People v. Piburn

31 P.2d 470, 138 Cal. App. 56, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 624
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 12, 1934
DocketCrim. No. 260
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 31 P.2d 470 (People v. Piburn) 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. Piburn, 31 P.2d 470, 138 Cal. App. 56, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 624 (Cal. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

JENNINGS, J.

The- defendant was accused in an information filed by the district attorney of San Diego County with the commission of two offenses. The first count of the information alleged a violation by the defendant of section 288 of the Penal Code. The second count alleged a violation by the defendant of the Juvenile Court Law of the state of California. Upon arraignment the defendant entered a plea of not guilty of each of the two offenses charged and a trial of the action was had before the court and a jury selected for the purpose. The jury returned a verdict finding that the defendant was guilty of both offenses charged. Thereafter the defendant presented a motion for a new trial, which was denied, and judgment was thereupon pronounced in conformity with the verdict. Prom the judgment thus rendered the defendant has prosecuted this appeal.

[59]*59The first contention which is advanced by appellant as a ground for the reversal of the judgment is that the evidence was insufficient to justify his conviction of the crime charged in the first count of the information, to wit: A violation of section 288 of the Penal' Code. In making this contention appellant first points to the fact that, so far as the details of the alleged offense are concerned, the single witness who testified with respect to them was the prosecutrix, a girl ten years and ten months of age at the time the offense was alleged to have been committed. It is then properly conceded that the return of a verdict finding appellant guilty of the crime forecloses this court from reversing the judgment because of the claimed improbability of the testimony of this witness. It is, however, contended that, assuming that the testimony of this witness is credible in every respect and that it comprehends a true and correct narrative of the events which occurred on the date specified in the information, nevertheless it did not show that appellant had committed the specific offense charged against him. Section . 288 of the Penal Code denounces as a felony the commission of any lewd or lascivious act “other than the acts constituting other crimes provided for in part (one)” of the Penal Code upon or with the body or any part thereof of a child. It is argued that assuming the truth of the testimony of the prosecutrix in its entirety it appears that appellant was probably guilty of rape, attempt to commit rape, or assault with intent to commit rape, all of which are specifically denounced in part one of the Penal Code. The inevitable result is therefore that appellant could not have been properly convicted of a violation of the aforesaid statute.

The contention thus advanced is by no means novel. Reliance has been placed upon it in numerous instances. In giving consideration to it the observation must be made that, in its support, appellant has quoted a portion of the testimony of the prosecutrix which tended to prove that he had committed one of the offenses denounced in part one of the Penal Code. He has, however, carefully refrained from calling attention to certain other portions of the testimony of this witness which tended to show the commission by him of an offense comprehended by the provisions of the above-mentioned statute. The language of the court in People v. Meyer, 94 Cal. App. 696 [271 Pac. 751], is so apropos to [60]*60the situation which is thus presented that a quotation therefrom is in order. In discussing the contention of an appellant who had been convicted of a violation of section 288 of the Penal Code Justice Sturtevant said: “Continuing, the defendant quotes certain parts of the record which would tend to prove the commission of an assault to commit rape. In doing so he neglects to quote passages from the record which tend to prove the commission of a violation of section 288 of the Penal Code. Having given a one-sided view of the evidence, the defendant makes the claim that the defendant was guilty of an assault to commit rape, if anything, and therefore by the expressed language contained in section 288 of the Penal Code he was not properly charged under that section, that the evidence was insufficient and that the verdict may not be sustained. However, as suggested above, there was evidence that the defendant violated the provisions of section 288 of the Penal Code and perhaps there was evidence that he committed an assault to commit rape. Under no logical reasoning was the latter offense a defense to the former.”

Similarly, in the instant case there was evidence which tended to prove that appellant committed an offense specifically denounced by some provision of part one of the Penal Code. This cannot serve as a defense to the charge that he committed an offense in violation of section 288 of the Penal Code, if the record contains evidence tending to prove a violation of the specified statute. Certainly, it is not impossible that a person may at the same time commit two or more criminal offenses. It must be borne in mind that the specific intent with which an act is done is usually an important and essential element of a crime. Indeed, the intent is often the determinative factor.

The specific intent which must appear in the crime of rape is the intent to accomplish an act of sexual intercourse. This same intent is likewise an essential element of the cognate offenses of attempt to commit rape and assault with the intent to commit rape. Whether this specific intent appears in a given case is obviously a question of fact for the determination of the jury. The evidence respecting this fact may be and often is conflicting. Since the verdict in the instant case was against the appellant it is evident that the jury believed that the evidence showed the presence of [61]*61an intent to violate the provisions of section 288 of the Penal Code. Under these circumstances, the verdict is binding upon a reviewing court unless it can be declared that the record shows the absence of any evidentiary support for the jury’s finding that appellant intended to violate the aforementioned statute (People v. Jori, 99 Cal. App. 280 [278 Pac. 250]).

Careful examination of the record produces the conviction that it may not be said that there is an absence of evidentiary support for the jury’s finding that appellant possessed an intent to violate the specified statute. The prosecutrix testified that she was in appellant’s home for several hours on the date specified in the information and that some time prior to the commission by appellant of the acts which appellant claims constituted some offense denounced by part one of the Penal Code, he placed his hands on her breasts. She also testified that at another time during her visit and prior to appellant’s commission of the acts which it is said constituted rape, attempted rape, or an asault with intent to commit rape, he put his arms around her. Undoubtedly, the jury would have been warranted in finding that when appellant placed his hands on the child’s breasts and when he put his arms around her, he did so with the intent then and there to have carnal connection with her. “But the existence of that specific intent at those particular moments is not the only possible conclusion which may reasonably be deduced from the circumstances of this case. The jury may well have concluded that at this stage of his dastardly conduct appellant intended only to fondle his victim as a means of gratifying his lustful passions, and that later emboldened by his success and further inflamed with passion, he conceived the nefarious intent to penetrate her body.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Greer
184 P.2d 512 (California Supreme Court, 1947)
People v. Paris
139 P.2d 671 (California Court of Appeal, 1943)
People v. O'Donnell (1938)
81 P.2d 939 (California Supreme Court, 1938)
People v. Agullana
40 P.2d 848 (California Court of Appeal, 1935)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 P.2d 470, 138 Cal. App. 56, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 624, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-piburn-calctapp-1934.