The People v. Vera CA4/3

FACTS

Testimony of Victim’s Mother The mother of the 12-year-old victim, came home from the store to see the shadows of two people in the kitchen struggling, the defendant and her son. Defendant appeared to be nervous. She had a feeling something was not right. She asked her son what happened in the kitchen and he wouldn‟t tell her. The next day, she took him to the hospital to be checked by a doctor, and hospital personnel contacted the police.

Testimony of Victim The victim testified he was doing his homework and defendant approached him and started touching him. When he was asked where defendant touched him, he responded, “in my butt,” and said it was over his clothes. The victim pushed defendant‟s hand and went back to his homework. A week later, the victim was once again doing his homework in the living room, and went to the kitchen for some water, when defendant did the same thing. Then defendant pulled the victim‟s hand toward defendant‟s bedroom. Defendant pulled him to the bed by the victim‟s shoulders and told him to pull his pants down. The victim testified: “I said „no‟ and I was trying to get away, but he wouldn‟t let me go away.”

2 Defendant pulled the boy‟s pants…