People v. Berry
People v. Berry
Opinion of the Court
Defendant was accused of the crimes of kidnaping and forcible rape, committed while he was armed with a revolver. Trial by jury was waived. He was convicted on both counts, and the court found that the allegation in each count that he was armed with a revolver was true. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Defendant appeals from the judgments upon the ground of insufficiency of the evidence. His argument is that the evidence on behalf of the People is inherently improbable. Upon stipulation, a part of the People’s case was submitted on the transcript of the preliminary examination.
Esther Gutierrez, the prosecutrix, testified that on August 11, 1946, about 11:50 p. m., she and her husband, on their way home after having attended a theater, alighted from a streetcar at a place near their home, and while they were waiting on the sidewalk an automobile, in which there were two men, went a little in front of them and stopped near the curb; that defendant, who was driving the automobile, got out of it, went around in front of the automobile and pointed a gun toward her and her husband and told them to stop; that they stopped and then defendant, pointing the gun at them, told her husband to start walking, and she asked defendant'to let them go, and he told her to shut up and get in the car; that meanwhile the other man in the car, Leroy Casmas, moved to the driver’s seat; that her husband started waiting, and she got in the car and asked Casmas to tell defendant to let them go and he told her to keep quiet; that defendant, after standing by the car door about a minute watching her husband and telling him to keep walking, got in the car, and Casmas drove away; that the car was a small 1931 coupe, and she sat between the men; that while they were riding in the car defendant held the gun on her, and kept telling her to tell her husband to keep away from Connie Moro, a girl with whom defendant said he (defendant) used to live; that she (prosecutrix) asked defendant to let her go because she had a small baby; that they drove to a ranch near Wilmington and Rosecrans Avenues and stopped the ear; that defendant, continuing to hold the gun on her, told
The husband of the prosecutrix testified that on August 11, 1946, about 11:50 p. m., he and his wife alighted from a streetcar near their home and walked on the sidewalk toward home when an automobile passed them and stopped, and the driver got out, went around the front of the ear, about 14 feet from him and said “Stop”; that that man was the defendant, and he had a gun, apparently a revolver, in his hand; that he pointed the gun at him (the husband) and told him to start walking and told the wife to get in the car; that he started walking; that when the car stopped, another person who was in the ear shifted to the driver’s seat; that he (the husband) had been with his wife all of the afternoon and evening of that day.
Leroy Casmas, called as witness by plaintiff, testified that he was 16 years of age; that he had known defendant a short while before August 11, 1946, and on that day about 10 p. m., while the witness was in front of a cafe defendant came along
A police officer testified that he first saw defendant on August 12, 1946, about 12:45 a. m., near 116th and Compton; that they followed defendant’s car a short time and then stopped it; that he found a revolver, with five cartridges in it, on the floor of the car in front of the driver’s seat, and found some cartridges in defendant’s pocket; that defendant said he had seen Mrs. Gutierrez in a cafe and she asked him to take her home.
It was stipulated as follows: That a physician would testify that on August 12th he took certain substance from the vagina of prosecutrix and put it on slides and gave them to a chemist; that the chemist would testify that he examined the slides and found that the substance was impregnated with spermatozoa and menstrual blood; that the officer who arrested defendant took defendant’s pants at the time of the arrest and turned them over to the chemist; that the chemist examined the pants and found on the front of them a place impregnated with menstrual blood.
Mr. Diggs, called by defendant, testified that on August 11, 1946, about 10:35 or 11 p. m., he saw defendant in a cafe at 110th and Wilmington talking to the prosecutrix, and saw them leave the cafe together, and he also saw him coming down the street with her. Mrs. Robinson, called by defendant, testified that on the day in question about 11 p. m. she was sitting in an automobile with Mr. Diggs and she saw defendant come out of the cafe with a girl, who appeared to be the person who was later pointed out in court as Mrs. Gutierrez.
As above stated, appellant asserts that the evidence is inherently improbable. His counsel argues in support of that contention as follows: That it is significant that the prosecutrix stated that defendant threw the revolver into the back part of the car and that the officer stated he found it in the front part of the car, and that since the question of force, coercion and intimidation depends upon whether the gun was used, this difference in the testimony should be taken into consideration in determining whether the prosecutrix told the truth as to what occurred that evening; that defen
That argument relates to the matter of determining the weight that should be given to the evidence, which matter was for the determination of the trial court. It is not the function of the reviewing court to determine the weight of the evidence, but only to determine the legal sufficiency of the evidence. The evidence is not inherently improbable. The difference in the testimony of the prosecutrix and the officer as to the place where the gun was in the car does not indicate that the testimony of the prosecutrix was inherently improbable. Various factors enter into a consideration of the testimony in that respect, including whether or not the gun might have been moved by the defendant, or might have fallen from the “shelf” after the prosecutrix allegedly saw it thrown “to the back of the car” or to the “shelf over the back seat” of the coupe. As to Casmas testifying as he did because he hoped to obtain leniency in his own ease, his testimony was not thereby necessarily rendered inadmissible or unworthy .of consideration. Even though he may have expected to aid himself by so testifying, it cannot properly be concluded that his testimony was untrue merely because he had such expectation. The weight, if any, to be given his testimony was for the trial court. The evidence was legally sufficient to support the judgment without the testimony of Casmas.
The judgment is affirmed.
Shinn, Acting P. J., and Kincaid, J. pro tem., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.