Charles Clemons v. United States

314 F.2d 278, 114 U.S. App. D.C. 273

• Court: Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
• Decided: January 31, 1963
• Docket: 17241_1
• Status: Published

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Convicted of raping an 80-year-old’, woman in her apartment, Clemons appeals. He asserts the evidence against, him was insufficient, as a matter of law,, to go to the jury, and that the prosecuting-attorney in his closing argument drew the jury’s attention to the fact that he-did not take the stand.

The victim was unable to identify her assailant except to the extent of saying-he was a light-skinned Negro wearing-a red flowered sport shirt and a narrow-brimmed straw hat. But strong circumstantial evidence that Clemons was the-attacker 1 amply justified submitting the-case to the jury, and fully warranted that, body in returning a verdict of guilty as-charged.

In our view, the challenged remarks of' the prosecutor did not refer to appellant’s.:, failure to testify.

Affirmed.

1 . For example, a baseball ticket stub, admittedly used by appellant earlier in the evening, was found on the floor in the-room in which the rape occurred.