Is voluntary intoxication a defense to rape?

[102 Cal.App.3d 443] Guthreau further charges error in the court's refusal to instruct the jury on diminished capacity set forth in CALJIC 3.35. ² He relies improvidently on People v. Mayberry, supra, 15 Cal.3d 143, 125 Cal.Rptr. 745, 542 P.2d 1337, in arguing voluntary intoxication is a defense to rape. Guthreau would rewrite the rape law of this state from a general intent to a specific intent crime.

"(R)ape and sodomy are general intent crimes . . . ." (People v. Potter, 77 Cal.App.3d 45, 51, 143 Cal.Rptr. 379, 382; cf., People v. Thornton, 11 Cal.3d 738, 765, 114 Cal.Rptr. 467, 523 P.2d 267, cert. den. 420 U.S. 924, 95 S.Ct. 1118, 43 L.Ed.2d 393.)