People v. Macias

237 Cal. Rptr. 3d 583, 26 Cal. App. 5th 957
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedAugust 31, 2018
DocketA151198
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 237 Cal. Rptr. 3d 583 (People v. Macias) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Macias, 237 Cal. Rptr. 3d 583, 26 Cal. App. 5th 957 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Margulies, Acting P.J.

A jury found defendant guilty of using a minor for purposes of posing for sexual conduct. Defendant claims the trial court prejudicially erred by failing to instruct the jury sua sponte on the lesser uncharged offense of unauthorized invasion of privacy. We conclude the trial court had no duty to instruct on unauthorized invasion of privacy because it is not a lesser included offense of using a minor for purposes of posing for sexual conduct under the elements test or the accusatory pleading test. We, therefore, affirm the judgment.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Raquel C. and defendant began living together in October 2012. They had two children together, and Raquel had three other minor children of her own, one of them being L., age 13. Four of the children lived in the household, and Raquel was pregnant with the fifth.

In March 2015, defendant moved out of the home. When defendant decided he was not going to move back into the household, on March 19, 2015, Raquel went through the house gathering defendant's belongings. While searching the shelving near defendant's storage area, Raquel found a box containing a "Nabi Jr." children's tablet computer which was one of two tablets she and defendant had previously purchased as Christmas gifts for their younger children. The tablet had gone missing in January 2015, and Raquel assumed her four-year-old daughter had lost it. After discovering it, she returned the tablet to her daughter.

Raquel then left to go shopping. Approximately an hour later, Raquel received a *585call from her daughter, L. Because L. was so hysterical, Raquel could not understand her. Raquel's sister took the phone from L. and explained there were some videos found on the tablet of L. "exposed." When Raquel arrived home, she discovered L. had locked herself in the bathroom.

That night at 8:00 p.m. while in her home, Raquel spoke with Officer Roger Canady of the Vacaville Police Department. When he arrived, Raquel was upset and frantic. She handed him two Nabi Jr. tablets, one at the beginning of the conversation and one towards the end. One of the tablets was "missing the orange gel case and also the camera housing [was] broken off it and the camera lens attached by the wires [was] dangling out of the spot where the original camera housing was." Around the "camera housing," Canady observed "pry marks surrounding the bulk of it" indicating it had been "pried apart using some kind of tool and the housing was actually removed rather than simply being broken." On the back of the same tablet, Canady noted some Velcro, which was not part of the original design, had been added. Canady and Raquel watched parts of both videos on the tablet including "most of the beginning."

The first video was taken in a bathroom in Raquel's residence. In it, defendant took approximately 52 seconds setting up the camera. Approximately 26 seconds after he left the bathroom, L. entered and took a shower. L. was in the bathroom for 27 minutes. Once she left the bathroom, two minutes later, defendant reentered the bathroom and retrieved the tablet. While watching this video, Canady observed L.'s "full backside including her buttocks," which were "fully exposed." And during this portion of the video, there were times when Canady could see L.'s "entire front area, including her breasts exposed" and her vaginal area.

The second video was also filmed in the bathroom. Defendant set up the camera, left the bathroom, and L. entered the bathroom 27 seconds later. Seventeen seconds after L. left the bathroom, defendant reentered the bathroom, stopped the recording, and collected the tablet. When Canady viewed this video, he saw naked portions of L.'s buttocks, her fully exposed breasts, and her vaginal area.

When Raquel looked at both videos with Canady, she saw L., but she turned her head and did not view portions of the videos where L. was naked and showering. She identified defendant in the videos because in one she recognized the tattoos between his fingers, and in the other she saw defendant's face.

After Raquel turned over "the video" to Canady, her sister noticed there was a hole in wicker basket located on the right corner of the counter in the bathroom. The hole was the size of a dime, and inside the lid, there was a strip of Velcro.

Raquel then looked through L.'s room to make sure "we didn't miss anything." On the bookshelf in her daughter's room, Raquel lifted a "black lid cap" and discovered a hole, similar in size to the one in the basket, going all the way through the bookshelf. On a different bookshelf, Raquel found three holes filled in with caulking.

The Solano County District Attorney filed an information against defendant charging him in counts 1 and 2 with using a minor for purposes of posing for sexual conduct in violation of Penal Code 1 section 311.4, subdivision (c). Counts 3 and 4 charged defendant with child molesting in violation of section 647.6, subdivision (a).

*586On the first day of trial, the prosecutor dismissed counts 3 and 4. The jury later convicted defendant on count 2, using a minor for purposes of posing for sexual conduct.2

The trial court sentenced defendant to three years in state prison. Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

Defendant contends the trial court had a sua sponte duty to instruct on the lesser offense of unauthorized invasion of privacy because under the accusatory pleading test, unauthorized invasion of privacy is a lesser included offense based upon the evidence introduced at the preliminary hearing. If invasion of privacy is not a lesser included offense, however, the trial court did not have a sua sponte obligation to give such an instruction. We conclude invasion of privacy is not a lesser included offense of using a minor for purposes of posing for sexual conduct.

" 'A trial court has a sua sponte duty to "instruct on a lesser offense necessarily included in the charged offense if there is substantial evidence the defendant is guilty only of the lesser." [Citation.] Substantial evidence in this context is evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the defendant committed the lesser, but not the greater , offense. "The rule's purpose is ... to assure, in the interest of justice, the most accurate possible verdict encompassed by the charge and supported by the evidence." [Citation.] In light of this purpose, the court need instruct the jury on a lesser included offense only "[w]hen there is substantial evidence that an element of the charged offense is missing, but that the accused is guilty of" the lesser offense.' " ( People v. Landry (2016) 2 Cal.5th 52, 96, 211 Cal.Rptr.3d 160, 385 P.3d 327.) On appeal, we independently review whether the court improperly failed to instruct on a lesser included offense. ( People v. Nelson

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
237 Cal. Rptr. 3d 583, 26 Cal. App. 5th 957, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-macias-calctapp5d-2018.