People v. Mills

BARNARD, P. J.

The defendant was charged, in separate counts, with forcible rape, sodomy, sex perversion and robbery. A jury found him guilty on all four counts and he has appealed from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

It would serve no useful purpose to review the evidence in its entirety. The complaining witness, who was a taxicab driver, met the appellant at a cafe on a Sunday afternoon in response to his call for a taxicab. He hired the taxicab by the hour and stated that he wanted to finish a drink. She remained with him at the cafe for approximately three hours, from 12:15 p. m. to 3:15 p. m., during which time he consumed three drinks. They then started out in the taxicab on his statement that he wanted to be taken to a certain place where a “crap game” was in progress. She did not know the location of the place in question and he told her to drive on, that he would direct her. Following his directions she proceeded into the hills easterly from San Diego and finally on to a side road, where most of the incidents in question occurred. As they were returning to San- Diego she observed him going through her purse. When they arrived at a point well within the populated section of San Diego he directed her to stop near an alley. She jumped out of the taxicab, ran into the street and hailed a passing motorist asking him to take her to the police department. At the same time she observed the appellant running down the alley. She was taken immediately to police headquarters, arriving there about 6:30 p. m. She told her story to the officers and was examined by a police surgeon. The appellant was arrested about an hour later at his home. The officers found him asleep on the porch with an empty quart beer bottle beside him and a full glass of beer on the ground. The appellant was able to answer questions when he was taken to headquarters. He told the officers that he remembered being at this cafe but could remember nothing else. He stated that he was drunk and did not know what he had done. A little later, he told the officers that he did not want the woman to testify against him and that he wanted to plead guilty. The complainant’s wallet was found

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in the appellant’s pocket containing a part of the paper money which she stated had been in it, and a pay check issued to the complainant, which had been in her purse, was found in the appellant’s home.