People v. Moseley

KINGSLEY, J.

Defendant Moseley was charged, jointly with William Joseph King, Norman Lee Malone, Tommy Willis Lee, and Robert Smith, with sundry offenses involving Diane Lawson, a 16-year-old girl. In Count I, Moseley, King and Malone were charged with pimping, in violation of section 266h of the Penal Code; in Count II all five defendants were charged with pandering, in violation of section 266i of the Penal Code; Count III charged King with statutory rape, in violation of subdivision 1 of section 261 of the Penal Code; Count IV made a similar charge of statutory rape as to Malone; Count V charged statutory rape as to Moseley. After a jury trial, Moseley was found guilty on Counts I, II and V; King was found guilty on Counts I, II and III; Malone was found not guilty on Count I, but guilty on Counts II and IV; Smith was found not guilty. The jury recommended a county jail sentence on the statutory rape counts. King and Moseley were sentenced to state prison on the pimping and pandering counts and to the county jail on the statutory rape counts, the sentences to run concurrently.

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King and Moseley appealed. King’s appeal was dismissed by this court, under California Rules of Court, rule 17a, for failure to file a brief. We are now concerned only with Moseley’s appeal.

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Summary op Facts

The case for the prosecution rested on the testimony of the prosecutrix, Diane C. Lawson. Miss Lawson testified that she was, at all material times, 16 years of age; that she left home voluntarily (although she at one time complained to the police that King ha'd stolen her from her home); and that her mother filed a missing person’s report on her after she left.

Two weeks after leaving home, Diane and her roommate, Tamara Duvall, came out of a nightclub, or bar, on Western Avenue. They saw Moseley and Ross, whom Tamara knew; the two girls and the two men then went to an apartment building where they met King. A conversation ensued between King and Diane in the presence of Moseley, where King said, "You must be the sixteen year old . . . that had left home and her mother. ’ ’ Diane just sat there and smiled. King said to Diane that he was a pimp and would be happy if she started working for him, being a prostitute or soliciting. Diane testified that she had never before been a prostitute.