People v. Karsai

131 Cal. App. 3d 224, 182 Cal. Rptr. 406, 1982 Cal. App. LEXIS 1551
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 28, 1982
DocketCrim. 10917
StatusPublished
Cited by98 cases

This text of 131 Cal. App. 3d 224 (People v. Karsai) 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. Karsai, 131 Cal. App. 3d 224, 182 Cal. Rptr. 406, 1982 Cal. App. LEXIS 1551 (Cal. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

*231 Opinion

REYNOSO, J. *

Defendant Tibor Bela Karsai appeals from a judgment sentencing him to state prison for the term of 26 years after a jury found him to be guilty of false imprisonment with force (Pen. Code, § 236),* 1 oral copulation by force (§ 288a, subd. (c)), and rape by force or violence (§ 261, subds. (2), (3)). Defendant contends: the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction for rape; the jury was improperly instructed on the element of penetration in a rape case; the trial court erred in instructing the jury on flight after the commission of a crime; the trial court committed numerous sentencing errors; his sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment; and his sentence violates equal protection of the law.

We hold that in order to constitute the crime of rape vaginal penetration is not necessary; any penetration of the female genitalia by the penis, however slight, is sufficient. The evidence supports the jury’s finding that defendant made actual sexual penetration and is guilty of rape. We reject the contentions that the California sentencing scheme for violent sexual offenses constitutes cruel and unusual punishment or violates equal protection of the law. We reject each of defendant’s other contentions and affirm the judgment.

Defendant encountered the 16-year-old victim in a bowling alley while she was using the telephone. It is necessary to relate the ugly facts which follow. Defendant called “Hey look,” and exposed his penis to the young woman. When she began to walk away defendant grabbed her from behind, held his hands over her face, and dragged her into the men’s bathroom. Defendant took the victim into a stall and forced her to insert her fingers into her sexual orifice, at the same time he forced her to call herself and her mother “whores.” Defendant ordered the victim to lick her fingers and he pushed his fingers into her vagina. Defendant forced the victim to orally copulate him during which he ejaculated. He then sat on the toilet and forced the victim to sit on his lap while he attempted intercourse with her. Throughout this time defendant constantly threatened the victim with death if she disobeyed his orders.

*232 The above scenario was undisputed. Defendant admitted all of this during his own testimony. The factual issue at trial was whether defendant succeeded in his attempt to rape the victim. The victim testified that defendant’s penis was erect and that he pushed it between her “lips.” Defendant did not succeed in full penetration. Defendant denied any penetration. He testified that he was not erect because he had just ejaculated during the oral copulation, and that he merely rubbed his flaccid penis against the victim’s genitalia.

The jury rejected defendant’s version and found him to be guilty of rape as well as oral copulation and false imprisonment. The trial court found that defendant had suffered a previous conviction for rape, and a previous conviction for oral copulation. Defendant was sentenced to the upper term of eight years for the oral copulation conviction, and to the upper term of eight years for the rape conviction, the terms to be fully consecutive. This sentence was enhanced by five years for each of defendant’s prior convictions for sex offenses. The court stayed the sentence for false imprisonment pursuant to section 654. The total unstayed prison term was computed to be 26 years.

I

Defendant contends that the evidence does not support his conviction for rape. He argues that there was insufficient evidence of the essential element of sexual penetration. In considering this contention we must review the entire record to determine whether a reasonable trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant achieved sexual penetration. (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 576 [162 Cal.Rptr. 431, 606 P.2d 738].)

“The essential guilt of rape consists in the outrage to the person and feelings of the victim of the rape. Any sexual penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the crime.” (§ 263.) Defendant bases his argument on the fact that the victim testified that he did not penetrate her vagina with his penis. Defendant errs, however, in his conclusion that vaginal penetration is necessary to commit a rape. The penetration which is required is sexual penetration and not vaginal penetration. Penetration of the external genital organs is sufficient to constitute sexual penetration and to complete the crime of rape even if the rapist does not thereafter succeed in penetrating into the vagina.

*233 Although we have found no California decisional law directly on point, 2 the conclusion we reach is the universal rule among those jurisdictions which have considered the question. (Annot., Rape — What Constitutes “Penetration” (1977) 76 A.L.RJd 163, § 3, pp. 178-183.) Moreover, our conclusion is in accordance with the clear intent of section 263 which states that any penetration however slight is sufficient.

The victim testified that she felt defendant’s penis in the area of her private parts and that it was “between my lips.” It did not extend into her vagina; however, she felt pressure on the entrance to her vagina which hurt. She believed that defendant’s penis was inside her body, although not inside her vagina. She clarified that she believed the penis to be inside her when it was between her major and minor lips (the labia majora and minora) and at the entrance to her vagina. The physician who examined the victim after the rape testified that he observed a mild erythema, or redness, about the vagina introitus, which is at the opening of the vagina. In his opinion this was consistent with contact with an erect penis. This evidence supports the jury’s determination that defendant made sexual penetration and is sufficient to support his conviction for rape.

II

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury on the issue of penetration. The People requested that the trial court instruct the jury that “Penetration of the lips of a female’s vagina is sufficient to constitute rape.” The trial court said “Yes. Well, the only instruction that we had any dispute about, I think, is that special instruction that you submitted with respect to further definition of penetration. And I have concluded not to give that unless the jury has some difficulty understanding it and requests more clarification at which time the court will give further definition.”

The jury retired to deliberate at 4:12 p.m. It returned at 5:15 p.m. to ask: “We the jury in the above-entitled case request the following: The definition of when penetration occurs in relation to external female *234 genitalia.” The court then stated: “You recall that the court instructed you that if the other requisite elements of the crime of rape are established any sexual penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the crime. The word penetrate means to pass, extend, or pierce into or through something.

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Bluebook (online)
131 Cal. App. 3d 224, 182 Cal. Rptr. 406, 1982 Cal. App. LEXIS 1551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-karsai-calctapp-1982.