Share this:

From Wayne Hillman’s appeal:

In 1946 Wayne Hillman and Marie Hillman were married. About four months after the marriage date difficulties arose between them and from then on their marital history was punctuated by quarrels and misunderstandings. The quarrels were frequent, often violent. When Marie Hillman was given certain duties in connection with the Hillman ranch which the appellant owned [140 Cal.App.2d 904] near San Luis Obispo, difficulties arose over the performance of these duties. …

“On January 31, 1955, at the Hillman ranch the appellant and his wife began a particularly violent quarrel. According to the appellant his wife’s drinking habits were of concern to him, and he chided her about them. During the argument the appellant pushed his wife, and she fell down. Thereafter his wife left the room and Hillman finished his dinner. He went into the living room. His wife was in the bedroom lying down. The quarrel between the parties resumed, and the appellant went into the bedroom and proceeded to undress conversing with his wife all the time. During the course of the evening with the argument resuming and shutting off alternatively, appellant stated that he warned his wife to ‘lay off Wayne Martin.’ His wife taunted him by stating, ‘You’d better look out for Johnny.’ This is according to the testimony of appellant. The appellant gave his version of what then occurred and he testified that he was under the belief that his wife was reaching for a gun in the drawer of her nightstand. According to his testimony in order to beat her to the draw, so to speak, he reached into his own nightstand drawer, grabbed his own gun and shot his wife three times, killing her. Thereafter, his son, DeWayne Hillman, came in and the appellant stated, ‘I just shot your mother.’ Officers were called and came immediately to the Hillman ranch.

“The admissions made by appellant when arrested by the police officers were, to Deputy Sheriff Lewis Tate: ‘She gave me nothing but trouble.’ ‘She wouldn’t retract the statement and I shot her.’ To Deputy Sheriff Roy Ottoson: ‘I did it, and you know it has been building up for a long time, and a man can only take so much.’ To Richard C. Stacey, Criminal Investigator of the District Attorney’s Office: ‘The pressure was building up for ten or twelve years. I couldn’t stand it any longer.’ “

That the deceased was a heavy drinker over the years the record establishes beyond question. It would serve no useful purpose to detail this most unusual situation.

It is sufficient to note, as recited in appellant’s brief, that, “The history of their marital life was one of great discord and conflict almost from the beginning, interspersed, however, with periods of affectionate reconciliation. They quarreled violently about many things. The management of the Rolling Keys Ranch, a cattle and wheat ranch of some 6,400 acres which appellant had owned prior to his marriage to Marie, [140 Cal.App.2d 905] was often a cause of dissension. Appellant accused his wife of spending too much money, of forging his name to checks, of excessive drinking of intoxicants, of relations with other men. Both Marie and appellant were heavy drinkers, and this added fuel to the fires. On a number of occasions, appellant had struck her and she had struck him. In the course of these arguments vile and obscene language was freely used by both of the parties.

“Marie’s intimate friend, Josephine Shaeffer, a witness for the People, admitted that Marie was a heavy drinker and that on the several occasions when she had overheard her arguing with her husband, both had been drinking. Other evidence, established that when Marie had been drinking heavily, she was very combative and belligerent.”

Wayne Hillman released on parole 2/23/1962.

People v. Hillman