People v. Marquez

28 Cal. App. 4th 1315, 33 Cal. Rptr. 2d 821, 94 Daily Journal DAR 13553, 94 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7409, 1994 Cal. App. LEXIS 972
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 27, 1994
DocketB076149
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 28 Cal. App. 4th 1315 (People v. Marquez) 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. Marquez, 28 Cal. App. 4th 1315, 33 Cal. Rptr. 2d 821, 94 Daily Journal DAR 13553, 94 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7409, 1994 Cal. App. LEXIS 972 (Cal. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

Opinion

GODOY PEREZ, J.

Defendant and appellant Servando Marquez appeals from the judgment entered following a jury trial that resulted in his conviction of three counts of lewd conduct upon a child under the age of 14. He *1318 contends: the trial court erred in (1) limiting defense counsel’s cross-examination of a codefendant who pleaded guilty to molesting the victim; (2) refusing to instruct the jury that the codefendant had molested the victim during the same time period in which defendant was accused of having done so; (3) giving CALJIC No. 10.41; and (4) failing to state reasons for imposing consecutive sentences. In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude that CALJIC No. 10.41 correctly defines a lewd act within the meaning of Penal Code section 288, subdivision (a) as “any touching . . . with the specific intent to arouse, appeal to, or gratify the sexual desires of either party.”

In the unpublished portion of the opinion, we reject defendant’s other contentions and modify the judgment to correct an error in the calculation of presentence custody credits.

Procedural Background

Defendant was charged by information with committing a lewd act upon Roger G., a child under the age of 14, on and between April 19, 1991, and September 12, 1991 (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a); counts 2 and 3), and with the same offense occurring on and between September 10, 1991, and September 12, 1991 (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a); count 7.) 1 The jury found defendant guilty on all three counts and he was sentenced to a total of ten years in prison comprised of the six-year midterm for the base term on count one; a consecutive two years (one-third the midterm) on count two; and a consecutive two years (one-third the midterm) on count three. Defendant was given presentence custody credit of 822 days and was ordered to pay $200 into the State Restitution Fund pursuant to Penal Code section 294.

Facts

Viewed in accordance with the usual rules on appeal (People v. Barnes (1986) 42 Cal.3d 284, 303 [228 Cal.Rptr. 228, 721 P.2d 110]), the evidence established that on September 11,1991, and since the previous April, defendant had been living with his sister, Angela Ortega, and Ortega’s two-year-old son, Roger G., in Ortega’s Los Angeles apartment. Ortega’s boyfriend, Enrique Zamora, was a frequent visitor at the apartment and sometimes slept *1319 there. Zamora was very strict with Roger and very rough. Ortega saw Zamora beat Roger, twist his knuckles into Roger’s back, and squeeze Roger’s face between his hands.

Ortega had also seen defendant spank Roger. Defendant sometimes bathed Roger and changed his diapers. According to Ortega, defendant knew how to do these tasks properly.

When Ortega left her apartment and went upstairs during the morning of September 12, 1991, defendant was left alone with Ortega’s children. When Ortega returned to the apartment half an hour later, defendant was outside and Zamora was with the children inside the apartment. Ortega left again and went back upstairs to another apartment in the building. She returned about an hour later when she learned that the police were at her apartment.

Los Angeles Police Detective Penny Beaman and her partner Alfred Delgado went to Ortega’s apartment on the afternoon of September 12, 1991, to investigate a report of child abuse. Beaman removed Roger’s diapers to examine him for signs of abuse. She observed blood and bruising between Roger’s buttocks and fresh blood around his red and swollen anus. His rectum was bleeding and appeared to have been lubricated by a substance such as Vaseline. Photographs taken of Roger that day by poEce reveal these injuries as well as bruises and abrasions on his face, his buttocks, and his upper legs. Beaman took Roger into protective custody.

The next day, Dr. Lynne Ticson, the lead physician at the McClaren Children’s Center, examined Roger. Ticson observed multiple old and new bruises on Roger’s face and body, including his penis; as well as abrasions, a blue and swollen left index finger and lacerations across several parts of his rectum. Some of the rectal tears were still bleeding. According to Ticson, the tears in Roger’s rectum were consistent with someone having tried to insert a penis into his rectum. Such bruising usually heals within 24 to 48 hours. Ticson opined that Roger may have been repeatedly sodomized because he had “lost sphincter or rectal control.”

On September 16, 1991, Roy Ortiz, a civilian interviewer for the Los Angeles PoEce Department, interviewed defendant at the police station. Defendant was not in custody; he was informed of his constitutional rights and was told that he could leave at any time. A recording and transcript of the interview were made.

Defendant told Ortiz that he used to bathe Roger. He admitted hitting Roger but denied inserting his penis into Roger’s anus. Later, defendant told *1320 Ortiz that he had probably put his finger into Roger one, two or three times, approximately up to the second knuckle of his middle finger. Defendant explained that he did so to “see what’s in there.” Defendant said he had done it once before to the baby of a friend. Defendant maintained he did not do it “to have sex to him or to get hot with him or to hurt him or make him bleed.”

Initially, defendant denied ever placing his penis inside Roger, but eventually stated that his penis might have touched Roger by accident two or three times. Later, defendant explained that, two or three times, he just tapped or poked his penis at Roger’s butt “to see what he would say.” At Ortiz’s request, defendant drew a diagram of this act. The resulting drawing indicated that defendant had placed one-half the tip of his penis into Roger’s anus. Defendant said that the last time he had done this was the previous week. Defendant also admitted hitting Roger.

After Ortiz completed his interview with defendant, Los Angeles Police Officer Sylvia Trundle re-interviewed defendant. Unknown to defendant, Trundle had listened to a portion of defendant’s interview with Ortiz through a speaker. Defendant told Trundle that he had told Ortiz “that he had stuck his finger in Roger’s butt, and that he had attempted to stick his penis in.” Defendant said this occurred the day before the police came to the apartment, which Trundle understood meant September 11, 1991. Defendant told Trundle that he poked his penis at Roger and “rubbed the inside of the butt area.” He drew another drawing for Trundle to illustrate what had occurred. At Trundle’s request, defendant agreed to write down what he had told her. Accordingly, defendant wrote: “I was attempting to stick IX my penis in Roger butt stick my fenger [sic] in his butt 2X”

Testifying during the prosecution’s case-in-chief, Zamora explained that when he was in the bathroom with Roger, he lifted Roger up and his finger accidentally went into Roger’s anus. Zamora pleaded no contest to the charge of violating Penal Code section 288 between September 10 and September 12, 1991.

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28 Cal. App. 4th 1315, 33 Cal. Rptr. 2d 821, 94 Daily Journal DAR 13553, 94 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7409, 1994 Cal. App. LEXIS 972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-marquez-calctapp-1994.