People v. Husted CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 23, 2016
DocketD069904
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Husted CA4/1 (People v. Husted 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. Husted CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 6/23/16 P. v. Husted CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, D069904

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. RIF1203424)

MARK DAVID HUSTED,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Riverside County, Jeffrey J.

Prevost, Judge. Affirmed.

Richard de la Sota, 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, Andrew S. Mestman and Arlene

A. Sevidal, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. I

INTRODUCTION

Mark David Husted argues that that his convictions for aggravated sexual assault

of a child and forcible lewd and lascivious conduct must be reversed because there is

insufficient evidence of force or duress. Husted also contends that the trial court erred in

failing to instruct the jury sua sponte on the crime of nonforcible lewd acts as lesser

included offenses to the charged offenses of forcible lewd or lascivious conduct.

We conclude that substantial evidence supports the jury's verdicts, and further

conclude that any instructional error was harmless. We therefore affirm the judgment.

II

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual background

1. The prosecution's case

J.D. was born in August 1995. Her parents, W.H. and K.H., were married in 1995

and had two daughters together, J.D. and M.H.

In 2000, W.H. and Husted worked for a flooring company. W.H. was Husted's

supervisor, and W.H. invited Husted to live with him, K.H. and their children in their

home because W.H. believed that Husted was "down and out."

2 W.H. and K.H. began to have trouble in their marriage, in part due to Husted and

K.H. growing close. W.H. eventually moved out, and at some point Husted moved in

with K.H., J.D., and M.H.1

In 2002, when J.D. was six or seven years old, K.H., J.D., M.H., and Husted

moved to an apartment complex in Riverside. While they were living there, K.H.

worked, and Husted, who was unemployed, took care of J.D. and M.H. J.D. viewed

Husted as a father figure and considered him to be "like a stepfather . . . back then[.]"

J.D. "obey[ed] [Husted] because he was [her] stepdad."

J.D. testified to multiple instances of sexual abuse perpetrated against her by

Husted during the time he was living with her, her mother, and her siblings. When she

was between six and nine years old (between 2001 and 2004), while she, her sister,

mother and Husted were living in an apartment complex, J.D. recalled an incident in

which she and Husted were on the couch. She was on top of him. Husted and J.D. had

intercourse and, after that, Husted pushed J.D.'s head down so that J.D. would orally

copulate him. Husted instructed J.D., "Don't use your teeth."

J.D. remembered the intercourse as being "very painful." She "cried because it

hurt, and then [Husted] would tell [her] that once [she] got older, it would feel better."

J.D. specifically recalled three instances at the apartment in which she and Husted

had sexual intercourse on the couch. Each time she would orally copulate him afterward.

1 K.H. and Husted later had children together, including J.D.'s half brother, K. 3 Husted would push her head down to make her "do oral." J.D. would not resist because

"[she] did what [she] was told to do. Any action, [she] just did it."

J.D. also remembered a time at the apartment when she, her sister M.H. (who was

three or four years old at the time), and Husted were on the ground next to the couch at

night. K.H. was in the back bedroom. While M.H. was asleep next to J.D., Husted orally

copulated J.D. for the first time. J.D. specifically recalled being on her back with her legs

spread.

J.D. also recounted an incident in which she either orally or manually copulated

Husted until he ejaculated. J.D. specifically remembered that Husted told her, when he

ejaculated, "These are your brothers and sisters."

In another incident, J.D. and Husted were in Husted's blue truck. They climbed

into the back of the truck, Husted unzipped his pants, and J.D. orally copulated him.

J.D. also testified that when she was eight or nine years old, in 2003 or 2004, she,

M.H., K.H., K., and Husted began living in different hotels. While they were staying at a

particular hotel in Corona, J.D. and Husted took a shower together, and they had sex.

Husted was sitting in the tub, and she straddled him. The door to the bathroom was

closed, and the other family members were in the living area of the room.

J.D. did not tell her mother about the sexual abuse because Husted told her that "if

[she] told [her] mom, it would make her jealous and ruin [Husted and K.H.'s]

relationship." J.D. was concerned for her mother because she had already lost J.D.'s

father, and J.D. did not want her mother to lose another romantic partner. As J.D.

explained, she kept Husted's sexual abuse a secret between her and Husted because she

4 cared for her mother and did not want to be responsible for the break up of another of her

mother's relationships.

When J.D. was between 10 and 13 years old, she began to learn about molestation

and rape in school. She understood that what Husted did to her was wrong. J.D. told two

classmates, K.B. and S.C., that Husted had molested her. K.B. testified that when she

and J.D. were in the sixth grade, J.D. told K.B. and S.C. that her stepfather would take

her into the shower, touch her, and do things to her.

J.D. testified that the last time she remembered Husted attempting to molest her,

she and Husted were lying on the floor. Husted tried to touch J.D.'s leg. J.D. pushed him

away and moved closer to the bed frame. Husted did not do anything else to J.D. on that

occasion.

In 2005, K.H. lost custody of J.D. and M.H. to W.H. as a result of her drug use.

The girls moved in with W.H. and his girlfriend K.D.

J.D. eventually disclosed to W.H. that Husted had sexually abused her. W.H. did

not report the molestation to the police because he already had custody of the girls, he did

not know where K.H. and Husted were living, and he felt that any threat Husted

presented had been eliminated. W.H. believed that not reporting was the best choice for

his family at the time.

Husted's molestation of J.D. came to police attention only after J.D. became

sexually involved with M.A. when she was 13 years hold. M.A., who was six years older

than J.D., worked for K.D.'s mother. During an investigation into M.A., investigators

5 asked J.D. how many men she had had sexual relations with. J.D. responded that she had

had sex only with M.A. and Husted.

2. The defense case

Husted testified in his own defense. Husted contended that he never molested J.D.

He never thought that J.D.

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