People v. Asturias CA1/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 7, 2015
DocketA137391
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Asturias CA1/2 (People v. Asturias CA1/2) 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. Asturias CA1/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 5/7/15 P. v. Asturias CA1/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A137391 v. RICARDO A. ASTURIAS, (San Francisco City and County Super. Ct. No. 215883) Defendant and Appellant.

Appellant Ricardo A. Asturias was convicted, following a jury trial, of continuous sexual abuse of a child and possession of child pornography. On appeal, he contends (1) the trial court erred and violated his constitutional right to a public trial when it closed the courtroom during the testimony of the minor victim’s parents; (2) the trial court abused its discretion and violated appellant’s due process rights when it admitted evidence of prior uncharged sexual offenses; and (3) the award of $625,000 in noneconomic restitution was not authorized by law, violated his due process rights, and constituted an abuse of discretion; he further claims that the restitution awards for both economic and noneconomic damages violated his right to a jury trial. We shall affirm the judgment. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Appellant was charged by amended information with one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 (Pen. Code, § 288.5, subd. (a)—count 1);1 two counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 (§ 288, subd. (a)—counts 2 & 3); and one count of possession of child pornography (§ 311.11, subd. (a)—count 4). 1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

1 Following a jury trial, appellant was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and possession of child pornography. On December 14, 2012, the trial court sentenced appellant to a total term of 16 years, eight months in prison. The court also awarded the victim $5,875 in economic restitution and $625,000 in noneconomic restitution. Also on December 14, 2012, appellant filed a notice of appeal. FACTUAL BACKGROUND Prosecution Case At the time of trial, “Jane Doe,” who was born in 2004, was eight years old and in the third grade. She lived with her parents and her 13-year-old brother Her mother, “Mrs. Doe,” testified that appellant is the first cousin of Jane’s father, and the children called him Uncle Al. Appellant was a constant presence in the lives of the Doe children; they often saw him on a weekly basis for weekend dinners at the Doe house, at family events, and on vacations. In addition to other vacation trips, appellant frequently traveled with the Doe family to Jane’s uncle’s vacation home in Sonoma County, which the family called “the ranch.” When he visited the Doe home, appellant sometimes went upstairs with Jane to her room, to see her artwork or play a game. They would be there alone for five to twenty minutes. Jane’s parents trusted appellant “completely.” Jane felt like appellant was her uncle and she loved him very much. Appellant lived in an apartment about five blocks from the Doe home. On October 1, 2010, after appellant had volunteered to babysit for Jane and her brother while their parents went out to dinner to celebrate their birthdays, Mrs. Doe mentioned his offer to her husband in front of Jane, who was sitting nearby. The next night, October 2, Jane, who was then six years old and in first grade, told her mother, “I want Uncle Al to visit, but I don’t want him to babysit.” When Mrs. Doe asked her why not, Jane asked, “Can I tell you a secret?” She then told Mrs. Doe that appellant “tickles my privates and I don’t like it.” Mrs. Doe was “completely stunned.” She asked follow- up questions, and Jane told her it happened “[e]very time he goes to my room.” Jane seemed hesitant and uncomfortable about “telling on” appellant. She also seemed shy

2 and embarrassed. Mrs. Doe assured her that appellant would not be babysitting, and then dropped the subject until she had a chance to talk to her husband, who was working a 24- hour shift as a firefighter. On October 4, 2010, Mrs. and Mr. Doe, who were still “in disbelief,” asked Jane some questions about what appellant had done. Jane told them that appellant had touched her privates under her underwear and had put his finger inside her. She said the touching had happened in her room and also at the ranch, the vacation home in Sonoma. Mr. and Mrs. Doe waited a couple of days to report what Jane had told them because Mr. Doe was initially extremely upset and in a state of disbelief. They spoke first with an attorney friend, who explained that, if they reported the molestation, it did not mean Jane would be taken away from them. Mr. and Mrs. Doe then met with a social worker who helped them to make a report to Child Protective Services. In mid-October, Jane was interviewed at CASARC (Child and Adolescent Support Advocacy and Resource Center) at San Francisco General Hospital. Jane also had a medical examination. Mrs. Doe recalled that, on one occasion a short time before the disclosure, Jane did not want to hug appellant goodbye, which was unusual for her. Since the disclosure, they had talked about appellant on occasion. Jane had “wanted to make sure that [appellant] wouldn’t be coming to the house, that she wouldn’t see him.” Mrs. Doe and Jane’s therapist had also talked to Jane about the fact that she would need to testify in this case. Jane was nervous about this; she did not want to testify. Jane Doe’s father, “Mr. Doe,” testified that appellant was like a brother to him. The Does and their extended family included appellant in all family gatherings and vacations, including visits to the ranch in Sonoma. Appellant also came to dinner at the Doe home almost weekly for many years. When he was at their house, appellant would often go upstairs with Jane to read a book or look at her artwork. When they were at the ranch, appellant and Jane also spent time alone together in the living room, watching movies on a laptop. Even when there were numerous children at the ranch, appellant paid particular attention to Jane.

3 On October 2, 2010, after his wife called him at work to let him know that Jane had told her about the molestation, Mr. Doe was “in a complete state of shock.” The next afternoon, Jane told Mr. Doe that appellant was touching her in her private parts, under her clothes. She said it always happened when they were alone, either upstairs in the bedroom or at the ranch. Jane, who was six and in first grade at the time, said it had started when she was in pre-kindergarten. The following day, Mr. and Mrs. Doe spoke again with Jane, using a doll for Jane to show them where appellant had touched her. She pointed to the doll’s vagina area and said that appellant had used his fingers to touch her there, under her underwear, and that he touched her “inside.” The Does then took Jane to a social worker, to make sure that the reporting of the molestation “was done in the most protective, calming way so that [Jane] was taken care of.” The social worker called Child Protective Services and, at some point, the Does were interviewed by police officers. After they reported the molestation, Jane would periodically get scared and ask about what was going to happen and if she would have to see appellant again. Before Jane’s disclosure, Mr. Doe never had any reason to suspect that appellant was molesting her. At some point after the disclosure, Mr. Doe’s cousin Tony told him that appellant had emailed him photographs of little girls, and Tony had told him to stop. Mr. Doe also remembered that a week or two before the disclosure, appellant had been at the Doe house for dinner and had spent time upstairs with Jane.

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People v. Asturias CA1/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-asturias-ca12-calctapp-2015.