People v. Gomez

• Decision Date: 29 July 1985
• Citation: 112 A.D.2d 445,492 N.Y.S.2d 415
• Parties: The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. Moises GOMEZ, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 415

492 N.Y.S.2d 415

112 A.D.2d 445

The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. Moises GOMEZ, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Second Department.

July 29, 1985.

James A. Yates, New York City, for appellant.

Carl A. Vergari, Dist. Atty., White Plains (Lois A. Cullen and Gerald D. Reilly, White Plains, of counsel), for respondent.

Before LAZER, J.P., and MANGANO, BRACKEN and NIEHOFF, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Westchester County, rendered May 5, 1983, as amended May 6, 1983, convicting him of rape in the first degree, rape in the second degree, sodomy in the first degree (two counts) and sodomy in the second degree (two counts), upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Judgment, as amended, affirmed.

After a jury trial, defendant was convicted of rape in the first degree, rape in the second degree, sodomy in the first degree (two counts) and sodomy in the second degree (two counts). The convictions resulted from three separate incidents, during which defendant, then 38 years old, sodomized his stepdaughter, then only 13 years old, on two occasions, and raped her on one occasion. The incidents took place in a bedroom of the house where defendant resided with the victim, and her mother (defendant's wife), brother and stepsister (daughter of defendant and the victim's mother).

We find no merit to defendant's contention that the People failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the element of penetration necessary to sustain the convictions for rape in the first and second degrees, and the element of forcible compulsion necessary to sustain the convictions for sodomy in the first degree, as well as the conviction for rape in the first degree.

The victim's testimony indicates that penetration had occurred during one of the incidents in question, and together with defendant's admission that he had raped her, was sufficient to establish proof of penetration (see, People v. Crowley, 102 N.Y. 234, 6 N.E. 384; People v. Van Allen, 275 App.Div. 181, 188, 89 N.Y.S.2d 594). The element of "forcible compulsion", as that term was then defined in Penal Law § 130.00(8) (as amended by L.1982, ch. 560 and L.1983, ch. 449), was established by the victim's testimony that defendant had forced himself upon her, and threatened to kill her family, coupled with the circumstance that on all three occasions, defendant had unexpectedly arrived at the house at a time when the victim was alone with her then baby stepsister. Thus, the jury could have reasonably found that defendant's conduct constituted a threat, express or implied, of immediate death or serious physical injury to either the victim or her family unless she complied with defendant's demands (cf. People v. Kaminski, 87 A.D.2d 724, 449 N.Y.S.2d 328, mod. on other grounds 58 N.Y.2d 886, 460 N.Y.S.2d 495, 447 N.E.2d 43; People v. Vicaretti, 54 A.D.2d 236, 388 N.Y.S.2d 410).

Defendant's further argument that the testimony of certain prosecution witnesses (three police officers, the physician who examined the victim, and the victim's mother) to the effect that the victim complained of the sexual abuse by defendant, does not warrant reversal. In addition to the fact that one of the police officers did not testify to the victim's complaint, his testimony, as well as the challenged testimony of the two other police officers and the physician, was not objected to by defendant's trial counsel. Therefore, the issue with respect to this testimony has not been preserved for appellate review as a matter of law (CPL 470.15). In any event, evidence of the victim's recent complaint of...