People v. Batten CA4/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 18, 2016
DocketG050277
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Batten CA4/3 (People v. Batten CA4/3) 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. Batten CA4/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 2/18/16 P. v. Batten CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G050277

v. (Super. Ct. No. 11HF1885)

TRAVIS DEWAYNE BATTEN, JR., OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Sheila F. Hanson and Patrick Donahue, Judges. Affirmed. Sharon M. Jones, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Eric A. Swenson, Lynne G. McGinnis and Felicity Senoski, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. * * * Defendant Travis Dewayne Batten, Jr., was found guilty of a number of sex offenses after trial by jury. He raises two issues on appeal: (1) That the police obtained his DNA as a result of a prolonged detention in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and with the suppression of that evidence there was insufficient evidence to convict him of any of the charges; and (2) Even if the DNA evidence is not ordered suppressed, the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for kidnapping. Defendant had been lawfully detained for driving with illegally tinted windows. He asks us to conclude the detention was unduly prolonged by police so they could surreptitiously obtain his DNA from a breath test straw and that introduction of his DNA obtained from the straw prejudiced him at trial. Defendant is correct that the DNA sample was obtained in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights and that evidence should have been suppressed. The error was harmless, however, because a buccal swab containing his DNA was taken when he was arrested days after the traffic stop. Defendant did not challenge the lawfulness of his arrest. Needless to say, the DNA profiles obtained from the breath tests straw and the buccal swab were the same. Defendant’s DNA from the buccal swab matched the DNA samples left on each victim by their attacker. Additionally, defendant left his thumbprint on the duct tape he used to bind one of the victims. We also find the evidence supports the kidnapping charge. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment. I FACTS The district attorney charged defendant in the information with a number of offenses arising out of two instances involving two different female victims. Based on a May 20, 2005 incident, defendant was charged with one count each of residential

2 burglary (Pen. Code,1 §§ 459, 460, subd.(a); count one), kidnapping to commit a sex offense (§ 209, subd. (b)(1); count two), assault with intent to commit a sex offense (§ 220; count three), and dissuading a witness by force or threat (§ 136.1, subd. (c)(1); count four). Based on a November 30, 2006 incident, defendant was charged with penetration with a foreign object (§ 289, subd. (a)(1); count five), two counts of forcible rape (§ 261, subd. (a)(2); counts six and eight), forcible sodomy (§ 286, subd. (c)(2); count seven), and assault with intent to commit a sexual offense during a first degree burglary (§ 220, subd. (b); count nine).2 After the prosecution’s case-in-chief, the court dismissed counts one and four pursuant to defendant’s section 1118.1 motion because the applicable statute of limitations had expired before those charges were filed. The jury convicted defendant on the remaining counts (counts two, three, and five through nine) and found the special sentencing allegations true. The court sentenced defendant to life in prison with the possibility of parole on count two (kidnapping to commit sex offense). On counts five (penetration with a foreign object), six (forcible rape), seven (forcible sodomy), and eight (forcible rape), the court sentenced defendant to four consecutive terms of 25 years to life, for a total commitment of life with a consecutive term of 100 years to life. The sentences on counts three (assault with intent to commit a sex offense) and nine (assault with intent to commit a sex offense during commission of a first degree burglary) were ordered stayed pursuant to section 654.

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 Four charges and their attendant special allegations based on an alleged July 8, 2010 incident involving a third alleged victim were dismissed prior to trial on the district attorney’s motion.

3 Counts Two and Three In May 2005, Karen S. lived alone in a second floor condominium in Newport Beach. Her garage was on the street level. On May 20, 2005, she returned home at approximately 8:00 p.m., after working out at the gym and grocery shopping. The front door was not locked because Karen had been having trouble with the lock. Upon entering her residence, Karen heard a noise and saw something to her left, out of the corner of her eye. It was a man wearing a dark mask that covered his head, except for his eyes. Although she could not see his face, Karen saw the man’s arms and believed he was Caucasian. The intruder lunged at Karen and tackled her before she could go back out the front door. He said he was there to rob her, and something about being in the wrong house. He said he was going to “hog-tie” her and if she cooperated, she would be alright. The man then pulled Karen to inside a bedroom about six or seven feet from where he had tackled her, pushed her onto the bed in the room, duct taped her arms behind her back, wrapped duct tape around her mouth and head, and said he would hurt her if she did not cooperate. He also said something about a knife. The man said he heard a noise in the back of the house and asked if anyone else was in the residence. He moved Karen into the hallway and toward the back bedroom. Feeling she was not going to be robbed, Karen attempted to bargain with the man, offering him her Mercedes and her purse. He pushed Karen into the master bedroom and put her on the left side of the bed, about 30 feet from where they were when he duct taped her mouth. No lights were on and it was dark in the master bedroom. It had been lighter where the man first tackled Karen. Karen was seated on the side of the bed and face-to-face with the intruder. He lifted her light sweatshirt and started to lick her breasts. He told her not to look at him. He also said something about having been in jail and that he was lost. Karen feared for her life and started fighting. The man punched her. She struggled to stay conscious.

4 At one point during the struggle, he was on top of Karen and put his hand between her legs over her shorts. The struggle lasted about five minutes. Karen attempted to chew her way through the duct tape covering her mouth, but felt no one would hear her scream because she was so far away from the front door. The intruder threw Karen to the ground and told her he would return if she called the police. He left and when she heard the front door close, Karen freed herself and called 911. When the police arrived, a female officer cut the duct tape off of Karen and preserved the tape for any biological evidence. She also took swabs from areas the intruder licked on Karen’s breasts. The swabs were subsequently submitted to the Orange County’s crime lab for DNA analysis. Later that night, about 11:50 p.m., defendant went to an emergency room for what was diagnosed as a fracture of his fourth metacarpal of his right hand, for what is known as “boxer’s fracture.” The term refers to poor boxing skills.

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

Related

Wong Sun v. United States
371 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Chapman v. California
386 U.S. 18 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Terry v. Ohio
392 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Florida v. Royer
460 U.S. 491 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Segura v. United States
468 U.S. 796 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Illinois v. Caballes
543 U.S. 405 (Supreme Court, 2005)
Arizona v. Johnson
555 U.S. 323 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Maldonado v. Superior Court
274 P.3d 1110 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Rountree
301 P.3d 150 (California Supreme Court, 2013)
People v. Mayfield
928 P.2d 485 (California Supreme Court, 1997)
People v. Farris
66 Cal. App. 3d 376 (California Court of Appeal, 1977)
People v. Salazar
33 Cal. App. 4th 341 (California Court of Appeal, 1995)
People v. Smith
33 Cal. App. 4th 1586 (California Court of Appeal, 1995)
People v. Ramos
101 P.3d 478 (California Supreme Court, 2004)
People v. Kraft
5 P.3d 68 (California Supreme Court, 2000)
Wilson v. Superior Court
670 P.2d 325 (California Supreme Court, 1983)
Rodriguez v. United States
575 U.S. 348 (Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Scott
349 P.3d 1028 (California Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Brown
353 P.3d 305 (California Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Robertson
208 Cal. App. 4th 965 (California Court of Appeal, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Batten CA4/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-batten-ca43-calctapp-2016.