Rodriguez v. State

305 S.W.2d 350 (1957)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Rodriquez (D) aged 66 years, came to the home of Ramon Gavia on a Sunday afternoon to see Gavia. Gavia was not at home. D was invited by Gavia's daughter, Cathalina, to wait for her father. Cathalina left the room for a few minutes and upon her return D and her seven-year-old foster daughter were on the couch and D was holding one hand on the child's mouth and was taking her pants off, and she ran and got the child and called some friends who notified the police. The child was found not to be competent to testify. D claimed that the little girl went to the bathroom and returned with her panties down, and he called her to him to assist her in pulling them up which he was doing when Cathalina came into the room. D testified that on the previous day he had seen Cathalina in a car on a country road, and a man was 'lying down on her legs;' that when he came to see Cathalina's father, he spoke to her about what he had seen, and she denied it and got mad, and shortly thereafter charged him with assaulting the child. Cathalina denied that she had been on any country road or with a man on Saturday, and further denied that D had spoken to her about any such incident at her home on Sunday. P was permitted, over objection, to prove that Cathalina's reputation in the community for truth and veracity was good. D was convicted and appealed.