People v. Jimenez

121 Cal. Rptr. 2d 426, 99 Cal. App. 4th 450
California Court of Appeal·Decided June 21, 2002·No. C036340·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

121 Cal.Rptr.2d 426 (2002)
99 Cal.App.4th 450

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent.
v.
Jose Delgadillo JIMENEZ, Defendant and Appellant.

No. C036340.

Court of Appeal, Third District.

June 19, 2002.
As Modified June 21, 2002.
Review Denied September 11, 2002.

*427 Janet J. Gray, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, Pacific Grove, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Jo Graves, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Stephen G. Herndon, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Certified for Partial Publication.[*]

HULL, J.

Defendant was convicted by a jury of three counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 years (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a); further undesignated section references are to the Penal Code) and three counts of forcible lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 years (Pen.Code, § 288, subd. (b)). Sentenced to an aggregate state prison term of 12 years, defendant appeals.

In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude that defendant was properly convicted of multiple violations of Penal Code section 288 arising from a single incident, during which he fondled several different areas of the victim's body. In the unpublished portion of the opinion, we reject defendant's other contentions. We affirm the judgment.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In November 1996, seven-year-old D.G. (hereafter D.) moved to a house on Norstrom Way in Sacramento with her mother and brother. Defendant lived across the street and a couple of houses down with his wife and four sons. D.'s family and defendant's family soon became friends and D. often played at defendant's house with defendant's son, A. On several occasions, she spent the night in the living room of defendant's house with A. and A.'s cousin. She slept either on the floor, or on a couch.

During one sleep over, when D. was eight years old, she was awakened by the feel of defendant rubbing her breasts. Defendant squeezed her thighs and rubbed the area of her vagina, first over and then under her clothes. He stuck his finger inside her vagina. Defendant also rubbed D.'s "bottom," first over and then under her clothes, and stuck his finger inside her "bottom." D. eventually told defendant she had to use the bathroom. She did so and, when she returned, defendant was gone.

Initially, D. did not tell anyone about the incident. Defendant had threatened to do something to her, or her family, if she told of the incident. D. and her family moved away from the area in September 1998. In January 1999, D. informed her brother of the molest. Her brother then reported it to their mother who questioned D. D. later told her father she had not reported the matter sooner, because she was afraid and embarrassed and worried she would not be able to see the other members of defendant's family again.

Defendant was interviewed by police. Initially, he denied ever touching D. Later, defendant acknowledged having slapped the victim on the butt a couple of times in a playful way and said he might have touched her chest while wrestling around as he did with the other children in the house. Eventually defendant admitted *428 that one night before going to bed he squeezed the victim's butt and vaginal area for a couple of seconds. Defendant said he felt terrible about having done it and was ashamed of himself.

Defendant was charged with eight counts of lewd and lascivious conduct (§ 288, subd. (a)) and 12 counts of forcible lewd and lascivious conduct (§ 288, subd. (b)), arising out of the sleepover incident and several others reported by the victim. He was tried, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict, and a mistrial was declared. In a second trial, the jury found defendant guilty of six counts of lewd and lascivious conduct, three forcible and three nonforcible, arising out of the sleep-over incident. Defendant was found not guilty on 10 counts, and no verdict was reached on the remaining four counts. Defendant was sentenced to the upper term of eight years on one count of forcible lewd and lascivious conduct and consecutive terms of two years (one-third the middle term) on the other forcible counts. On the nonforcible counts, defendant received concurrent terms of six years.

DISCUSSION

I

Multiple Lewd and Lascivious Acts

The amended information contained 20 counts, all alleging unspecified lewd and lascivious conduct with D. between October 4, 1997, and January 26, 1999. During the prosecutor's argument to the jury, she presented a summary of the 20 counts, identifying the particular incident and conduct corresponding to each count. For example, count nine was identified as digital penetration of D.'s "butt hole" during the sleep over incident.

During his closing argument, defense counsel took issue with the prosecutor's enumeration of the separate offenses. Counsel argued that multiple touchings during a single incident constitute but one offense, explaining: "Let's suppose a man touches a woman's leg, beginning at the ankle, and runs it past the knee and all the way up to the thigh. He has touched different describable areas of the body, the ankle, the shin, the knee, the thigh, the quad, the hamstring, however you want to delineate it. But that's one touching. That's one touching."

The prosecutor objected, and a hearing was conducted outside the presence of the jury. Over defendant's objection, the court instructed the jury as follows: "Now, here's the answer to the objection raised on this issue: [¶] Each touching of the body of a child with the specific intent required is a separate crime. [¶] When that touching moves from one area of the body to another different area of the body, this is a separate offense, even though occurring close in time. [¶] In case of the penetration or insertion of a finger in the vagina or the rectum, those acts are separate crimes from any unlawful touching that may precede or may follow the act of penetration."

In People v. Scott (1994) 9 Cal.4th 331, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 627, 885 P.2d 1040 (Scott), the defendant was charged with 14 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct in violation of section 288. (Id. at p. 339, 36 Cal. Rptr.2d 627, 885 P.2d 1040.) Ten of the charges involved sexual intercourse on separate occasions. On two such occasions, the sexual intercourse was accompanied by fondling of the victim, which was charged as an offense separate from the intercourse. (Id. at pp. 337-338, 36 Cal. Rptr.2d 627, 885 P.2d 1040.) The Court of Appeal reversed the conviction on the two fondling charges, concluding the conduct was "`indivisible'" from the accompanying sexual intercourse. (Id at p. 340, 36 Cal. Rptr.2d 627, 885 P.2d 1040.)

*429 The state Supreme Court reversed. The court explained: "Each individual act that meets the requirements of section 288 can result in a `new and separate' statutory violation." (Scott, supra, 9 Cal.4th at pp. 346-347, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 627, 885 P.2d 1040.)

Defendant argues Scott

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People v. Jimenez, 121 Cal. Rptr. 2d 426, 99 Cal. App. 4th 450 (Cal. Ct. App. 2002).

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