People v. Almodovar

190 Cal. App. 3d 732, 235 Cal. Rptr. 616, 1987 Cal. App. LEXIS 1538
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 25, 1987
DocketB011757
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 190 Cal. App. 3d 732 (People v. Almodovar) 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. Almodovar, 190 Cal. App. 3d 732, 235 Cal. Rptr. 616, 1987 Cal. App. LEXIS 1538 (Cal. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

Opinion

HANSON (Thaxton), J.

Introduction

The People appeal from an order suspending the proceedings and granting defendant probation.1

Statement of Facts

Defendant formerly worked as a civilian traffic officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. During her employment, she met Patricia Isgro (Isgro), another traffic officer. The two saw each other occasionally and had brief conversations at work in April 1979; defendant was then transferred and there was no further contact between the two.

In July 1983, defendant telephoned Isgro at work. Isgro was surprised to hear from defendant and also curious, having heard defendant had been arrested recently. They arranged to meet at a restaurant, where defendant told Isgro she had left the police department and was now a prostitute. Defendant was writing a book, “From Cop to Call Girl,” describing her exploits with the police department and further escapades as a prostitute. Defendant offered Isgro a job as her secretary, knowing Isgro previously had worked as a secretary for the police department; Isgro laughed at the offer. Defendant also told Isgro her life had greatly improved, and she was now earning several thousand dollars a month.

Isgro left the meeting with no plans to see defendant again; defendant was a known prostitute, and Isgro did not wish to jeopardize her position with the police department by associating with defendant. Nevertheless, defendant continued to telephone Isgro at the police station; Isgro told station personnel she did not want to take the calls and told them to tell defendant she was out of the station. Defendant left messages for Isgro, who did not respond to them.

[737]*737Defendant finally got through to Isgro on September 7, 1983. Defendant indicated she had a friend who would pay Isgro to sleep with him and defendant desired to arrange this. Isgro laughed and hung up the telephone. Upon further thought, Isgro informed a superior of the situation; he arranged an interview with Detectives Vanderpool and Clapp. Isgro agreed to assist the detectives in an investigation.

Isgro telephoned defendant from the police station several times; these calls were monitored and tape recorded by the detectives. Isgro also made a visit to defendant’s apartment, wearing a body wire; again, her conversation with defendant was taped. During the course of their conversations, defendant arranged Isgro’s “date” with defendant’s friend.

Defendant’s friend, Harry, owned a service station and serviced defendant’s automobile for free. Harry liked older women who were tall and big. Defendant was young, small and short, whereas Isgro was 50 years old, 6 feet tall, 200 pounds and buxom—exactly what Harry liked. Isgro would keep all the money Harry paid her. Defendant indicated prostitution would only be a part-time job for Isgro—Isgro acknowledging not too many customers would be interested in a woman of her description—and Isgro could still work as defendant’s secretary.

Defendant explained Harry and his friend Bill got together on Saturday afternoons and “played” with two prostitutes at Bill’s office; Isgro was to be Harry’s date on these occasions while defendant or another woman would be with Bill. Bill was influential in the restaurant business and could provide many contacts and introductions to defendant, a budding authoress.

During the course of the conversations, defendant provided descriptions of her work as a call girl, told Isgro about other people in the business and some of their well-known clients. Defendant also told Isgro more about her book, especially the chapters dealing with her relationship with the police department and sexual escapades with other officers. At one point, defendant sought reassurance Isgro was not setting her up for an arrest; Isgro was able to reassure her.

Defendant finally arranged for Isgro to contact Harry. Isgro telephoned Harry and the two arranged to meet at a restaurant the following day. The meeting never took place, however; defendant telephoned Isgro to let her know Harry’s daughter was sick and Harry would be unable to keep the date.

Procedural Background

Defendant was convicted of pandering in violation of Penal Code section [738]*738266i.2 Following her conviction, she was committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for a diagnostic evaluation pursuant to section 1203.03; she served 72 days in custody.

The punishment for pandering is a state prison term of three, four or six years. (§ 266i.) Section 1203.065, subdivision (a), prohibits probation for a convicted panderer.3 Defendant moved to have the latter statute declared unconstitutional. The trial court found the section unconstitutional as applied; it ordered the proceedings suspended and defendant placed on probation for three years.

Contentions

I

The People contend the trial court erred in granting defendant probation rather than sentencing her to state prison as required by section 1203.065.

II

The People further contend, in the event the order is reversed, defendant should be resentenced according to law.

Discussion

The People contend the trial court erred in granting defendant probation rather than sentencing her to state prison as required by section 1203.065. We agree.

In granting probation to defendant, rather than the statutorily required prison term, the trial court stated: “I think in this case it would be unconstitutional to send this lady at the present stage of her life, to say that she must do a minimum of three years state prison. [1] I will note that robbers are eligible to two years and certainly she in no way is—even robbers are even given probation; and she in no way is anyplace on the level with robbers. [739]*739[11] I think what happened is obviously the legislature [sic] intended to round up all the pimps and the panderers and they had the idea of — were thinking about somebody on Hollywood Boulevard with a string of girls. [11] So they made a statute that tried to fit everybody in. As I indicated last year, it is a procrustean statute that makes up for the shortcomings by being draconian in nature. In this case the punishment is clearly out of proportion to the actions of defendant.” The foregoing comments indicate the court found Penal Code section 1203.065, subdivision (a), prohibiting probation for persons convicted of pandering, unconstitutional as applied to defendant rather than on its face. The People assert the statute is constitutional both on its face and as applied.

In addressing the issue of cruel or unusual punishment, it must be borne in mind “in our tripartite system of government it is the function of the legislative branch to define crimes and prescribe punishments, and ... such questions are in the first instance for the judgment of the Legislature alone.” (In re Lynch (1972) 8 Cal.3d 410, 414 [105 Cal.Rptr. 217, 503 P.2d 921].) The Legislature is limited, however, by article I, section 17, of the California Constitution, which proscribes the infliction of cruel or unusual punishment; the courts must make the ultimate determination whether a specific punishment violates this constitutional proscription. (Ibid.)

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
190 Cal. App. 3d 732, 235 Cal. Rptr. 616, 1987 Cal. App. LEXIS 1538, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-almodovar-calctapp-1987.