People v. Cox

259 Cal. App. 2d 653, 66 Cal. Rptr. 576, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 2009
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 29, 1968
DocketCrim. 13036
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 259 Cal. App. 2d 653 (People v. Cox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Cox, 259 Cal. App. 2d 653, 66 Cal. Rptr. 576, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 2009 (Cal. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

KINGSLEY, J.

Defendant was charged in one count with a violation of Penal Code, section 286, and in one count with a violation of section 288a of the Penal Code. It was charged that defendant was more than 10 years older than the victim and that the victim was under 14 years of age. Defendant was charged with priors for burglary in the State of Missouri, forgery of a United States Treasury cheek, burglary in the State of California, and a violation of Penal Code, section 470 (forgery).

Defendant pled not guilty to the charges and also denied each prior. Thereafter defendant admitted three of the priors *656 and the other was stricken. Defendant personally, -and with counsel, waived a trial by jury. .

It was found that defendant was'- guilty; that he .Was more than 10 years older than the victim, and that-force was used on the victim. A probation report was ordered; a doctor was appointed to examine defendant pursuant to Penal Code section 288.1; defendant" was found not to be a mentally disordered sex offender; probation was denied, and defendant was sentenced to be imprisoned in a state prison for the term prescribed by law.

Defendant has appealed from the judgment. For reasons set forth below, we affirm the conviction.

The alleged victim was a boy named Charles, of the -age of 12 years. He testified that, on Saturday, April 23, 1966, he visited the home of his friend Robert, a nephew of defendant. Defendant was at Robert’s home. Defendant told Robert to go to the store for a carton of milk. When Charles tried to go with Robert, defendant held him by his wrist and prevented him from going. After Robert had left, defendant led Charles to the bathroom where defendant forcibly committed acts in violation of section 286 of the Penal Code and in violation of section 288a of the Penal Code. Afterward Robert came back and defendant told Charles: “Don’t you ever tell anybody about this or you will be in a lot of trouble.” After Charles left the bathroom, he and Robert went horseback riding.

■ There was nothing in particular that made Charles remember the 23d of April and he didn’t tell anybody about the occurrence for approximately a month later. But Charles’ parents knew where he was every other day -and Charles went horseback riding on the day of the aPeged offenses and registered at the riding stables. The day of the occurrence was the first and last time Charles had ever been horseback riding in California.

Robert testified that he had run away from home on several occasions because his uncle was making “advances” to him. Robert had run away from home three times before defendant came to live with them. When Robert was lying in his bed defendant would come in and tell him he wanted “some loving.” Robert said that his uncle tried to put his “appendix” into his “rear end.” Robert remembered that he and Charles went horseback riding the day he went to the store for his uncle. Robert thought he went horseback riding one time after that day. Charles told Robert that it was the second time Robert’s uncle tried to do that,'and that Charles got *657 money from defendant. Charles said defendant sometimes gave him a quarter. Robert said that Charles told him that Robert’s uncle “made love” to Charles on two occasions and Charles received $3.50 from defendant.

Defendant testified that, on April 23, 1966, a Saturday, he took his mother to the beauty shop as was his custom almost every Saturday. Defendant met his sister for coffee, picked up his mother, the three went to his sister’s house and then defendant, his mother, and the sister’s child, for whom defendant was baby sitting, went to the Bixby Knolls shopping center. Defendant said he did not see Charles at all on April 23d. Defendant’s mother corroborated defendant’s alibi fully as to the events of April 23,1966, and she also said Charles was not in her home on April 23d. Defendant’s sister corroborated defendant’s alibi as to her contact with defendant on April 23, 1966. Miss Crouteher, a beautician, testified that defendant’s mother had an appointment with her on April 23, 1966; Miss Crouteher saw defendant at the beauty shop at 20 minutes to 12.

Mrs. Anderson, who did the bookkeeping for Bob’s Riding Stables, checked her records and found that Charles rode a horse at 1 o ’clock April 30th and Robert Cox rode a horse at 2 o’clock on April 30, 1966. One of Mrs. Anderson’s three record sheets (the one for Charles and Robert) had the corner torn off and it was not dated. Mrs. Anderson put the date on the sheet the Friday before she was in court. Mrs. Anderson assumed, because the sheet with the boys’ names was with two other sheets dated April 30th, that that sheet should also be dated April 30th. The wife of the owner of Bob’s stables brought records of the names of people who rode horses on April 23d and neither Charles’ nor Robert’s name was on these records.

Charles said he wasnt sure of the date of the incident, and that it was either the third or fourth Saturday in April. 1

Defendant’s mother testified that, on April 30, 1966, she also had a beauty parlor appointment and defendant drove her there; while defendant and Bobby were waiting for her he and Bobby had breakfast; defendant picked her up around 10:15 or 10:30 and they all drove to her daughter-in-law’s house where defendant remained all day. Carol, the daughter-in-law, verified this. Defendant testified to the same events on April 30th, and Arthur Dennison, a friend of defendant’s *658 brother and sister-in-law, recalled seeing defendant at Carol’s home on April 30,1966, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Dale Wayne Elwell said he was “pretty sure” he rode a horse on May 7th at Bob’s Biding Club; he identified his signature on page 2, the crucial page of the records. Janet Butts, whose name also appeared on the crucial page of Bob’s Riding Club records, said she had been horseback riding there with three other people on May 7, 1966. On that day, Gary, who was with her, showed her a watch he had received for his birthday. Gary’s birthday was on May 2d.

I

We examine first the proceedings after the finding of guilt and leading up to the ultimate pronouncement of judgment. Subdivision (c) of section 5501 of the Welfare and Institutions Code provides that, in cases such as this, where defendant is convicted of a sex offense against a victim under the age of 14 years, the institution of proceedings under the Mentally Disordered Sex Offender Act is mandatory. But that requirement is subject to the exception stated in section 5500.5. (People v. Garn (1966) 246 Cal.App.2d 482 [54 Cal.Rptr. 867].) That section provides (inter alia) that the act is not applicable to “any person ineligible for probation under the Penal Code.” (People v. Foster (1967) 67 Cal.2d 604, 607-608 [63 Cal.Rptr. 288, 432 P.2d 976].) Defendant’s three admitted prior felonies make him ineligible for probation under the fourth paragraph of section 1203 of the Penal Code except as the fifth paragraph of that section comes into play. The latter paragraph provided: “In unusual eases, otherwise subject to the preceding paragraph [i.e.,

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Bluebook (online)
259 Cal. App. 2d 653, 66 Cal. Rptr. 576, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 2009, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-cox-calctapp-1968.