Moten

Defendant was convicted of violating section 288 of the Penal Code, in that he did “commit a lewd and lascivious act upon and with the body ... of Jeannette Moten,” his daughter, who at the time of trial was 12 years of age. Defendant was represented below by the public defender and appeals in propria persona. The case was tried upon the transcript of the preliminary hearing and upon additional evidence taken at the trial. The prosecution’s witnesses were Jeannette Moten, defendant’s daughter, Mary Ann Moten, defendant’s wife, and Grace Ann White, aged 17, Jeannette Moten's cousin.

The testimony on which the defendant was convicted is as follows: Jeannette Moten testified at the time of the preliminary hearing that she was 12 years old and that defendant is her father. On March 9, 1961, her mother was out of the house working when Jeannette arose in the morning; she went to the bathroom wearing her slip at the time. While she was in the bathroom her father entered and said, “If your mother won’t act like a wife you will.” He pulled at her slip and.tore her underwear and then he rubbed his hands oh her private parts. He said that if she screamed or said anything he was going to…