Sprague

Defendant, who was convicted of the crime of rape, committed on the body of a young girl sixteen years of age, appeals from the judgment and order denying him a new trial.

[1] A witness for the prosecution—a man who occupied a room adjoining that in which it was claimed the offense was committed—after testifying that he witnessed the criminal act and that he met defendant shortly thereafter, was asked by the prosecuting attorney, on his direct examination, what was defendant’s appearance when he thus met him. Defendant’s counsel objected upon the ground that the question called for the conclusion of the witness. The objection being overruled, the witness testified that defendant’s face was rather disfigured, and that he appeared blanched or somewhat excited. The conduct of a suspected person charged with crime, when it is such as to show a consciousness of guilt, is always admissible. It was pertinent to show, therefore, how defendant behaved under the trying circumstances when he met, face to face, the man whom he must have known was the occupant of the room adjoining that in which he is alleged to have satisfied his lustful passions on the body of this young girl. It was…