People v. Rosa

BARNARD, P. J.

The defendants were jointly charged with the crime of rape and, in a second count of the information, with the crime of kidnaping. A jury convicted the defendant Saucedo on both counts and convicted the defendant Rosa of the crime of rape. Judgments were entered and this appeal followed.

The main contention is that the evidence is not sufficient to support the verdicts. While it is conceded, as it must be, that

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the story told by the prosecuting witness is sufficient, if believed, to support the verdicts it. is contended that her testimony is so inconsistent, unreasonable and improbable as to make it unworthy of any belief and that it was not corroborated by any other evidence. A reading of the transcript discloses that this contention is without merit although it will serve no useful purpose to refer to the testimony here except in a most general way.

It appears without dispute that the complaining witness left a restaurant in the town of Westminster, in Orange County, shortly after 2 o’clock A. M. on June 23,1935; that soon thereafter and about a block away she was taken into an automobile which was also occupied by the appellants and two other men; that the appellant Rosa drove this ear some miles into the country; that Rosa stopped the ear at the side of the road; that at least four of the party went a few feet into a beet field which adjoined the road; that there at least a part of the acts upon which the charges in the first count were based took place; that an hour or so later the four men returned to their homes leaving the complaining witness in the field; that about 4 o’clock A. M. she appeared at a near-by house where she aroused the occupants and told them her story; that they took her to the sheriff’s office after which she was taken to a hospital; and that the appellants were arrested a few hours later.

With respect to the kidnaping charge, which affects only the appellant Saucedo, it is contended that the evidence is not sufficient to show that the complaining witness did not accompany the men voluntarily. Immediately after his arrest Saucedo made a statement to the officers which was taken down by a court reporter and which was introduced in evidence against that appellant alone. A portion of this statement strongly corroborates the story told by the complaining witness to the effect that she was taken into the automobile and to the spot in question against her will. Even the testimony of an independent witness, upon which the appellants particularly rely, is to the effect that the complaining witness stated that she wanted to be taken home and that the two men who took her to the ear promised to take her home. An inference may fairly be drawn from even this evidence that she was induced to enter the car upon a false representation and thereafter taken in another direction. The evidence was