The PEOPLE v. Johnson

A jury found the defendant, Charles Johnson, guilty of the crime of rape and fixed the term of his imprisonment at fifteen years. Upon this appeal he urges that the State failed to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and that the trial court erred in the admission and exclusion of evidence, in instructing the jury and in permitting the jury to fix his sentence.

The complaining witness testified that late on the afternoon of January 24, 1959, she and her son were carrying a cabinet into an alley when the defendant approached and offered to help. She declined his offer. After she had…