People v. Godwin CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 18, 2015
DocketD064909
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Godwin CA4/1 (People v. Godwin CA4/1) 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. Godwin CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 5/18/15 P. v. Godwin CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D064909

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. JCF25781)

JEREMY JAMES GODWIN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Imperial County, Christopher

J. Plourd, Judge. Affirmed as modified.

Nancy J. King, 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, Kristine A.

Gutierrez, and Lynne G. McGinnis, Deputy Attorneys General. Jeremy Godwin appeals from a judgment convicting him of various sex offenses

arising from his molestation of Jane Doe.1 He argues there is insufficient evidence to

support the jury's finding that he used duress to commit the molestation, and insufficient

evidence that one of the alleged counts occurred. Further, he asserts the court erred by

(1) allowing admission of the details of his prior sex offense conviction; (2) denying his

mistrial motion based on stricken testimony that he fit the profile of a child molester; and

(3) denying his posttrial request for disclosure of juror identifying information.

As to sentencing, defendant contends (1) the court erred in considering evidence

that was excluded at trial on Miranda2 grounds; (2) a $400,000 restitution award to the

victim must be reversed due to a violation of the Apprendi3 rule and insufficiency of the

evidence, and (3) the trial court should have dismissed, rather than stayed, sentences

imposed under the Habitual Sex Offender statute.

We find no reversible error except for defendant's challenge to his habitual sex

offender sentences. Because the trial court sentenced defendant under the One Strike sex

offender scheme, we agree the habitual sex offender sentences should be dismissed. We

modify the judgment to dismiss the habitual sex offender sentences, and as so modified

affirm the judgment.

1 We refer to the victim as Jane Doe to preserve her anonymity.

2 Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436.

3 Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) 530 U.S. 466.

2 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Doe, age 20 at the time of trial, testified about numerous acts of molestation

committed by her father (defendant) that started when she was a small child and

continued until she was 13 years old.

Doe recalled an incident when she was "really small" when she and defendant

were riding in a vehicle in the desert and defendant placed his hand between her legs and

was "playing with [her] vagina . . . through [her] clothes." Consistent with this memory,

Doe's mother testified that when Doe was five years old, she told her mother that

defendant had been touching her "down there," pointing to her vaginal area. The matter

was investigated; defendant was arrested; and in 1998 he pled guilty to committing a

lewd act against Doe.4

Because of his 1998 lewd act conviction, defendant was removed from the family

home for four years; the family received counseling; and defendant reunited with the

family in about January 2002. Doe's mother testified she did not divorce defendant at

this time because "[t]here was doubt," explaining that defendant told her he did not

commit the molestation, "everything was just misconstrued," and he only pled guilty so

she could be reunited with their children.

Doe recalled another incident that occurred when she was about nine years old and

her brother was about three or four years old. On this occasion, Doe and her brother were

4 At the current trial, Doe did not recall the events surrounding defendant's 1998 conviction. We set forth the facts concerning this prior conviction in more detail below when describing the prior sex offense evidence admitted at trial.

3 not wearing clothes, she was on top of her brother, and her father was with them in the

room. She did not remember further details, except that her brother's penis and her

vagina were somehow "involved."

The remaining acts of molestation described by Doe occurred at the family's home

on Cedar Avenue where they moved in July of 2002 when Doe was almost 10 years old,

and at the family's home on Walnut Avenue where they moved in November 2003 when

Doe was 11 years old.

During an incident at the Cedar residence, Doe woke up in the middle of the night

on the couch, and defendant was "making out" with her, with his tongue in her mouth and

his arms around her. The incident made her feel "uncomfortable." On another occasion,

defendant performed oral sex by putting his mouth on Doe's vagina.

During an incident at the Walnut residence, Doe woke up on her parents' bed, and

defendant was on top of her with his penis in her vagina. Doe felt "very violated and

very upset." On another occasion he had her sit on top of a scanner and he scanned her

vagina. On several occasions he woke her up so she could watch pornography with him.

She felt "really uncomfortable" watching the pornographic movies, but felt "too afraid to

say no."

Also, on multiple occasions at the Walnut residence defendant had Doe give him

"blow jobs" when they were in his bathroom. He tried to ejaculate in her mouth;

"usually, it ended up in a towel or some article of clothing"; and on one occasion he

ejaculated "out on [her] chest." This conduct made Doe feel "gross," "very

uncomfortable," and disgusted.

4 During another incident defendant brought a dog into his bedroom and told Doe to

"get down on all fours" because he wanted to "put the dog on top of [her] and put the

dog[']s penis in . . . somewhere." Doe refused, and defendant instead got "on all fours"

and had the dog get on top of him. Doe felt "really grossed out."

Doe recalled several other incidents of sexual molestation at the Walnut residence,

including an incident in defendant's bedroom when he put vibrators on her vagina;

another incident in the bedroom when he put his finger in her vagina; and several

incidents in the bedroom and living room when he would masturbate in front of her. Doe

testified she did not know whether defendant molested her "every week or every month"

while they lived at the Walnut residence, but she knew it happened "at least a few times

in one month, and few can be anywhere from two to ten times."

Regarding her relationship with her father, Doe testified he was the primary

caregiver for her and her brother. Her mother was frequently gone from home at work

and they were not emotionally close. When Doe was small, she and defendant were

"very close," and she loved him and he was like a friend to her. As Doe got older, she

did not feel as close to him; she did not know how to feel about him; and she knew that

what was occurring was not right.

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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Apprendi v. New Jersey
530 U.S. 466 (Supreme Court, 2000)
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Southern Union Co. v. United States
132 S. Ct. 2344 (Supreme Court, 2012)
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In Re Hamilton
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People v. Petersen
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People v. Millard
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People v. Harvest
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People v. Godwin CA4/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-godwin-ca41-calctapp-2015.