People v. Hidalgo CA2/5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 24, 2014
DocketB252911
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Hidalgo CA2/5 (People v. Hidalgo CA2/5) 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. Hidalgo CA2/5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 7/24/14 P. v. Hidalgo CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

THE PEOPLE, B252911

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA092535) v.

ERIC HIDALGO et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from judgments of the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles, Mark C. Kim, Judge. Affirmed. David M. Thompson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Eric Hidalgo. Vanessa Place, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Francisco Gomez. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Jonathan J. Kline and Esther P. Kim, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. INTRODUCTION

Defendants and appellants Eric Hidalgo (Hidalgo) and Francisco Gomez (Gomez) (collectively defendants) were convicted of two counts of forcible oral copulation while acting in concert (Pen. Code, § 288a, subd. (d)(1)1), one count of forcible rape while acting in concert (§ 264.1, subd. (a)(1)), and one count of forcible sodomy while acting in concert (§ 286, subd. (d)(1)). On appeal, defendants contend that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury with CALJIC No. 10.65, and Hidalgo further contends that he was denied effective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel conceded that a jury instruction under CALJIC No. 10.65 should not be given. We affirm the judgments.

BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

1. Prosecution Evidence In May 2012, Sandra M. (Sandra) worked at Mi Morenita, a restaurant and bar located in the City of Carson (the bar). She worked there as a waitress and a “fichera,” a person who was paid to drink beer with the patrons of the bar. As a “fichera,” she would dance with patrons if they invited her to dance. According to Sandra, Gomez was a regular customer of the bar, and Hidalgo was an infrequent customer. Sandra had known Gomez for about five years, and Hidalgo for about nine years. Sandra considered both men to be her friends. On or about May 5, 2012, Sandra was working at the bar. At about 10:00 p.m., Gomez and Sandra began drinking beer at the bar and they continued drinking until the early morning hours of May 6, 2012. At some point, Hidalgo was at the bar.

1 All statutory citations are to the Penal Code unless otherwise noted.

2 Gomez “was hardly talking” to Sandra, and instead was talking with his friends. She did not flirt with Gomez, rub her buttocks against him, show her breasts to Gomez, or fall when she attempted to stand up from her bar stool. Gomez did not attempt to lift her up from the floor, or move between her legs while she was sitting on a bar stool. Sandra did not dance with anyone that night, nor did she sing or play pool with the patrons. After the bar closed at 2:00 a.m. on May 6, 2012, Sandra remained in the bar and continued drinking with Gomez and Hidalgo. She denied going to her car with Gomez to sleep. Sandra testified that she consumed about 10 to 12 beers at the bar, “and after that, [she did not] remember anything else” that happened that night at the bar. She may have been drunk. At about 7:00 a.m., Sandra left the bar and went to her car with Gomez to drive home. She was not sure if she or Gomez drove her car. Sandra did not understand why Gomez was with her because she would usually call her brother to drive her when she became really drunk. When Sandra arrived at her apartment, she saw her brother outside, and he asked her why she had come home when she had called him and asked him to pick her up at the bar. She, her brother, and Gomez then went inside her apartment. She did not know why she invited Gomez to go inside her apartment. She did not want Gomez to be with her and did not want to continue drinking with him. Gomez gave Sandra’s brother money to buy more beer. Sandra did not recall her brother returning to the apartment with beer. She did not keep beer at her home, but recalls consuming beer there that morning. According to Sandra, from 6:00 a.m. through 10:00 a.m., she did not have sex with Gomez. She was not attracted to him. At some point Sandra saw Hidalgo inside her apartment, but did not recall how or when he entered. She, Gomez, and Hidalgo were talking and drinking while sitting at the dining room table. No one else, including Sandra’s brother, was in her apartment. Sandra observed Gomez take “out some drugs,” make “lines” with it on the table, and saw both defendants consume the drugs. Sandra did not willingly ingest the drugs.

3 Hidalgo told her that she should also consume the drugs, and Sandra told him that she was afraid to “do drugs.” She had “never had anything to do with drugs.” “[T]he next thing” Sandra remembered was that defendants “had [her] naked” and she was “fighting” with them. She would not have undressed willingly. Sandra was “pulled” by both defendants. Sandra was face down on the bed in the living room, and Hidalgo “grabbed” her head and said he wanted her to orally copulate him. Sandra refused, stating, “No, you’re my friend.” Hidalgo put his penis in her mouth. Sandra pulled away, but Hidalgo grabbed her “hard.” Gomez also grabbed Sandra from behind and put his penis in her anus. Sandra testified that she “fought them so they wouldn’t do anything to [her],” and “struggled a lot with them.” Gomez also put his penis in her vagina. Later, Sandra’s three children and brother arrived at the apartment, and one of the defendants, who was naked, ran to the bathroom. Sandra had on clothes when the children and her brother entered the apartment.2 Sandra was afraid to tell her brother that she had been sexually abused by defendants because she thought defendants might do “something worse” to her. Sandra saw Gomez give money to Anibal to buy food. Defendants left the apartment immediately after Anibal returned to the home.3 At about 1:30 a.m. on Monday, May 7, 2012, Hidalgo returned to Sandra’s home. Sandra told him to leave, and then told Anibal that the men had abused her. Hidalgo never went inside the apartment and left about 30 minutes after he arrived as Sandra’s home. Later in morning of Monday, May 7, 2012, at Sandra’s request, Maria Del Carmen Leon (Carmen) went to Sandra’s home. Sandra told Carmen about the assault, and

2 Anibal M. (Anibal), Sandra’s oldest son, testified that after he entered the apartment, he saw “really big” bruises on Sandra’s leg. 3 Anibal testified that after defendants left the apartment, Sandra was “acting weird,” and was shaking and scared.

4 showed Carmen the bruises on her arms and legs.4 Sandra was not bruised when she came home from the bar with Gomez. After Sandra told Carmen about the assault, she also told her boyfriend about the incident. Sandra reported the incident to police after her son and boyfriend told her that they would contact the police if she did not. Sandra testified that about a week after defendants were taken into custody, she spoke with Estelita Castillo. Sandra said that she did not tell Castillo, as reported by Castillo, that “these assholes didn’t give me money, not even for a doctor or anything.” City of Los Angeles Police Officer Annissa Harsma assisted in the rape investigation. On May 7, 2012, at about 9:30 p.m., she spoke with Sandra. Sandra was upset throughout the entire interview. Sandra told Officer Harsma that defendants took turns forcing her to orally copulate them.

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Hidalgo CA2/5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hidalgo-ca25-calctapp-2014.