People v. Almengor

LAZAR, J. pro tem.

*

Appeal from judgment of conviction for the offenses of rape (Pen. Code, § 261, subd. 3), and grand theft (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. 3), after trial by jury.

No issue is raised concerning error at trial or the sufficiency

[616]

of the evidence to support the conviction. We recount, therefore, only the facts essential to determination of the constitutional questions involved in the appeal.

On June 1, 1967, in San Diego County, M., a 14-year-old unmarried girl was accosted by defendant as she was on her way to school. Defendant was driving a 1954 Chevrolet automobile which had been stolen in Norwalk, Los Angeles County, on May 31. Defendant left the car, ran after M, caught her when she tripped and fell to the ground, and forcibly accomplished an act of sexual intercourse. Defendant returned to the automobile momentarily, then left it and walked to the freeway fence of Interstate Highway 5 and jumped over it.

Later in the morning of June 1, defendant was arrested in Orange County after a high speed police chase when he was observed driving north on Interstate 5 from San Clemente. The chase and arrest resulted from a police broadcast that the automobile which was then being driven by defendant had left a San Clemente service station without payment for the gasoline obtained there. This second automobile had been reported stolen in Oceanside, north of the place of attack on M, and south of San Clemente, all on Interstate 5. A count alleging theft of the vehicle was dismissed at the preliminary hearing.

Incident to the arrest in Orange County defendant was wounded by police gunfire; he was placed in custody in the Orange County Hospital. The San Diego authorities were notified of defendant’s arrest as a result of the police broadcast concerning the attack on M. On June 2, defendant’s fingerprints were taken at the hospital; they matched those found on the automobile driven and abandoned by defendant in San Diego County.

On cross-examination of M by defendant’s counsel it was developed that she had been taken to the Orange County Hospital in the company of police officers, had confronted defendant and had identified him as her assailant. The record does not disclose the date or other circumstances of the confrontation, or whether the fingerprint identification had already been made.