The facts and circumstances surrounding the
commission of the crime are as follows:
On the night of January 2, 1935, Otis Phillips and
Horace Hunter went to the Royal Apartments, in the city of Phoenix,
looking for another party that was supposed to be brought to the
apartment to engage in a poker game, and in which game Hunter and
Phillips were to cold deck the party and win some money, approximately
$100 that this-party had.
Upon arriving at the apartment, Hunter and Phillips,
who were gamblers, found that two more gamblers had gotten to the victim
first and had steered him to another place to play cards.
Upon learning this, Hunter and Phillips called Roland
Cochrane and Harold Burk, went to the bathroom of the apartment, and
discussed the question of locating the two gamblers with the victim and
hi-jacking the poker game to get the money in the game.
Hunter then suggested that there was a good poker
game at Chandler, Arizona, which Dick Giles played in, along with other
residents of Chandler, and that the parties all had considerable money
at the game, and suggested that if they were going to hijack a poker
game, that they hijack the Chandler game, to which all of the four
assented.
Hunter was to learn when the parties were playing,
and Cochrane or Burke, or perhaps both, were to do the actual robbing.
Hunter and Phillips then went to the Avalon Club in Phoenix, and later
in the evening Hunter informed Phillips that Richard (Dick) Giles was in
the Avalon Club in Phoenix that night, and requested Phillips to go to
the Royal Apartments and get Cochrane or Burke and bring him to the club
and that he would point Giles out to Cochrane or Burke, and that Hunter
would then take Giles out to Hunter's house in the city of Phoenix,
where Cochrane or Burke would rob Giles by holding him up.
Phillips did go to the Royal Apartments, and brought
Cochrane back to the club, and either Hunter or Phillips, or perhaps
both, pointed Giles out to Cochrane, and planned the robbery of Giles at
Hunter’s home.
Hunter, Phillips, and Cochrane all joined in the
discussion of the robbery and discussed the amount of money that Giles
would probably have, and also as to whether or not he would be armed.
Hunter then loaned-his automobile to Phillips and
Cochrane, and informed them that he would go with Giles to Hunter's home
where Cochrane could rob Giles. Cochrane was selected for the job of
robbing because he was unknown to Giles, both Phillips and Hunter being
known to him.
Hunter also instructed Phillips and Cochrane to
follow Hunter and Giles to the Hunter home. Shortly thereafter, Hunter,
Giles, Harold McDaniels and Lorain Garvin left the Avalon Club in Giles’
car and went to the Hunter home, and went inside of Hunter's house.
Phillips and Cochrane followed Hunter and Giles to
Hunter’s home, and arrived about the same time Hunter and Giles and
their companions were going into the Hunter home. Phillips and Cochrane
circled the block in which the Hunter house was situated, and parked the
car at the street intersection about 100 feet from the Hunter home.
Cochrane got out of the car, started to the Hunter
home to rob Giles. About the time Cochrane arrived in front of Hunter's
house, Giles and Mrs. Hunter came out of the house and got in Giles car
and were preparing to drive way when Cochrane appeared and pointed a gun
at Giles and told him to "Stick 'em up".
Giles gave Cochrane $2.45 and Cochrane demanded that
Giles turn over a bill fold which Hunter and Phillips had told Cochrane
Giles had in his hip pocket. Giles told Cochrane he could not get to the
bill fold sitting in the car.
Cochrane ordered Giles to get out of the car and come
around to the front of the car. Giles started to comply with the command
and as he started to come around the side of the car, he evidently
reached in his hip pocket, took out his bill fold, and threw it into or
over the fence in the Hunter yard, and Cochrane fired a shot, struck
Giles in the neck, killing him almost instantly. Cochrane then ran from
the Giles car to the corner and got in the Hunter car with Phillips.
At that time Cochrane had two pistols, one in each
hand, an told Phillips to drive away. Phillips drove rapidly away, and
on the way to town, asked Cochrane what had happened, and Cochrane told
him that he had had to shoot a man, but did not know whether he had hit
him or not. Phillips brought Cochrane back to the Royal Apartments and
left him there and went back up town.
Later in the night Phillips went back to the Royal
Apartments and got from Cochrane the gun Cochrane had used in the
killing. Phillips then hid the gun In a cabin in an auto camp near where
Phillips lived. The gun was found a few days later. The gun used In the
killing originally belonged to Phillips, but had been soaked to Hunter
some time before the holdup and killing.
On the Sunday preceding the holdup and killing,
hunter had returned the gun to Phillips and Phillips had given it to his
step-brother, Constantino, who lived at the Royal Apartments, had
Constantino had given it to Cochrane on the day or night of the holdup
and killing.
The understanding between Hunter, Phillips, and
Cochrane was that Cochrane was to get one-half of the money taken from
Giles, and the other half was to be divided equally between Hunter and
Phillips. Cochrane claimed that he gave Phillips $1 of the $2.45 taken
from Giles, but Phillips denies this.
The three defendants were apprehended. Cochrane made
a statement as to his participation in the affair. Phillips and Hunter
denied having any connection with the affair until after Cochrane was
arrested and they learned that he has told of the whole affair, at which
time Hunter and Phillips then admitted their participation in the
enterprise.
Cochrane was tried, convicted, and given the death
penalty. Phillip's case was yet to follow. Before the date of the trial,
Phil Phillips changed his plea to that of Guilty, and the County
Attorney stated that if Phillips would testify truthfully at Hunter’s
trial as to the whole affair, the County Attorney would recommend life
imprisonment for Phillips. Hunter was tried and Phillips testified for
the state to the facts in the case, his testimony being about the same
as contained in this statement.
*****
Defendant states that his name is Jerry Cochrane;
that he is 26 years of age; that his alias is Chas. E. Stevens; that he
was born in New York City, N. Y., 3-2-08; that his father is living in
Phoenix, Arizona, P.O. Box 735; that his mother and one brother are
living in Hollywood, California; that he has one sister living in
Chicago, Ill.; that he is an American citizen; that he has been in
Arizona and Maricopa County for three months; that he is a stenographer
and last worked for the W. S. Marine Corp, fox five years and was
discharged; that he has been convicted in El Centro, California, for
Robbery in 1930; that he is not married.