In Re Leonard M.

A minor appeals from an order finding him to be a person within the meaning of section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and directing a suitable placement for him. We affirm the order.

The order is based on a finding that the minor, a 16-year-old boy, had committed a lewd act on a 5-year-old neighbor girl. On this appeal he contends: (1) that the evidence does not support the finding; and (2) that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because his trial attorney did not seek a psychiatric examination of the child. We reject both contentions.

I

The young girl testified quite positively that the minor had invited her into his home, where he was alone, and there committed an act of intercourse with her. That testimony, accepted by the trial court, was sufficient to sustain the finding.

II

However, the evidence was otherwise weak. The girl was not examined by a physician until some hours after she had complained to her mother. The examination disclosed no bleeding, an unruptured hymen, and no *890 indication of semen, but did show a slight redness of the vagina—a fact possibly explainable by intervening events. The medical evidence was that it was…

I dissent.

The majority finds no merit in either of the two contentions asserted by the minor on this appeal. I do. The minor’s contentions are (1) that the evidence is insufficient to support the finding that the minor committed a violation of section 288 of the Penal Code, and (2) that the minor was denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel at his trial.

I

Insufficiency of the Evidence

In this case before us the victim, a five-year-old neighbor girl, testified that the minor, a sixteen-year-old boy, had actual sexual intercourse with *892 her—not simply the commission of a lewd act. The majority concludes that since this testimony was accepted by the trial court, it ends all consideration of the issue of whether the evidence was sufficient. Automatically, it was sufficient to sustain the finding.

It is with deep reluctance that I must agree that our appellate courts have held that the testimony of a child complaining witness in a child molestation case, even though uncorroborated, and no matter how lacking in indicia of reliability and trustworthiness, nevertheless is sufficient to support an adult’s conviction or a juvenile court’s corresponding…

A minor appeals from an order finding him to be a person within the meaning of section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and directing a suitable placement for him. We affirm the order.

The order is based on a finding that the minor, a 16-year-old boy, had committed a lewd act on a 5-year-old neighbor girl. On this appeal he contends: (1) that the evidence does not support the finding; and (2) that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because his trial attorney did not seek a psychiatric examination of the child. We reject both contentions.

(1) The young girl testified quite positively that the minor had invited her into his home, where he was alone, and there committed an act of intercourse with her. That testimony, accepted by the trial court, was sufficient to sustain the finding.

However, the evidence was otherwise weak. The girl was not examined by a physician until some hours after she had complained to her mother. The examination disclosed no bleeding, an unruptured hymen, and no indication of semen, but did show a slight redness of the vagina — a fact possibly explainable by intervening events. The medical evidence was that it…