People v. Reeves

BARNARD, P. J.

The defendant was charged, in separate counts, with three violations of section 288 of the Penal Code, the victims being a boy 9 years old, a boy 7 years old, and a girl 6 years old. He was also charged with a prior conviction. He admitted the prior conviction and pleaded not guilty to each count of the information. A jury found him guilty on each count and his motion for a new trial was denied, as was his application for probation. He was sentenced to state prison, the sentences on the three counts to run concurrently. He was represented at the trial by the public defender, but personally appealed from the judgment and from the order denying a new trial. He is represented on this appeal by an attorney appointed by this court.

It is first contended that the evidence, with respect to the identification of the defendant, was insufficient to justify the verdicts. It is argued that there were inconsistent statements and vagueness in the testimony of the prosecution witnesses, with respect to such identification, which make their testimony incredible; and that when this evidence is compared with the positive and consistent evidence of an alibi offered by the defendant, the evidence so clearly preponderates against the verdicts as to establish that they were the result of passion or prejudice.

With respect to these claimed inconsistencies, one of the boys testified that he thought the man who molested him had some tattoos on his arm. When asked what those tattoos

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were, he said he thought they were two things which differ from the two things which were actually upon the defendant’s arm. He also failed to identify a certain pair of trousers as the pants of the man who molested him. There was also an inconsistency between his testimony at the preliminary and at the trial, with respect to whether the man in offering him 50 cents had said what it was for. The two boys differed as to the color of the pants worn by the man, but those two offenses were committed several hours apart. The other boy failed to notice any tattoos on the arm of the man. The little girl testified that the offense was committed after lunch, while at the preliminary she had testified, “I think it was before lunch. Maybe it was after. I can’t remember there.” She also failed to state how the man who molested her was dressed, and did not describe the physical characteristics upon which she based her identification of the defendant as the man who molested her.