People v. Collins

GIBSON, C. J.

Defendants Collins, Scott and Brown were jointly accused of rape committed with force and violence in violation of subdivision 3 of section 261 of the Penal Code.

1

The age of the prosecuting witness was not stated in the information, but the evidence at the preliminary hearing and the trial showed without dispute that her age was 15. The court sitting without a jury found defendants guilty of rape in violation of subdivision 1 of section 261 (intercourse with a female person under the age of 18). Motions for new trial were denied. Brown and Collins were sentenced to a state prison, and Scott was committed to the Youth Authority.

Defendants concede that the evidence is sufficient to support a finding that each of them had sexual intercourse with the

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complaining witness, a girl under the age of 18 years, without the exercise of force or threat. It is their contention that they could not properly be convicted of that offense, commonly called statutory rape, under an information charging them with forcible rape.

The subdivisions of section 261 do not state different offenses but merely define the different circumstances under which an act of intercourse constitutes the crime of rape.

(People

v.

Craig,

17 Cal.2d 453, 455 [110 P.2d 403].) The cases of

People

v.

Greer,

30 Cal.2d 589 [184 P.2d 512], and

In re Hess,

45 Cal.2d 171 [288 P.2d 5], do not, as contended by defendants, impliedly overrule

People

v.

Craig, supra.