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Chapter 21: The Death Penalty in California: 1857–1970
- University of New Mexico Press
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413 Chapter 21 The Death Penalty in California 1857–1970 Susan Sanchez-Barnett T he definition of murder was determined by the First Session of the California Legislature with the passage of the Criminal Practices Act of 1851. Murder was defined as the unlawful killing of another individual , with malice aforethought either expressed or implied, and “the punishment shall be death.” The Criminal Practices Act of 1851 authorized legal executions in California, carried out by the sheriff within the respective county where the sentence was decreed. During this period of the Gold Rush in California, vigilantism had replaced institutionalized justice systems with swift decisions and executions outside the purview of organized law. A concise definition of murder and its consequences was decided by the state legislators, and enlarged by the end of the 1851 session to include grand larceny and bank robbery as capital offenses. By 1856 the degrees of murder were defined, and grand larceny and bank robbery were excluded under the death penalty. By the late 1850s several executions had already taken place under the direction of county sheriffs . The counties retained autonomy in regards to executions, and in an 1858 case the governor granted the first reprieve. Jose Anastacio, a young Hispanic, was convicted of the murder of Frank Mellen, a Scotsman who had little of value to be gained by his murder. Jose Anastacio was a Carmelo Indian, who had been seen the day before the murder in the company of Mellen. When Mellen ’s body was discovered, Anastacio was absent from the town and a search was conducted to find him. He was located forty miles away and brought back to town for trial. Anastacio was convicted on circumstantial evidence of the murder of Mellon and sentenced to hang. Governor John B. Weller approved a reprieve for Anastacio, but incorrectly wrote his first name on the document . The sheriff halted the hanging for further clarification from the governor, but Undersheriff Thomas Pool, “backed by the people of Monterey,” escorted the prisoner to the site of the murder and hanged him. A bitter exchange of letters occurred between Pool and Governor Weller, who accused Pool of “judicial murder.” Seven years later, Pool himself would be convicted and hanged for murder in El Dorado County.1 During the 1860s the number of settlers residing in California continued to increase after the Gold Rush and the admission to statehood. The settlers’ demand for new land continued to be a source of conflict between white immigrants and Native Americans. One capital case in 1863 414 Susan Sanchez-Barnett was the conviction of five Yuki Native Americans on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. The crime occurred when S. S. Davis reported his barn, filled with forty tons of hay, had been burned down. Davis reported that this was the work of local Indians, and that this act of arson was a signal of more intended hostilities. The Coast Yuki had been forced to live on the Nome Cult Reservation, relocated there by the state militia and vigilante groups. Davis led a group that rounded up many of the suspects, and several were shot while trying to escape. A total of ten Yuki were killed, and five remaining suspects were convicted of conspiracy and hung.2 By the end of the 1860s there was a three-year period when no state executions occurred in California. In 1875 there was an important capital case that involved the murder of Leander Davis by notorious outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez. This would be the first murder case in California in which a change of venue was requested. Vasquez was the leader of a band of robbers known for numerous holdups, stage robberies, and other crimes committed in northern California. When the band went to rob a hotel in Tres Pinos, it evolved into a multiple murder that led to a statewide search for the culprits. Governor Newton Booth authorized a large reward and commissioned Harry Morse, sheriff of Alameda County, to head up this posse, its actions being reported daily in the local papers. Vasquez was captured near the outskirts of Los Angeles by the local sheriff there, then transported by ship back to Monterey County. Because of fear that vigilante justice would occur, the trial was relocated to San Jose, making this the first occasion of a change of venue because of local prejudice. Tiburcio Vasquez was hanged on March 19, 1875, at San Jose. The Vasquez case has been interpreted by many...