People v. Garrow

• Decision Date: 16 December 1959
• Docket Number: Cr. 6654
• Citation: 176 Cal.App.2d 269,1 Cal.Rptr. 271
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Gerald Edward GARROW, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 271

1 Cal.Rptr. 271

176 Cal.App.2d 269

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Gerald Edward GARROW, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 6654.

District Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 1, California.

Dec. 16, 1959.

Gerald Edward Garrow, in pro. per.

The Attorney General for respondent.

ROBERT H. SCOTT, Justice pro tem.

Defendant was charged with the crime of violating section 288 of the Penal Code and after trial by the court without a jury was found guilty as charged, having committed lewd and lascivious acts upon the body of a nine-year-old girl. Prior to this determination, his sanity was questioned by the court and after trial on that issue defendant was found to be sane. After his guilt was ascertained he was found to be a sexual psychopath and was committed to Atascadero State Hospital for a 90-day observation period. When he was returned from there, probation was denied and he was sent to state prison. From judgment of conviction defendant appeals. He also attempts to appeal from the verdict, but no appeal lies therefrom. That attempted appeal is dismissed. People v. Goldstein, 136 Cal.App.2d 778, 793, 289 P.2d 581.

Although he was represented by counsel at the trial of his case, defendant appears in propria persona on this appeal and his protest is not fully understandable. We have, therefore, considered the entire testimony in the case and the procedural matters concerning which defendant may have intended to express some misgivings.

In June 1958 when a nine-year old girl appeared at defendant's door selling Sunday papers, he invited her into the house, closed and locked the door, removed part of her clothing and his own, committed the lewd acts charged and later released her. When she saw her mother the child made a complaint to her that she had received mistreatment of a sexual nature. When defendant was arrested he admitted lewd acts committed on the child and the arousing of his own sexual desires. At the trial defendant denied committing the offense and denied admitting having done so.

The fact that a complaint was made by the child concerning the defendant's wrongful acts was admissible upon the theory that it is a spontaneous exhibition, without compulsion, of the victim's physical condition or mental attitude following the perpetration of an unusual and unnatural act (People v. Brown, 71 Cal.App.2d 669, 672, 163 P.2d 85) even though testimony concerning the details as then given or the name of the person accused is inadmissible as hearsay. People v. Huston, 21 Cal.2d 690, 694, 134 P.2d 758. In a prosecution under section 288 of the Penal Code defining the offense of which the defendant was convicted it is not required that the testimony of the complaining witness shall be corroborated. People v. Raich, 26 Cal.App. 286, 287, 146 P. 907; People v. Andrus, 159 Cal.App.2d 673, 681, 324 P.2d 617. Nevertheless the fact that the child involved did make a complaint to her mother of the mistreatment she had received constituted corroboration of her testimony concerning defendant's wrongful acts. People v. LaMantain, 89 Cal.App.2d 699, 703, 201 P.2d 598.

The competency of the little girl to testify as a witness was carefully considered by the trial judge and his conclusion permitting her to testify was manifestly...