(HC) Iturralde v. Atchley

District Court, E.D. California·Decided July 5, 2023·No. 2:22-cv-00272·Unknown

Opinion

EDWARD ITURRALDE, No. 2:22-cv-00272 DJC KJN P Petitioner, v. ORDER & MATTHEW ATCHLEY, FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS Respondent. I. Introduction Petitioner Edward Iturralde, a state prisoner proceeding with counsel, filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner challenges his 2019 conviction for nine counts of lewd conduct upon four children under the age of 14 and one count of attempting to prevent or dissuade witnesses from testifying against him. Petitioner was sentenced to an aggregate term of 106 years, 4 months to life in state prison. He now raises the following claims in his habeas petition: (1) sufficiency of the evidence; (2) violation of due process due to long timeframes pled in the information; and (3) statute of limitations expired as to counts one through twelve. Petitioner also requests that this Court take judicial notice of the state court record. (ECF No. 1.) After careful review of the record, this Court concludes that the petition should be denied and orders that petitioner’s request for judicial notice be denied as moot. II. Procedural History On May 15, 2019, a jury found petitioner guilty of nine counts of lewd conduct upon four children under the age of 14 (Cal. Pen. Code, § 288(a); counts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11 & 14), and one count of attempting to prevent or dissuade witnesses from testifying against him (Cal. Penal Code § 136.1(a)(2); count 13). (ECF No. 10-2 at 55-74.) In August 2019, petitioner was sentenced to an aggregate term of 106 years, 4 months to life in state prison. (Id. at 191-92, 209-13.) Petitioner appealed the conviction to the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District. The Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction on November 12, 2020. (ECF No. 10-16.) He then filed a petition for review in the California Supreme Court, which it denied on January 22, 2021. (ECF No. 10-18.) Petitioner filed the instant petition on February 11, 2022. (ECF No. 1.) Respondent filed an answer. (ECF No. 9.) Petitioner filed a traverse. (ECF No. 13.) III. Facts1 After independently reviewing the record, this Court finds the state appellate court’s summary accurate and adopts it herein. In its unpublished memorandum and opinion affirming petitioner’s judgment of conviction on appeal, the state appellate court provided the following factual summary: Consistent with the usual rules on appeal, we set forth the facts in the light most favorable to the judgment. (In re Daniel G. (2004) 120 Cal.App.4th 824, 828, fn.1.) Sexual abuse of A. (counts 5, 6 & 7) Victim A., age 25 at trial, was seven years old when he and his biological brothers, victims L. and C., were placed in the foster home of defendant and his wife (Mrs. Iturralde). A. subsequently was adopted by defendant and Mrs. Iturralde when he was nine or 10 years old. When A. first came to live with defendant and Mrs. Iturralde, they were living in Alameda County. In June of 2004, when A. was 11

1 The facts are taken from the opinion of the California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District in People v. Iturralde, No. C090456, 2020 WL 6605596 (Cal. Ct. App. Nov. 12, 2020), a copy of which was lodged by respondent as ECF 10-16. years old, the family moved to Mountain House, in San Joaquin County. They lived in Mountain House from 2004 to 2009. A. testified that defendant began molesting him at the Mountain House home when he was 11 or 12 years old and in the sixth grade. He remembered the year because the molestations started shortly after the family got a dog. He testified that the molestations continued for several years, until he was in the ninth grade. A. testified that the molestations consisted of defendant, who usually was wearing only underwear, touching A.’s genitals, A. touching defendant’s genitals, and/or defendant watching A. touch his own genitals. A. testified that defendant would refer to the touching as a “massage” or a “masseuse.” The touchings occurred mainly at night when Mrs. Iturralde was at work. The touchings took place both in defendant’s bedroom and in A.’s bedroom. A. explained that defendant would give him rewards for performing the “massages,” such as permission to stay up late. A. testified that the touchings happened so often that it became routine. He estimated the touchings occurred “at least 50 times,” with a frequency of at least three or four times per week. When questioned by defense counsel about the frequency, A. replied, “I just know it happened a lot ....” A. testified that the touchings occurred when he was in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. A. could not recall precise dates or times for most of the touchings, but he recalled one incident when he was in the eighth grade when defendant taught A. how to put on a condom and then watched A. masturbate. A. also recalled defendant masturbating A.’s penis while A. was wearing a condom and testified that this happened more than once. A. claimed there were times that C. was in the room when inappropriate touchings occurred. A. also testified to witnessing inappropriate touchings involving C. A. testified that he, L., and C. did not discuss defendant’s sexual abuse. He did not report the abuse to authorities because he did not want to be separated from his brothers, but he told two of his high school friends. A. recalled that once, during an argument, L. told Mrs. Iturralde that defendant was a pedophile, but she did not believe him. A. also told victim J., a foster child in defendant’s home, to be careful around defendant because “stuff happened” to him when he was younger, but A. did not give J. details. When they were adults, A. and C. decided to contact the police after being encouraged to do so by their biological mother. Sexual abuse of C. (counts 10 & 11) Victim C., age 24 at trial, is the youngest adopted son of defendant and Mrs. Iturralde. C. first came to live with defendant as a foster child when he was five years old. When C. was nine years old and in fourth grade, the family moved to Mountain House. C. testified that defendant began molesting him when he was in the fifth grade. He remembered that because it was when he started playing a video game called Warcraft. At first, the molestation consisted of defendant tickling C.’s genital area over the clothes, but it escalated to the point that defendant was touching C.’s genitals, and C. was touching defendant’s genitals. Defendant referred to the inappropriate touchings as “massages.” Defendant would get an erection during the massages. A massage would end with defendant turning away and stroking himself. C. did not see defendant ejaculate, but C. assumed he did. C. testified that the inappropriate “massages” happened multiple times per week from fifth through seventh grade. C. recalled one specific instance, in sixth grade, when he refused to reciprocate defendant’s touching, and the following day noticed that his penis had been bruised. Defendant would tell C. he had to “massage” him to get basic necessities like new school clothes or gifts such as video games. C. remembered the inappropriate touchings occurring in his bedroom. He thought they also may have happened in defendant’s bedroom, but he did not specifically recall. C. thought A. may have witnessed him being molested, but he was uncertain of that as well. C. did not recall witnessing any inappropriate touching between defendant and L. or A. C. never talked about the sexual abuse with his brothers or with victim J. C. wanted to tell someone about the abuse, but he felt guilt or shame probably prevented him from doing so. C. recalled that L. told Mrs. Iturralde about defendant’s abuse, but she did not believe him. When C. was an adult, he reconnected with his biological mother and told her about the abuse. She encouraged him to go to the police, which he did, at age 21. Sexual abuse of L. (counts 1,

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