Opinion ID: 1116828
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Testimony of Charles K.

Text: Charles testified that at the time of the offense he was 18 years old, was not a homosexual, and had never previously engaged in a homosexual act. During the summer of 1970 following his high school graduation, he hitchhiked around the country, seeing what the rest of the world looked like. On September 5 in Oxnard, he was arrested for the first time in his life and was held at the city jail on a charge of being under the influence of marijuana. He was unable to furnish bail. On September 8, he was transferred to a four-cell tank in the county jail. Each cell was locked at night and open to a common room during the daytime. The inmates selected their own cells. From the time Charles entered the tank, other inmates whistled and jeered in a homosexually suggestive manner and made comments about his long hair and remarks such as, Gee, you're pretty. Charles was then 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighed about 120 pounds. Charles originally moved into Cell 4, but after an inmate of that cell kept saying, There's an old man here with a long pole, and similar remarks, he moved to Cell 3. He described the inmates of that cell as bullies, who subjected him to unspecified personal persecution. He indicated, however, that sexual advances had been coming toward him from some of the occupants of the cell. [1] While Charles was playing chess with defendant, who was an occupant of Cell 2, defendant kissed him on the mouth. Charles ran away from defendant, who told him a few minutes later that he was just trying to find out if Charles was homosexual. Thereafter, defendant told Charles that unless he moved into Cell 2 under the protection of defendant, Rodriguez, and Vann, he was going to be rat-packed, and something would happen to him in Cell 3. Later Charles testified: Rat packed ... is where maybe a whole cell or even the whole tank goes in after you ... [for the purpose of] [s]exual violence. About September 13, Charles moved into Cell 2. Some time after midnight on September 18 (that is, during the early morning hours of September 19), Charles and Rodriguez were playing cards while the other inmates of the cell were in their own bunks. Charles estimated Rodriguez to be 5 feet, 7 or 8 inches tall, to weigh between 160 and 170 pounds, and to be between 35 and 40 years of age. Rodriguez propositioned Charles to have sexual intercourse, but Charles refused. Rodriguez then said that defendant and Vann had conspired to rape Charles forcibly, but that if Charles would submit to a simulated act of sodomy, they would think Charles was Rodriguez's kid and leave him alone. Charles assented to this. Rodriguez lowered Charles' trousers, took some Groom & Clean hair dressing from under Rodriguez's bunk, applied it to Charles' anal area, and simulated an act of sodomy. Rodriguez stopped abruptly when a man in one of the upper bunks sat up and looked at them. Rodriguez then went to defendant's bunk, and they conversed in Spanish. Afterwards, defendant, dressed in a T-shirt and underwear-type shorts, came to the bunk where Charles was. He started dealing cards, as though he had come over to have a card game with Charles; but he then told Charles they should get down to business and that Charles should lie down on the bunk. At first, Charles refused, but he then submitted unwillingly and in fear after defendant told him that if he did not, he would be on his own, without protection, and that he knew the circumstances involved with Cell 3 especially and with the rest of the jail. Defendant applied Groom & Clean to Charles' anal area and committed sodomy. Charles groaned in pain and told defendant to stop it, because it hurt and also because he did not believe in it. Defendant, however, continued, telling Charles to be quiet. [2] After defendant went away, Vann came over to the bunk. Charles grabbed his trousers and started to pull them up, but Vann kept pulling them down, resulting in almost a tug of war between them. Vann told Charles to lie down or he would hit him. Charles refused, and Vann hit him, knocking him unconscious for a moment. When Charles regained consciousness, Vann was committing sodomy on him. With further reference to the act between himself and defendant, Charles testified that he was afraid, saying he was afraid of everybody and everything at the time. He said he was afraid they would beat him up and possibly kill him if he told anyone. The next morning, Charles did not take the initiative in reporting the criminal incidents to jail officers because he was still in fear, since after committing sodomy defendant had said that if Charles told anyone of the offense, defendant would beat him up and remove his protection and he might be rat-packed. Later in the day, an officer took Charles from the tank and informed him that he was investigating a reported incident which had occurred in Cell 2. The officer did not pressure him; but Charles, although still afraid, decided to, and did, make a statement as to the alleged offenses.