People v. Maddox

PETERS, P. J. By information defendant was charged with rape together with a prior conviction of robbery. He pleaded not guilty to the rape and stood mute on the charge of prior conviction. He and his counsel waived a jury trial. The court found him guilty of the rape, and likewise found that he had suffered the charged prior conviction. Prom the judgment of conviction and from the order denying his motion for a new trial the defendant appeals in propria persona, the public defender having refused to prosecute the appeal.

Defendant’s principal contention is that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment on the rape charge. He also urges, without citation of authority, that the prior conviction statutes are unconstitutional for the reason that evidence of a prior conviction necessarily prejudices the finder of fact against the accused on the main charge. There is no merit in either contention.

So far as the constitutionality of prior conviction statutes is concerned, the point is no longer an open question. (People v. Rose, 26 Cal.App.2d 513 [79 P.2d 737]; see, also, cases collected 8 Cal.Jur. § 614, p. 641; 4 Cal.Jur. 10-Yr. Supp. § 614, p. 1032.) No contention is made that in form the prior was not properly charged, proved or found.

The evidence on the rape charge amply demonstrates the guilt of the defendant. The complaining witness, who was but 19 years of age, on May 25, 1945, resided in an apairt[480]ment house on 7th Street in Oakland. The defendant occupied the adjoining apartment. It was connected with that of the complaining witness by a door which was supposed to be kept locked and which was nailed shut on the defendant’s side. The witness testified that on the night in question she returned home from work about midnight; that she went to bed about 1 a.m.; that there was considerable noise in defendant's apartment indicating that he was having a party-; that before she went to sleep the defendant talked to her through the locked door telling her that “they” (apparently the police) had taken his guests; that she went to sleep; that she awakened about 2 a.m. with a coughing spell; that defendant started talking to her again, recommending a treatment for the cough; that she again went to sleep and awakened at 4:30 or 5 a.m. to find defendant standing at the foot of her bed dressed in blue-striped shorts and a white upper; that she- put on her light and attempted to get up; that defendant told her if she was “going to holler or scream he was going to kill” her; that he grabbed her by the throat; that he then removed his shorts and got into her bed and committed forcible rape upon her. She identified a pair of distinctively colored shorts and a white upper as resembling the garments she saw on defendant on the morning in question. When defendant was arrested some time after 8 a.m. he was wearing these shorts and upper.