People v. Burnett

9 Cal. App. 4th 685, 11 Cal. Rptr. 2d 841, 92 Daily Journal DAR 12835, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7988, 1992 Cal. App. LEXIS 1114
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 16, 1992
DocketB062967
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 9 Cal. App. 4th 685 (People v. Burnett) 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. Burnett, 9 Cal. App. 4th 685, 11 Cal. Rptr. 2d 841, 92 Daily Journal DAR 12835, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7988, 1992 Cal. App. LEXIS 1114 (Cal. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

*687 Opinion

EPSTEIN, J.

Willie C. Burnett appeals from Ms conviction after jury trial of kidnapping in violation of Penal Code section 207, subdivision (a), and forcible rape in violation of Penal Code section 261, subdivision (2). He contends that the trial court committed reversible error in refusing to instruct in terms of CALJIC No. 10.65; that the restitution order wMch formed part of Ms sentence did not comply with the law, and that the abstract of judgment does not accurately reflect the sentence imposed by the court. In the published portion of tMs opinion we conclude that the trial court was correct in refusing to give the CALJIC No. 10.65 instruction. In the unpublished portion of tMs opimon, we explain why tMs case must be remanded to the trial court for redetermination of the restitution fine and for correction of the abstract of judgment.

Factual and Procedural Summary

Maria D. testified that at about 10:30 on the evemng of January 2, 1989, she called her boyfriend, Rigoberto Candara, from a pay phone on the corner of Broadway and 42d Street in Los Angeles. She previously had a telephone conversation with Mm from her home, but that conversation ended when her mother told her not to talk on the telephone any longer.

After talking to Mr. Candara on the pay phone for two or three minutes, Maria D. saw appellant standing in front of a liquor store across the street. He crossed the street and asked her how long she was going to be using the telephone. She told Mm she would be about two minutes.

Over the telephone, Mr. Candara asked Maria D. who was there. Maria D. told Mm that it was “a guy that wants to use the phone.” Appellant then reached over and disconnected the call by clicking down the mechanism. He told Maria D. that he had a gun, and he instructed her to walk with Mm. He said that if she did not do so he would shoot her. His hand was in Ms jacket pocket.

Appellant and Maria D. walked several blocks, then entered a garage or shack beMnd a house. Throughout the walk, appellant kept Ms arm around Maria D.’s neck and Ms hand in Ms jacket pocket. He told Maria D. that he was a Four-Trey Crip and that the Four-Trey Grips liked to go after people. Maria D. repeatedly asked appellant not to hurt her. She thought appellant had a gun, and she was too scared to run or scream or to call out for help.

At the shack, appellant’s brother answered the door, spoke to appellant briefly, then left through a side door. Maria D. told appellant that she wanted *688 to go home. Appellant told Maria D. that he wanted to “ ‘try me.’ ” He took off his jacket, and Maria D. realized that he did not have a gun.

Appellant told Maria D. that crying would do her no good. He then indicated that either he or his friends would “do it,” and then he raped her. Afterward, appellant told Maria D. that he would walk her home. Although Maria D. said that she could go alone, he accompanied her. As they walked toward Broadway appellant told Maria D. that he knew she would not “set him up,” and that he knew where she lived.

By then Mr. Gandara, who became concerned when his telephone conversation with Maria D. was abruptly terminated, had begun to look for her. He and his brother drove to the area of the pay telephone at Broadway and 42d Street, arriving there about 20 minutes after the telephone conversation had ended. Mr. Gandara saw Maria D. walking with appellant on Broadway. When Maria D. saw Mr. Gandara’s car, she ran to it. Appellant ran away. Once inside the car, Maria D. started to cry.

Maria D. reported the crime to the police the next day. She did not report it sooner because she was afraid of appellant and embarrassed by what had happened. During the subsequent police investigation, Maria D. identified appellant’s picture in a photographic lineup.

The prosecution called Los Angeles Police Department Detective Lewis. He testified that on January 4, 1989, he interviewed appellant twice at the Newton Division police station. In the first interview, appellant said that he had spent the last three days with his girlfriend. Detective Lewis then handcuffed appellant to a bench in the hallway. About 10 minutes later, he learned that appellant wanted to talk to him again. In the second interview, appellant told Lewis that he had lied about being with his girlfriend. He said that the girl at the telephone booth at 42d and Broadway had waved him over, asked him if he wanted to have sex, and told him that he would have to pay for it. She called the police because he did not pay her. When he reached the liquor store on Broadway, Maria D. called his name from across the street. She was not using the telephone. He knew Maria D.’s brother, and had known her as a child, although he had not spoken to her in a year or two. Maria D. crossed the street and initiated a conversation with appellant. She mentioned that she was upset with her boyfriend or her parents, and was out to have a little fun. After some conversation, she suggested to appellant that she go home with him. Although appellant was not comfortable with the idea, he agreed. At no time during the walk to his house did he have his arm around her neck or tell her that he was a Four-Trey Crip.

Once Maria D. and appellant reached appellant’s house they watched movies on the VCR. After a while, Maria D. made sexual advances toward *689 appellant and told him that she had never “ ‘had a chance to have sex with a Black guy.’ ” Appellant described the next events as follows: “Then after that she say let’s—go on and get in the bed, you know so we had got in the bed together. And I said we had sex. It didn’t last no longer than what two, three minutes, I just got up. I said I ain’t even gonna like this. I don’t know if I upset her or what. But she asked me did I have 15 or twenty dollars.” Appellant told Maria D. that he did not have the money, and she became upset. Appellant began to walk Maria D. home. When they reached Broadway, a car pulled up and she got in.

When appellant learned that the police wanted to talk to him about the incident he contacted them voluntarily. Detective Lewis of the Los Angeles Police Department interviewed appellant twice, and both times appellant related essentially the same facts that he testified to in court.

Discussion

I

Appellant contends that the trial court’s refusal to instruct the jury in terms of CALJIC No. 10.65, 1 on reasonable but mistaken belief of consent, was reversible error. This contention lacks merit because there was no evidence to justify the instruction.

The defense of mistaken belief in consent was recognized by the California Supreme Court in People v. Mayberry (1975) 15 Cal.3d 143 [125 Cal.Rptr. 745, 542 P.2d 1337]. In that case, the court reviewed case law under Penal Code section 26, which provides that a person who commits an act under a mistake of fact that negates criminal intent, cannot be convicted of a crime requiring such intent. The court held that “[i]f a defendant entertains a reasonable and bona fide belief that a prosecutrix voluntarily consented to . . .

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9 Cal. App. 4th 685, 11 Cal. Rptr. 2d 841, 92 Daily Journal DAR 12835, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7988, 1992 Cal. App. LEXIS 1114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-burnett-calctapp-1992.