The People v. John Z.

29 Cal.4th 756 (2003)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Laura T. (17) was working at Safeway when she received a call from Juan G., whom she had met about two weeks earlier. Juan wanted Laura to take him to a party at D’s home and then return about 8:30 p.m. to pick him up. Laura agreed to take Juan to the party, but since she planned to attend a church group meeting that evening, she told him she would be unable to pick him up. Laura drove Juan to D’s residence. D and Justin L. were present. After arranging to have Justin L.’s stepbrother, P. W., buy them alcohol, Laura picked up P. W. and drove him to the store where he bought beer. Laura told Juan she would stay until 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. D and Juan drank the beer, Laura did not. Laura and Juan went into D’s parents’ bedroom. Juan indicated he wanted to have sex, but Laura told him she was not ready for that kind of activity. Juan became upset and went into the bathroom. D left the bedroom, and both D and Justin asked her why she “wouldn’t do stuff.” Laura told them that she was not ready. About 8:10 p.m., Laura was ready to leave when D asked her to come into his bedroom to talk. She complied. D told her that Juan had said he (Juan) did not care for her; D then suggested that Laura become his girlfriend. Juan entered the bedroom and D left to take a phone call. D returned to the bedroom. D and Juan asked Laura if it was her fantasy to have two guys, and Laura said it was not. Juan and D began kissing Laura and removing her clothes, although she kept telling them not to. At some point, the boys removed Laura’s pants and underwear and began “fingering” her, “playing with [her] boobs” and continued to kiss her. Laura enjoyed this activity in the beginning but objected when Juan removed his pants and told D to keep fingering her while he put on a condom. Once the condom was in place, D left the room, and Juan got on top of Laura. She tried to resist and told him she did not want to have intercourse, but he was too strong and forced his penis into her vagina. The rape terminated when, due to Laura’s struggling, the condom fell off. D told Juan that “maybe it’s a sign we shouldn’t be doing this,” and he said “fine” and left the room. Laura rolled over on the bed and began trying to find her clothes; however, because the room was dark, she was unable to do so. D, who had removed his clothing, then entered the bedroom and walked to where Laura was sitting on the bed and “he like rolled over [her] so [she] was pushed back down to the bed.” Laura did not say anything and D began kissing her and telling her that she had “a really beautiful body.” D got on top of Laura, put his penis into her vagina “and rolled [her] over so [she] was sitting on top of him.” D testified she “kept . . . pulling up, trying to sit up to get it out . . . and he grabbed my hips and pushed me back down and then he rolled me back over, so I was on my back . . . and . . . kept saying, will you be my girlfriend.” Laura “kept like trying to pull away” and told him that “if he really did care about me, he wouldn’t be doing this to me and if he did want a relationship, he should wait and respect that I don’t want to do this.” After about 10 minutes, D got off Laura, and helped her dress and find her keys. She then drove home. D was convicted of forcible rape and appealed.