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Posted Jan 5, 2015, 9:31 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 428
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fhammon
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The Cliff Dwellers, an American Indian-themed bar on Beverly, rang a faint bell. So I looked at the LAT and found this 1934 reference:
LAT
which would have been at the end of Prohibition. Judge McKay was a reliable friend to gamblers, bootleggers and racketeers.
Mr. Asch (Ash) had an interesting past:
LAT
and was to have a very noir future, summarized by the California Supreme Court [26 Cal.2d 799] in 1944:
The Robbery and Murder of Jack Asch
On Tuesday night, February 8, 1944, at about 9 o'clock a man (identified by three witnesses as defendant) armed with a .38-caliber revolver entered a cafe at 8201 Avalon Boulevard, Los Angeles, and announced, "This is a holdup." The bartender, Jack Asch, at defendant's direction opened the cash register and took out money. Defendant shot Asch, took the money, and ran out. As a result of the bullet wound Asch died on about February 11, 1944. The robbery and shooting were completed and defendant ran from the cafe within three to five minutes. The three identification witnesses were seated at the bar and were from two to fifteen feet from defendant. They further testified that defendant wore a dark jacket which resembled People's Exhibit 30 (a jacket of defendant) and a dark hat.
Defendant testified, as alibi for the night of February 8, that on that evening from 7:30 until 11 or 11:30 o'clock he was at a school operated by one Nichols; that he left with Mr. and Mrs. Nichols and one June Ganahl. Mrs. Slee, a member of the school staff, Miss Ganahl, and Mrs. Nichols corroborated defendant's testimony that he was at the school on the night of February 8 and that he did not leave the building until about 11 o'clock. Defendant, however, was not continuously under the observation of any of these witnesses during the period of time when, they testified, he was at the school. Defendant and his witnesses testified that they recalled the date because on February 8 Miss Ganahl took an examination.
A police officer testified that, to check the time, he drove from the school to 8201 Avalon, entered the cafe, remained there for four minutes, and returned to the school, at no time exceeding a speed of 35 miles per hour; that the elapsed time was eight minutes.
On August 28, 1944, defendant and Nichols were confined in adjacent cells in which, unknown to them, a microphone was installed. At this time the police had not informed defendant of the dates on which the murders of which he was suspected were committed. (He was then being held on robbery charges other than those for which he is here prosecuted, it does not appear on what charge Nichols was held.) A transcript of the recorded conversation of Nichols and defendant was received in evidence and includes the following:
"Simeone: Do you remember when you closed the school up? ... What nights did you have school? ... Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or what? [26 Cal.2d 800]
"Nichols: Sometimes every night. ...
"Simeone: That's where I was a couple of days, you see. ... I know the place [the cafe at 8201 Avalon] because I went there a couple of times, and I saw the date on the folder, the 10th [italics added] of February. ... I wasn't operating at that time. ... Mrs. Slee can prove I was there [at school], and if it was on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I can prove I was there to be there with June. ...
"Nichols: Did that fall on one of those days?
"Simeone: I don't know. I am just hoping it falls on one of those nights. ... Is my name on that list [the school records]?
"Nichols: Oh, sure, sure.
"Simeone: It is? Well, then, I have that beat."
Mrs. Slee's testimony as to the school records was as follows:
"Q. Was he [defendant] a student there at the school? A. Sometimes he was in classes.
"Q. Now, Mrs. Slee, you know what I mean when I say, 'Student,' don't you? A. Not that I remember, that he was on the books.
"Q. As a matter of fact, you know that he wasn't, don't you? A. Yes.
The transcript of the conversation of August 28 between Nichols and defendant continues:
"Simeone: ... [The police] told me where the place was on Avalon, 8201 Avalon. ... [O]n up to seven months ago I stopped in two or three times and nobody has ever said anything to me. ... So if they don't remember me then how ... are they going to remember me in February if it was me? ... There's proof that I wasn't even there. And besides when I went to that place it was real dark. ... Do you remember when June took that test? ...
"Nichols: I know you were there the night she was taking the examination. ... June is your best bet. ... It might be on that day when you were over there [with June Ganahl].
"Simeone: It will be on that day.
"Nichols: She kept dates pretty accurately on everything, I think.
"Simeone: It will be on that day.
"Nichols: Sure.
"Simeone: ... I have got to find out if it was after seven ... if it was before seven I don't know but I think it was after seven and I will ask them the time, and I will say, [26 Cal.2d 801] 'What was shot? A man or a woman? How was the guy dressed?' I will say, 'That's funny. I have been there two, three or four times, six times, and nobody ever said anything when I was in there. ... If they couldn't identify me then, how do they know I was in there?' ... I didn't do anything. They charged me with it."
Defendant stated to Nichols several times that he was so certain that he could "beat the two murder raps" that he intended to "dicker" with the police--to ask them to drop the robbery charges and to try him only on the murder charges.
February 10, the date on which defendant at the time of the above conversation believed the murder at 8201 Avalon was committed, was a Thursday. Mrs. Nichols testified for defendant that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were the regularly scheduled nights on which Nichols conducted the school "and sometimes ... on a Tuesday also." (Asch was shot on a Tuesday.) On cross-examination she testified that Nichols sometimes held classes on Saturday and Sunday nights, thus leaving Thursday the only night on which, according to her testimony, school was never held. The Times described the difficulty the police had with the case:
LAT
Mr. Simeone was executed 11/30/45. The events were dramatized in a Dragnet radio episode in the 50s.
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