People v. Salinas

Each of the defendants was found guilty by a jury of one count of statutory rape. The defendants’ main contentions for reversal are that the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to sustain their convictions and that the statutory rape statute was unconstitutional because it applied only to male offenders.

At trial, the twelve-year-old victim testified that on the night of July 27, 1973, she and a girl friend were driven to a remote lake by a group of boys, many of whom she had not known before. At the lake, several of the boys pulled her out of the car and had sexual intercourse with…