People v. Dorsey

[259]

BARNARD, P. J.

The defendant was charged with the crime of attempted rape, alleged to have been committed on December 9, 1955. A jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to prison. He has appealed from the judgment and from an order denying a new trial.

Around midnight on December 8, the appellant and one Blaylock picked up two girls, with whom they had not been acquainted, at a bar. The four of them briefly visited another bar, and the men offered to take the girls home. The appellant said he had to stop and see a friend on a business matter, and the girls were driven to an unlighted side road in Orange County, where the incidents here in question occurred. Blaylock had intercourse with one of the girls, and the appellant tried to have intercourse with the other girl but finally desisted because of her resistance. This girl suffered a broken finger, and her face was so bruised and scratched that the officers took her to a hospital for treatment shortly after they saw her. Several of her garments were torn and four buttons from her blouse were gone.

As these parties were returning toward home the car was stopped by an officer and they were taken to a police station. An officer in the police station had a conversation with the two men and the two girls at 4:20 a. m. on December 9. He testified that in the presence of the two men the two girls told a story the details of which are similar to that which they told on the witness stand; that after hearing the girls’ story he talked to the men; that this appellant admitted, in the presence of the two girls, that he attempted to have intercourse with the one involved in this charge but discontinued his efforts due to her continued resistance; and that the appellant then stated that he had slapped this girl on the side of the face while on a side road in Orange County and knocked her down, that while on top of her he had tried to have intercourse with her, and that her resistance stopped him. About 9 :30 on the morning of December 9, another officer took the two girls to the scene where the acts occurred, and they found the four missing buttons from this girl’s blouse. About 6 o’clock on the morning of December 9, pictures were taken of the head and face of this girl, which were admitted in evidence.

Toward night on December 9, three officers took statements from the appellant and Blaylock at the sheriff’s office. These statements were taken separately and taken down on a tape recording. It appears that these men made these statements voluntarily, but that they did not know that they were being