People v. Bridgehouse

47 Cal.2d 406 (1956)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D was married to Marylou (W). They had a son, Danny, who was 2 1/2 years old at the time of the crime. W had a son by a prior marriage who was 6 1/2 years of age. D had met Bahr, the deceased, who was a part-time bartender as well as a commercial fisherman and an engineer on construction work. Mrs. Bridgehouse had known Bahr for more than six years. W told D that she was having a love affair with Bahr and that she had stayed all night with him. For some six or seven months prior to the crime, D had worked at two jobs. W was seeing Bahr at the family home, and other places. W left the children at home alone or took them with her to the bar where Bahr worked. D filed a suit for divorce. W told D that she would fight his divorce action and would not hesitate to lie or use any other methods in so doing; that she would kill him if he tried to take the children away from her. On the day of the killing, D went to W's mother's home in San Pedro where his wife had told him he could find some socks for his child. D saw Bahr sitting on the davenport reading. Bahr was living there at the time. D went back outside to put his child back into the car and had to go again to get the child but brought him back to the house. His mother-in-law told him when he came in the bedroom, 'Bill, you look white and shaking. I have something that I think will calm you down. Something the doctor gave me and I . . . .' After this statement, she went into the kitchen to get D a glass of water and as she returned she heard the shots; that she thought there were five or six of them; that D was firing them; that he was standing in front of Bahr who was standing in front of the sofa; that he started falling before the 'end of the shots'; that she saw Bahr fall over the coffee table; that she ran and got the child and went to her bedroom where she sat, holding him. She testified that prior to going to the kitchen for the water she heard either D or Bahr, say 'Hi, Bill.' At trial, D testified that it was all a haze, but he could remember Bahr jumping from the couch and then pulling the trigger on his gun. He claimed he was in pain in the region of the solar plexus or the thoracic or chest region while being questioned by police. The officer who came onto the scene testified that D was in some state of catatonic shock. D claimed he felt a great deal of shock seeing Bahr at the house. D was convicted of murder and appealed.