People v. Haraszewski

203 Cal. App. 4th 924, 137 Cal. Rptr. 3d 641, 2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 197
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 30, 2012
DocketNo. D056954
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 203 Cal. App. 4th 924 (People v. Haraszewski) 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. Haraszewski, 203 Cal. App. 4th 924, 137 Cal. Rptr. 3d 641, 2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 197 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

[927]*927Opinion

NARES, J.

The prosecution charged Hubert Dymitr Haraszewski, Jr., with 23 counts of various sex crimes involving four minors (Coby, Bryan G., Nolan E, and Darrell C.) over a period of more than a decade.1

The initial arrest and investigation began when a state park ranger patrolling San Onofre State Beach arrested Haraszewski on suspicion of child endangerment after observing Coby, who was then 12 years old, driving Haraszewski’s car. A detective’s warrantless search of the passenger compartment of Haraszewski’s car revealed a book on oral sex, a massager, a tub of petroleum jelly, condoms, a digital camera, and a flash (or thumb) drive. A warrantless search of the trunk revealed another thumb drive, which contained sexually suggestive folders, under the spare tire. Suspecting that Coby may have been sexually molested, the detective viewed incriminating pictures on the camera without a warrant and then gave the evidence to another detective who was interviewing Coby. Coby eventually disclosed information showing Haraszewski had sexually molested him. After the court denied his motion to suppress the evidence, Haraszewski admitted various prior conviction allegations, and the court found true other prior conviction allegations. A jury found Haraszewski guilty of all 23 counts and all related enhancement allegations. The court sentenced him to a determinate prison term of 36 years and an indeterminate term of 600 years to life.

On appeal, Haraszewski contends (1) the search of his car following his arrest violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution because it was not reasonable to believe the car contained evidence of the offense of arrest, and thus the court erred by denying his motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the search; (2) the court committed prejudicial instructional error by failing to define the term “complaining witness” in CALCRIM No. 1190 concerning the noncorroboration requirement for sexual offense victim testimony “after several witnesses complained about [his] committing sex crimes against them”; (3) his two convictions for posing or modeling Coby and Bryan in violation of Penal Code2 section 311.4, subdivision (c) (hereafter section 311.4(c)) must be reversed because the court erroneously instructed the jury, over a defense objection, that the prosecution did not have to prove he directed Coby and Bryan when he took images of them; (4) the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction for posing or modeling Coby because “Coby testified that there [928]*928was no posing or direction” and the pictures and movie he took of Coby at the nude beach were “not choreographed”; (5) the foregoing claimed instructional errors were cumulatively prejudicial, requiring reversal; and (6) the evidence is insufficient to support his four convictions of duplicating child pornography with intent to distribute it to a minor in violation of section 311.2, subdivision (d) (hereafter section 311.2(d)). We affirm the court’s denial of Haraszewski’s suppression motion and conclude the court did not commit instructional error and Haraszewski’s cumulative error and insufficiency-of-the-evidence claims are unavailing. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. The People’s Case

In the evening on October 20; 2007, State Park Officer Grant Beers issued a citation to a white BMW parked in the south day-use lot near trail 6 at San Onofre State Beach for being parked in the lot after the park closed. It was the only vehicle left on the lot. The beach near trail 6 is known as a clothing-optional (or nude) beach. Officer Beers notified State Park Officers Martin Urbach and Paul Brown, who were in a different patrol car, that the white BMW was still in the park and he had issued it a citation.

About 8:17 p.m. that night, while Officer Urbach was driving with Officer Brown, he saw the white BMW driving in the dark toward him northbound on the road near trail 5, which is north of trail 6. Officer Urbach saw that the BMW was being driven illegally by a young boy who was not old enough to drive. The officer made a U-turn to make a traffic stop. By the time he completed the U-tum, the BMW had stopped and the boy was switching seats with Haraszewski, who had been in the front passenger seat. Officer Urbach asked Haraszewski for his license and registration, and asked why the boy had been driving. Haraszewski said he was giving the boy a driving lesson. Haraszewski also said he had been hiking on the beach, denied that he and the boy had visited the clothing-optional part of the beach, and claimed he was the boy’s cousin and the boy was “13 going on 14” years of age. The boy also said he was 13 going on 14. The police determined later that night that the boy (Coby) was 12 years of age and Haraszewski was 32.

After Officers Urbach and Brown made the traffic stop, Officer Beers and another officer, Paul Mills, arrived and saw the white BMW was the same car for which Officer Beers had issued the parting citation. At some point, Officer Urbach ordered Haraszewski and Coby out of the car, handcuffed Haraszewski, and put him in the back of the patrol car. Officers Beers and Mills dealt with Coby.

[929]*929About two hours later, with Haraszewski still in the patrol car and Coby also still at the scene, Officers Urbach and Brown started inventorying the contents of the BMW because they were going to have the car towed away. They found camping gear in the backseat, a big tub of Vaseline, and a book on oral sex on the floorboard behind the driver’s seat. At that point, Officer Brown, who was the supervisor, stopped the inventory and called the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to ask for an investigator to assist them. He and Officer Urbach put the items back inside the BMW where they had found them.

At around 9:53 p.m., with Haraszewski and Coby still at the scene, a sheriff’s department patrol unit arrived, and then Detective Justin White, who worked as a child abuse detective for the sheriff’s department, arrived and searched the BMW, both to assist with the inventory and to look for evidence. Detective White searched the entire car, including both the passenger compartment and the trunk, and photographed everything he found. In the passenger compartment, he found camping equipment, a bottle of vodka, a massager, a blue bag, the book on oral sex, a laptop computer, a digital camera, a small thumb drive, a lot of condoms with some packages of lubricant inside a container, and some petroleum jelly. In the trunk, Detective White found a second thumb drive under the spare tire.

Detective White took the evidence he found in Haraszewski’s car to the Encinitas sheriff’s station, where he gave the items to his partner, Lisa Brannan, who was also a child abuse detective. Detective Brannan examined the camera and found on the memory card images of Coby, including one showing him nude on the beach. She also found on the memory card a movie of Coby with Haraszewski talking. On the LG thumb drive found under the spare tire in the trunk of Haraszewski’s car, the police found hundreds of images of naked boys, including boys engaged in sexual activity. The folders on the drive had labels corresponding to the types of images found in the folders. One folder contained pictures of naked boys being spanked. On the other thumb drive, the police found copies of MySpace conversations and messages.

Detective Brannan interviewed Coby at the sheriff’s station around midnight on October 20 to 21, 2007.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
203 Cal. App. 4th 924, 137 Cal. Rptr. 3d 641, 2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-haraszewski-calctapp-2012.