People v. Adames

54 Cal. App. 4th 198, 62 Cal. Rptr. 2d 631, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2753, 97 Daily Journal DAR 4854, 1997 Cal. App. LEXIS 286
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 14, 1997
DocketB101822
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 54 Cal. App. 4th 198 (People v. Adames) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Adames, 54 Cal. App. 4th 198, 62 Cal. Rptr. 2d 631, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2753, 97 Daily Journal DAR 4854, 1997 Cal. App. LEXIS 286 (Cal. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

*204 Opinion

VOGEL (C. S.), P. J.

Ernest Anthony Adames appeals from the judgment entered following a jury trial that resulted in his conviction of continuous sexual abuse of a child (Pen. Code, § 288.5) 1 and the order requiring him to submit to testing for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (§ 1202.1). He was sentenced to prison for the upper term of 16 years.

Appellant contends that his constitutional rights to a fair trial by jury and to due process under the federal Constitution (U.S. Const., 6th & 14th Amends.) were abridged by the trial court’s failure to give a unanimity instruction on the specific acts underlying the charged crime and by section 288.5 itself, which on its face authorizes the jury to convict him based on findings that he had committed three “acts” without requiring the jury to agree on the same three acts.

He contends the trial court erred in excluding evidence of past molestation of the victim’s mother for the purpose of impeaching her testimony. He further contends the court erred in giving both CALJIC Nos. 2.27 and 10.60, which he asserts improperly enhanced the victim’s testimony by allowing the jury to consider it without corroboration while inferring corroboration of the testimony of other witnesses was required.

He challenges the validity of his sentence on the ground that the transmission of a sexual disease is not a permissible factor in the selection of the upper term. He also contends the order for AIDS testing must be stricken because that requirement did not encompass a violation of section 288 at the time his offense was committed.

We find his contentions to be unavailing and affirm the judgment and order. We hold that appellant’s trial for the continuous child sex abuse statute (§288.5) was not unconstitutional as violative of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the federal Constitution. We also hold that the transmission of genital herpes, which involves great bodily harm, is a proper aggravating factor justifying the imposition of the upper term. We further hold that the AIDS testing mandate of section 1202.1 applies to a conviction under section 288.5 based on “three or more acts of lewd or lascivious conduct under Section 288." Additionally, we hold that the AIDS testing mandate is not punishment and such testing is not barred under either the proscription against ex post facto laws (U.S. Const., art. I, § 9, cl. 3) or Penal Code section 3, which provides that no part of the code is retroactive unless expressly so declared.

*205 Factual Summary 2

Viewed in accordance with the usual rules on appeal (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206 [26 Cal.Rptr.2d 23, 864 P.2d 103]), the evidence established that on June 28,1993, Sylvia, appellant’s wife, took her 11-year-old daughter from her first marriage, Carmen, to the Kaiser Permanente Group in Lancaster after Carmen complained of a rash in her groin area. Carmen tested positive for herpes virus type 2, which usually occurs in the genital area and is often transmitted by sexual contact. Once a person is exposed to type 2, he or she will have it for the rest of his or her life.

Ón September 19, 1994, Carmen, crying and yelling, told her mother that appellant tried to rape her. Appellant was upset because Sylvia would not believe that Carmen was lying because he found clothing which Carmen was forbidden to take to school hidden under her school bag.

Sylvia left with the children to stay with relatives. Carmen told her mother that she had oral sexual contact and intercourse with appellant before the rash appeared. She further admitted that after she was returned home in February 1994, from where she had been placed in protective custody in October 1993, the abuse continued in the morning while the other children slept. After appellant lost his job in April 1994, the sexual abuse, including sexual intercourse, resumed two or three times a week until she left with her mother in September 1994. During most of that time, appellant touched her vagina with his hand or finger and on four or five occasions, he put his mouth on her vagina.

In a telephone conversation, appellant told Sylvia something like “it’s not rape, it just wasn’t me, it was her, too.” Crying, he added, “I wanted to tell you the truth but I was afraid to.” In September or October 1994, at the house of Darla Bilson, a former neighbor, appellant began crying and confessed to Bilson that he had been having an affair with Carmen for about a year and a half and that they had had sexual intercourse every day.

On November 18, 1994, through a colposcope, the standard instrument used in these incidents, Ann Pomphrey, a registered nurse with the county U.S.C. Medical Center, Vulnerable Child Center, observed a tear which had healed into a scar on Carmen’s hymen and which was consistent with a claim of rape. These matters were not visible to the naked eye.

On behalf of the defense, Dr. Stanley Bierman, a dermatologist possessing expertise with the herpes virus, testified that using high magnification *206 lenses, he had observed an intact hymenal ring, which would have been tom if she had engaged in sexual intercourse. However, he admitted that colposcopes are more precise than the human eye in child abuse examinations, that he was not trained to use them, and that he did not use those instruments. Dr. Bierman also admitted that over 99 percent of the time the herpes virus is transmitted to the child by sexual contact.

Appellant denied ever confessing to Sylvia that he had molested Carmen. He also denied that he had confessed to Bilson in any manner. He further denied molesting Carmen.

Appellant’s 1993 test results revealed that he had herpes type 2 with a score of 1.62. His 1995 test results showed that he was in the high-positive range with a score of 0.61.

Discussion

1. Continuous Child Sex Abuse Statute (§288.5) Not Unconstitutional

Appellant contends that his constitutional rights to a fair trial by jury and to due process under the federal Constitution (U.S. Const., 6th & 14th Amends.) were abridged by the trial court’s failure to give a unanimity instruction on the specific acts underlying the charged crime and by section 288.5 itself, which on its face authorizes the jury to convict him based on findings that he had committed three “acts” without requiring the jury to agree on the same three acts. We find no constitutional infirmity.

Section 288.5 was expressly enacted to enable significant penalties against a resident child molester easier to impose. (People v. Johnson (1995) 40 Cal.App.4th 24, 26 [46 Cal.Rptr.2d 838].) In pertinent part, section 288.5, subdivision (a) provides: “Any person who . . . resides in the same home with the minor child [and] who over a period of time, not less than three months in duration, engages in three or more acts of substantial sexual conduct...

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Latanzio CA2/5
California Court of Appeal, 2025
People v. Quintero CA2/4
California Court of Appeal, 2023
People v. Ruether CA5
California Court of Appeal, 2022
People v. Flores CA5
California Court of Appeal, 2021
People v. Gonzalez CA2/7
California Court of Appeal, 2020
People v. Angel CA2/2
California Court of Appeal, 2016
People v. Sandoval CA2/5
California Court of Appeal, 2016
People v. McCarthy
244 Cal. App. 4th 1096 (California Court of Appeal, 2016)
People v. Asturias CA1/2
California Court of Appeal, 2015
People v. Travis
44 Cal. Rptr. 3d 177 (California Court of Appeal, 2006)
State v. Rabago
81 P.3d 1151 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2003)
People v. Butler
79 P.3d 1036 (California Supreme Court, 2003)
People v. Stowell
79 P.3d 1030 (California Supreme Court, 2003)
The People, and v. Carl Franklin Harrison, And
340 F.3d 497 (Ninth Circuit, 2001)
People v. Vargas
110 Cal. Rptr. 2d 210 (California Court of Appeal, 2001)
People v. Palmer
103 Cal. Rptr. 2d 301 (California Court of Appeal, 2001)
People v. Culuko
92 Cal. Rptr. 2d 789 (California Court of Appeal, 2000)
Richardson v. United States
526 U.S. 813 (Supreme Court, 1999)
People v. Ranger Insurance
61 Cal. App. 4th 812 (California Court of Appeal, 1998)
People v. Gohdes
58 Cal. App. 4th 1520 (California Court of Appeal, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 Cal. App. 4th 198, 62 Cal. Rptr. 2d 631, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2753, 97 Daily Journal DAR 4854, 1997 Cal. App. LEXIS 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-adames-calctapp-1997.