Roland Cochrane

Case identification

• Roland H. Cochrane was an inmate identified in the case as Inmate 009880.
• Defendant was Roland H. Cochrane.

Background

• 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.
• Otis Phillips and Horace Hunter intended that in the game Hunter and Phillips were to cold deck the party and win some money, approximately $100.
• 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.
• Hunter and Phillips called Roland Cochrane and Harold Burk and went to the bathroom of the apartment, where they 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 suggested 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.
• Hunter suggested that if they were going to hijack a poker game, they hijack the Chandler game.
• 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.

The offence

• Hunter then suggested a plan for the robbery of the poker player.
• Hunter and Phillips went to the Avalon Club in Phoenix.
• Later in the evening Hunter informed Phillips that Richard (Dick) Giles was in the Avalon Club in Phoenix that night.
• Hunter requested Phillips to go to the Royal Apartments and get Cochrane or Burke and bring him to the club.
• Hunter stated 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 went to the Royal Apartments and brought Cochrane back to the club.
• Either Hunter or Phillips, or perhaps both, pointed Giles out to Cochrane.
• The group planned the robbery of Giles at Hunter’s home.
• Hunter, Phillips, and Cochrane joined in the discussion of the robbery.
• The group discussed the amount of money Giles would probably have.
• The group discussed whether Giles would be armed.
• Hunter loaned his automobile to Phillips and Cochrane.
• Hunter instructed Phillips and Cochrane to follow Hunter and Giles to Hunter's home.

Participants and roles

• Cochrane was selected for the job of robbing because he was unknown to Giles, both Phillips and Hunter being known to him.
• Hunter, Phillips, and Cochrane planned the robbery.

Events at 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.
• Hunter, Giles, Harold McDaniels and Lorain Garvin went inside of Hunter's house.
• Phillips and Cochrane followed Hunter and Giles to Hunter’s home.
• Phillips and Cochrane 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.
• They parked the car at the street intersection about 100 feet from the Hunter home.
• Cochrane got out of the car and started to the Hunter home to rob Giles.

Robbery and killing

• 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 away.
• Cochrane appeared and pointed a gun at Giles and told him to "Stick 'em up".
• Giles gave Cochrane $2.45.
• 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.
• Cochrane fired a shot.
• The shot struck Giles in the neck.
• Giles was killed almost instantly.

Immediate aftermath and flight

• 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.
• Cochrane told Phillips to drive away.
• Phillips drove rapidly away.
• On the way to town, Phillips asked Cochrane what had happened.
• 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.
• Phillips 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 hid the gun in a cabin in an auto camp near where Phillips lived.
• The gun was found a few days later.

Gun and prior transfer

• The gun used in the killing originally belonged to Phillips.
• The gun had been soaked to Hunter some time before the holdup and killing.
• On the Sunday preceding the holdup and killing, Hunter returned the gun to Phillips.
• Phillips gave it to his step-brother, Constantino.
• Constantino lived at the Royal Apartments.
• Constantino gave it to Cochrane on the day or night of the holdup and killing.

Division of money and competing claims

• The understanding between Hunter, Phillips, and Cochrane was that Cochrane was to get one-half of the money taken from Giles.
• 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.
• Phillips denied this.
• The three defendants were apprehended.

Statements and admissions

• 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.
• Phillips and Hunter denied having any connection with the affair until after they learned that Cochrane had told of the whole affair.
• After learning Cochrane had told of the whole affair, Hunter and Phillips admitted their participation in the enterprise.

Timeline

• January 26, 1935 — An information was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for the County of Maricopa charging Roland H. Cochrane with the crime of Murder, a felony.
• January 28, 1935 — Roland H. Cochrane was arraigned and entered a plea of Not Guilty.
• February 12, 1935 — Trial began.
• February 16, 1935 — The jury returned a verdict of Guilty of Murder in the First Degree and fixed the punishment at Death.
• March 18, 1935 — Defendant was sentenced to Death.
• June 6, 1935 — Sentence of Death was made effective.
• October 2, 1935 — Roland H. Cochrane was executed by asphyxiation-gas in Arizona.

Investigation

• Otis Phillips and Horace Hunter planned the enterprise that resulted in the robbery and killing of Giles.
• The gun used in the killing was originally Phillips’s, later transferred through Hunter and Phillips’s step-brother Constantino, and was used by Cochrane.
• Phillips hid the gun in a cabin in an auto camp near where Phillips lived, and the gun was found a few days later.

Arrest and prosecution

• Before the date of the trial, Phil Phillips changed his plea to that of Guilty.
• 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.
• Phillips testified for the state to the facts in the case.
• Phillips’s testimony was about the same as the statement contained in the case summary.

Trial

• Defendant was tried.
• The trial lasted from February 12, 1935, until February 16, 1935.
• The jury returned a verdict of Guilty of Murder in the First Degree and fixed the punishment at Death.

Sentencing

• On March 18, 1935, defendant was sentenced to Death.
• On June 6, 1935, the death sentence was fixed.

Outcome

• Defendant was convicted and given the death penalty.
• Roland H. Cochrane was executed by asphyxiation-gas in Arizona on October 2, 1935.

Other details

• Defendant stated that his name was Jerry Cochrane.
• Defendant stated that his alias was Chas. E. Stevens.
• Defendant stated that he was 26 years of age.
• Defendant stated that he was born in New York City, N. Y., 3-2-08.
• Defendant stated that his father was living in Phoenix, Arizona, P.O. Box 735.
• Defendant stated that his mother and one brother were living in Hollywood, California.
• Defendant stated that he had one sister living in Chicago, Ill.
• Defendant stated that he was an American citizen.
• Defendant stated that he had been in Arizona and Maricopa County for three months.
• Defendant stated that he was a stenographer.
• Defendant stated that he last worked for the W. S. Marine Corp for five years and was discharged.
• Defendant stated that he had been convicted in El Centro, California, for Robbery in 1930.
• Defendant stated that he was not married.
• The submission was respectively submitted on 19th day of March, 1935.