People v. Kramer

259 Cal. App. 2d 452, 66 Cal. Rptr. 638, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 1990
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 26, 1968
DocketCrim. 2775
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 259 Cal. App. 2d 452 (People v. Kramer) 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. Kramer, 259 Cal. App. 2d 452, 66 Cal. Rptr. 638, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 1990 (Cal. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

TAMURA, J.

Following a jury trial defendant was found guilty of abortion, his motion for a new trial was denied, proceedings were suspended and he was granted probation. 1 *457 Defendant appeals front the order granting probation and also'purports'"to appeal from a “judgment of conviction’’ •and. an order denying new trial. A judgment of conviction not having been entered and an order denying a new trial being nonappealable in the present case, the purported appeals therefrom must be dismissed. (People v. King, 60 Cal.2d 308, 309 [32 Cal.Rptr. 825, 384 P.2d 153]; People v. Jones, 36 Cal.2d 373, 375 [224 P.2d 353].)

One of defendant’s contentions on this appeal being insufficiency of the evidence to. support the conviction, including a claimed absence of sufficient evidence corroborating the testimony of the prosecutrix, we shall review the evidence in some detail, viewing it, as we must, in the light most favorable to respondent.

In the latter part of 1964 and early 1965 the prosecutrix, who on the date of the alleged offense had just turned 18 and was separated from her husband, resided in Garden Grove in Orange County with one Mary Jean Stark. In early January 1965 prosecutrix missed her menstrual period so she visited Dr. Campbell in Garden Grove who referred her to a laboratory for a'pregnancy test. She was informed that the result of the' test was "positive. Thereafter she and her roommate discussed her condition and the possibility of obtaining an abortion." Her roommate learned of defendant’s name from some unknown individual in a bar in Garden Grove and conveyed the information to the prosecutrix.

Defendant is a licensed medical doctor engaged in general practice in Corona, Riverside County. Prosecutrix had had no previous contact with him.

On or about January 28 prosecutrix telephoned defendant, told him that she was pregnant and did not want to carry the child. Defendant declined to discuss the matter on the telephone but made an appointment to see her at his office on a Friday night at 8 p.m.

On the appointed night prosecutrix arrived at defendant’s office between 7 :30 and 8 :30 p.m. Defendant asked if she were sure she was pregnant. She told him, 1 1 Yes, ’ ’ that she had just had a laboratory test which proved positive. When he inquired about" the duration of her pregnancy, indicating that if she, were, more than two months along he would not “touch’.’' her, she. told him that she was not more than a month and" a half along. He replied,"11 Fine,” told her the fee would be $200 which she should bring in cash and, without a prior examination, wrote out two prescriptions—one for Dar *458 Aron, a pain killer and one for Lincocen, an antibiotic—directing her to have them filled and to bring them back on her next visit. He then made an appointment for her for the following Monday evening at 8 p.m., telling her to come to the back door of the office.

On the following Monday evening prosecutrix’ roommate drove her to defendant’s office arriving at about 8 p.m. The prosecutrix knocked at the backdoor of the office and receiving no answer went to a nearby phone booth where she called defendant’s office and was informed by an answering service that he had just left for the office. Shortly, defendant appeared at the back door of the office and upon observing prosecutrix’ roommate, told the latter that she must wait outside for 30-45 minutes until he was finished. Prosecutrix entered the office and defendant asked for and she paid him $200 in cash. He then explained how she should take the two prescriptions which she had had filled, led her to a small room, instructed her to undress, handed her a white gown to put on and left. When he returned, he washed his hands, placed her on a table with newspapers under her and gave her two injections in the hip. He then took a long instrument v/hich was curved at the end and used it to wash her vagina w'it-h a red solution. Thereafter he inserted the instrument inside her vagina and after about an hour helped her off the table.

She dressed and went into his office. There he wrote and handed her a prescription for ergotrate made out for a Jean Allen of 1078 West 9th Street in Corona, telling her that he ivas using an alias name and address and that she was to get the prescription filled in Corona rather than Carden Grove Avhere questions might be asked. She then went outside, met her roommate, got into the automobile, and was driven to a drugstore in Corona where her roommate had the prescription filled.

The prosecutrix bled for approximately two weeks. She called defendant Avho arranged an evening appointment and again told her to come to the back door. At the appointed time defendant examined her and gave her some pills “to build up her blood. ’’ Thereafter the hemorrhaging ceased.

On March 3, 1965, the prosecutrix accompanied a friend AA'ho had an appointment >vith a Dr. Holmes in Burbank and AA'hile in the latter’s office fainted. She complained of having been ill for about tAvo weeks. Dr. Holmes examined her, found that she had abdominal pains, decreased respiration of the *459 right lower lung, and a slight elevation of temperature. He conducted a pelvic examination and when he inserted a speculum, it caused her extreme pain. Dr. Holmes treated her with penicillin and when after two or three days she failed to respond, directed her to the Los Angeles County Hospital. While she was in the hospital she was contacted by law enforcement officers.

Medical experts testified to the customary medical practice in the community, the possibility of performing an abortion in a physician’s office, and the effect of the various drugs prescribed by defendant for prosecutrix. Taking the evidence most favorable to the prosecution, the testimony shows that it was not customary practice in the community to arrange evening appointments for patients with female disorders or to examine them without having a nurse or a member of the patient’s family present; the drug ergotrate is commonly associated with an abortion because it contracts the uterus, reduces bleeding and forces out any product of conception not removed by curettement; most germicidal solutions are red in color; the washing of the vagina with such a solution is consistent with an abortion and inconsistent with a normal pelvic examination or the taking of a Pap smear; though not the normal procedure, a local anesthetic could be used for such an operation and would allow the patient to walk immediate^ following the operation; and the events testified to by the prosecutrix were consistent with the performance of an abortion.

Defendant conceded that a therapeutic abortion was not indicated.

Defense testimony from doctors revealed that the prosecutrix had a history of recurrent pelvic infections and had been receiving treatments for that condition over a considerable period of time both before and after her visit to defendant.

Between March 1964 and January 1965 she was under the care of a Dr. Vietz. She last saw him on January 19, 1965, when she complained of missing her menstrual period.

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Bluebook (online)
259 Cal. App. 2d 452, 66 Cal. Rptr. 638, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 1990, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-kramer-calctapp-1968.