In Re Hess

288 P.2d 5, 45 Cal. 2d 171, 1955 Cal. LEXIS 308
California Supreme Court·Decided October 4, 1955·No. Crim. 5672·Published·Cited by 228 cases

Opinions

TRAYNOR, J.

— In April 1954, petitioner, who was then 17 years of age, was charged by an information with “the crime of Rape, a felony, in violation of Section 261, subdivision 3, of the Penal Code of the State of California (Forcible), committed as follows:

“The said Trot Clifford Hess, on or about the 11th day of April A.D. 1954, in the said County of El Dorado, in the said State of California, and before the filing of this informa[173] tian, did then and there willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and with force and violence, have and accomplish an act of sexual intercourse with and upon . . . ., a female person, who was not then and there the wife of the said defendant, Troy Clifford Hess, without the consent and against the will of the said . . . ., and she, the said . . . ., then and there resisted the accomplishment of said act of sexual intercourse, but her resistance was then and there overcome by force and violence used upon and against the said . . . ., by said defendant, Troy Clifford Hess.” (Name of alleged victim deleted.)

The jury returned a verdict finding petitioner guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 702.) A judgment of conviction was entered on the verdict, and petitioner was committed to the Youth Authority for the time prescribed by law. He did not appeal and the judgment became final. He now seeks his discharge on habeas corpus.

Petitioner contends that he was acquitted of the charge of forcible rape, that contributing to the delinquency of a minor is not an offense necessarily included in the crime of rape, and that the court therefore acted in excess of its jurisdiction in entering a judgment of conviction of that offense against him.

In support of his contention that defendant’s conviction of contributing to the delinquency of a minor was proper on the ground that that offense is necessarily included in the offense with which he was charged, respondent makes the following argument: (1) there is but one crime of rape, and the six subdivisions of section 261 of the Penal Code merely state six different ways of committing the same crime. (People v. Craig, 17 Cal.2d 453, 455 [110 P.2d 403]); (2) contributing to the delinquency of a minor is necessarily included in a charge of statutory rape (People v. Greer, 30 Cal.2d 589, 596 [184 P.2d 512]); (3) therefore, contributing to the delinquency of a minor is necessarily included in the crime of rape, regardless of which of the subdivisions of section 261 defendant is alleged to have violated. This argument is internally inconsistent and self-destructive. If all of the definitions of rape must be considered in determining what are necessarily included offenses, the conclusion is inescapable that contributing to the delinquency of a minor is not a necessarily included offense since rape of the kinds described in subdivisions 2-6 of section 261 could be committed on a woman [174]*17421 years of age or more. Thus, to accept respondent’s argument would create an inconsistency with a series of cases (People v. Greer, supra, 30 Cal.2d 589, 597-598 and eases cited; People v. Chapman, 81 Cal.App.2d 857, 863-866 [185 P.2d 424]) holding that contributing to the delinquency of a minor is necessarily included in statutory rape, for those cases are based on the premise that statutory rape is a special kind of rape and that every commission of that offense will contribute to the delinquency of a minor.

Nor are the holdings in those eases inconsistent with the holding in In re Craig, supra, 17 Cal.2d 453. In that case it was held that the defendant could not be convicted on two counts merely because he committed a forcible rape on a victim under 18 years of age. Although it was stated in the Craig case that the six subdivisions of section 261 of the Penal Code “merely define the circumstances under which an act of intercourse may be deemed an act of rape; they are not to be construed as creating several offenses of rape based upon that single act” (17 Cal.2d at 455), that statement must be read in light of the problem then before the court, that is, whether the defendant could be doubly punished for a single act. Under section 654 of the Penal Code it is clear that double punishment would be improper (In re Chapman, 43 Cal.2d 385, 389-390 [273 P.2d 817]; People v, Knowles, 35 Cal.2d 175, 187-189 [217 P.2d 1] ; People v. Slobodion, 31 Cal.2d 555, 561-563 [191 P.2d 1]), regardless of whether there is but one offense or six different offenses of rape.

Section 1159 of the Penal Code provides that “The jury may find the defendant guilty of any offense, the commission of which is necessarily included in that with which he is charged. ...” “The test in this state of a necessarily included offense is simply that where an offense cannot be committed without necessarily committing another offense, the latter is a necessarily included offense.” (People v. Greer, 30 Cal.2d 589, 596 [184 P.2d 512] ; see also People v. Kehoe, 33 Cal.2d 711, 713 [204 P.2d 321].) Forcible rape (Pen. Code, §261, subd. 3), can be committed without contributing to the delinquency of a minor, e. g., forcible rape of a woman 21 years of age or more. The latter offense, therefore, is not necessarily included in the former. (People v. Kennedy, 133 Cal.App.2d 693, 694 [284 P.2d 898].)

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In Re Hess, 288 P.2d 5, 45 Cal. 2d 171, 1955 Cal. LEXIS 308 (Cal. 1955).

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