202 P. 939 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1921
Defendant, who was convicted of the offense defined in section
At the time of the commission of the offense of which he was convicted, defendant was a man of about twenty-three years of age, and his victim, the complaining witness, *113 was a boy of about twelve years. A discussion of the malodorous facts is not necessary, and in view of the nature of the testimony, no detailed consideration of the evidence will be made. At the request of defendant the court gave certain instructions respecting the necessity of corroboration of the testimony of an accomplice. These instructions were given upon the theory that, in every case of this character, the complaining witness is, of necessity, an accomplice. Subsequently the court withdrew all of the instructions that it had given relative to the law of accomplices, and specifically instructed the jury that the complaining witness was not an accomplice. It is of this action on the part of the court that complaint is now made.
[1] Appellant contends that, regardless of the boy's age, the evidence shows him to be an accomplice because of his intelligence, education, and understanding of moral questions, and that, therefore, the court's withdrawal of its instructions upon the law of accomplices and its refusal to instruct the jurors that if they found the child to be an accomplice his testimony would require corroboration to sustain a conviction, constituted a prejudicial error. Without doubt, the testimony of an accomplice is required to be corroborated in order to sustain a conviction. Section
The judgment and order are affirmed.
Works, J., and Craig, J., concurred.