People v. Todd

California Court of Appeal

People v. Todd

146 P. 899, 26 Cal. App. 291, 1915 Cal. App. LEXIS 128

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal

DecidedJanuary 12, 1915

DocketCrim. No. 527.

StatusPublished

This text of 146 P. 899 (People v. Todd) 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.

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People v. Todd, 146 P. 899, 26 Cal. App. 291, 1915 Cal. App. LEXIS 128 (Cal. Ct. App. 1915).

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Opinion

THE COURT.

The defendant was charged hy information with the crime of statutory rape. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment in the state prison at San Quentin. The present appeal is from the judgment and order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial.

*292 While the evidence is contradictory in many respects and is not as satisfactory or convincing as might be desired, it cannot be said that it is not sufficient to sustain the judgment of conviction.

Defendant asserts that the court committed error in permitting the doctor who attended the prosecuting witness at the birth of the child resulting from the alleged acts of intercourse between her and the defendant, to testify to the manner of its delivery. This evidence was not elaborate, but was short and couched in technical terms; and we are unable to agree with the defendant that it contained anything that would tend in any way to arouse in the minds of the jurors a feeling of horror and indignation against the defendant. But even if the admission of this evidence may be said to be error, the court having later ordered it to be stricken out, and instructed the jury to disregard it, it will be presumed that the jury obeyed the instruction, and that thus the error, if any, was cured. (People v. Burke, 18 Cal. App. 72, 102, [122 Pac. 435].)

The defendant also complains that the court over his objection permitted the child of the prosecuting witness born only a short time before the trial to be exhibited to the jury. We think this evidence was admissible. Prior to charging the defendant with the crime the prosecutrix had filed a complaint against one Earl Platt, a mulatto or colored youth; and notwithstanding that at the trial she insisted that the defendant had had sexual intercourse with her and was the father of her child, she still maintained that Earl Platt had on three different occasions attempted to ravish her. Naturally under these circumstances some doubt would be created in the minds of the jurors as to whether the defendant or the colored youth was the guilty party. The child was light complexioned; and the jury’s inspection of it was for the purpose of giving them an opportunity to compar'e its appearance with that of the defendant as an aid to determining the question of its paternity. The competency of this character of testimony finds authority in the case of People v. Richardson, 161 Cal. 552, 561, [120 Pac. 20].)

The judgment and order are affirmed.

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THE COURT.

The defendant was charged hy information with the crime of statutory rape. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment in the state prison at San Quentin. The present appeal is from the judgment and order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial.

*292 While the evidence is contradictory in many respects and is not as satisfactory or convincing as might be desired, it cannot be said that it is not sufficient to sustain the judgment of conviction.

Defendant asserts that the court committed error in permitting the doctor who attended the prosecuting witness at the birth of the child resulting from the alleged acts of intercourse between her and the defendant, to testify to the manner of its delivery. This evidence was not elaborate, but was short and couched in technical terms; and we are unable to agree with the defendant that it contained anything that would tend in any way to arouse in the minds of the jurors a feeling of horror and indignation against the defendant. But even if the admission of this evidence may be said to be error, the court having later ordered it to be stricken out, and instructed the jury to disregard it, it will be presumed that the jury obeyed the instruction, and that thus the error, if any, was cured. (People v. Burke, 18 Cal. App. 72, 102, [122 Pac. 435].)

The defendant also complains that the court over his objection permitted the child of the prosecuting witness born only a short time before the trial to be exhibited to the jury. We think this evidence was admissible. Prior to charging the defendant with the crime the prosecutrix had filed a complaint against one Earl Platt, a mulatto or colored youth; and notwithstanding that at the trial she insisted that the defendant had had sexual intercourse with her and was the father of her child, she still maintained that Earl Platt had on three different occasions attempted to ravish her. Naturally under these circumstances some doubt would be created in the minds of the jurors as to whether the defendant or the colored youth was the guilty party. The child was light complexioned; and the jury’s inspection of it was for the purpose of giving them an opportunity to compar'e its appearance with that of the defendant as an aid to determining the question of its paternity. The competency of this character of testimony finds authority in the case of People v. Richardson, 161 Cal. 552, 561, [120 Pac. 20].)

The judgment and order are affirmed.

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146 P. 899, 26 Cal. App. 291, 1915 Cal. App. LEXIS 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-todd-calctapp-1915.

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