, who had escaped. The people of the village, or many of them, including the defendant, were in pursuit of the fugitive, who—as also the deceased—was not personally known to the defendant. In the course of the pursuit the defendant came upon the deceased—a colored man, named John Lee—- and shot him while running away.…