People v. Morales

Opinion

McDANIEL, J.

Defendant was convicted of robbery and first degree murder in connection with a purse-snatching incident. He appeals from the judgment on the verdict rendered in the presence of reversible error in the form of a failure to give a requested jury instruction.

On August 17, 1973, Mrs. Garnet Libby and her mother, Mrs. Minnie Smith, were walking home from the store down a residential street in Anaheim. Defendant passed the two ladies walking in the opposite direction. He then turned and, approaching Mrs. Smith from behind, grabbed her purse and fled down the street. A witness…