People v. Martinez

23 Cal. Rptr. 3d 508, 125 Cal. App. 4th 1035
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 20, 2005
DocketC043341
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 23 Cal. Rptr. 3d 508 (People v. Martinez) 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. Martinez, 23 Cal. Rptr. 3d 508, 125 Cal. App. 4th 1035 (Cal. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinions

[1038]*1038Opinion

SIMS, J.

A jury convicted defendant Kenneth Lee Martinez of torture (count 1; Pen. Code, § 206; undesignated section references are to the Penal Code); five counts of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury or with a deadly weapon (counts 2-6; § 245, subd. (a)(1)); corporal injury to a cohabitant (count 7; § 273.5); forcible rape (count 8; § 261, subd. (a)(2)); forcible oral copulation (count 9; § 288a, subd. (c)); criminal threats (count 11; § 422); dissuading a witness by force or threat (count 12; § 136.1, subd. (c)(1)); and false imprisonment by violence (count 13; § 236). The jury also found as to counts 7 through 9 that defendant personally inflicted great bodily injury under circumstances involving domestic violence (§ 12022.7, subd. (e)), and as to counts 8 and 9 that defendant inflicted torture and great bodily injury upon the victim (§ 667.61, subds. (a), (d)(3); id., subds. (b), (e)(3)), personally used a deadly weapon, and personally inflicted great bodily injury (§ 667.61, subds. (b), (e)(4); id., subds. (a), (e)(3)).1

The trial court sentenced defendant to a total term of 54 years, eight months to life in state prison. The court imposed 25 years to life on count 8, the principal term, pursuant to the one strike law (§ 667.61), and imposed the same term on the enhancements to count 8 but stayed that term under section 654. The court then imposed a consecutive sentence of 25 years to life on count 9, finding that the offenses charged in counts 8 and 9 occurred on separate occasions. The court further imposed consecutive sentences of one year (one-third the middle term) on count 2, three years (the middle term) on count 12, and eight months (one-third the middle term) on count 13. Finally, the court imposed sentences on the remaining counts and enhancements (count 1, fife; counts 3-6, four years (the upper term); count 7, four years (the upper term); the enhancement to count 7, five years (the upper term); count 11, three years (the upper term)), but stayed them under section 654.

Defendant contends: (1) Counts 2 through 13 are lesser included offenses of count 1 (torture) and therefore must be stricken. (2) Alternatively, if torture is not a continuous-course-of-conduct offense, the trial court erred by failing to give the jury a unanimity instruction as to both torture and the other substantive offenses. (3) The statute defining torture (§ 206) was “[sjuperseded” (i.e., preempted) by the United States’s ratification of an international convention on torture. (Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, eff. June 26, 1987, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85 (Convention Against Torture).) (4) The trial court violated due process by instructing the jury with CALJIC No. 2.50.02. (5) Section 206 is void for [1039]*1039vagueness, facially and as applied. (6) The trial court erred by imposing consecutive sentences on counts 8 and 9 under section 667.61 because the offenses were committed on a single occasion. (7) The trial court’s admission of the victim’s out-of-court statements violated Crawford v. Washington (2004) 541 U.S. 36 [158 L.Ed.2d 177, 124 S.Ct. 1354] (Crawford). (8) The trial court’s sentencing violated Blakely v. Washington (2004) 542 U.S. 296 [159 L.Ed.2d 403, 124 S.Ct. 2531] (Blakely).

In the published portion of the opinion, we conclude (1) counts 2 through 13 are not lesser included offenses of count 1 (torture); (2) the statute defining torture (§ 206) is not preempted by the Convention Against Torture or by federal statutes implementing the same; and (3) the trial court’s admission of the victim’s out-of-court statements did not violate Crawford, supra, 541 U.S. 36 [158 L.Ed.2d 177, 124 S.Ct. 1354].

In the unpublished portion of the opinion, we reject defendant’s remaining contentions of error.

We shall therefore affirm the judgment.

FACTS

On June 8, 2002,2 R., the victim, and defendant, her live-in boyfriend, got into a physical fight at his workplace. Both were arrested and jailed. R. bailed out that day, but defendant spent four days in jail.

When released from jail, defendant went back to the home of R. and her 12-year-old son in Stockton. However, on June 14, defendant learned that the fight with R. at his workplace had cost him his job. Instead of going home, he went to a friend’s house in Thornton. Early the next day, defendant called R. to ask her to come pick him up.

After R. got there, defendant burst out of a parked van, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her into the van. Keeping her trapped inside, he accused her of making him lose his job, vandalizing his vehicle, and stealing his briefcase. He struck her with a chain on the head, back, and shoulders and kicked her repeatedly with steel-toed boots.

Later in the day, defendant drove with R. back to her house. When he fell asleep, she left to look for her missing wallet. She did not report defendant to the police at that point because she feared for the safety of her son if she did so, and because the police had sided with defendant over her in the June 8 [1040]*1040incident. Furthermore, defendant had disconnected the telephones in the house.

From Sunday, June 16, to Tuesday, June 18, defendant held R. hostage and beat her repeatedly, at different times using his fists, his steel-toed boots, a star-shaped tire iron, a flashlight, and a metal nail puller. He also raped her and forced her to orally copulate him three or four times.3 Throughout this period, he continued to berate her about his lost job; he also threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about what he was doing to her.

On June 17, R. went across the street to her neighbor M.G.’s house to get hamburger meat. M.G. noticed R.’s face was bruised and asked her to stay, but R. said she could not because defendant would get mad at her. M.G. urged R. to call the police, but R. said she did not want to get M.G. involved.

On the evening of June 18, defendant twice poured rubbing alcohol over R. while they were in the bathroom, then set pieces of toilet paper alight and threw them at her. He told her he wanted her to die and to see her bum in hell.

Failing to set R. on fire the first time, defendant poured a bottle of hydrogen peroxide over her and told her to shower. She could not undress or operate the shower because her hands were broken. Defendant forced her in and poured shampoo on her head. When he put her hands on her head, she screamed in extreme pain. He ordered her to dress and put on makeup, but she could not. He kept on hitting and kicking her.

Defendant then repeated the process, again trying and failing to set R. on fire, then forcing her into the shower. He pulled her up by the arms, which had been broken in the course of his assaults. He again demanded sex. R. felt sure she would die if she did not escape.

When defendant left the bathroom for a moment, R. ran naked out of the bathroom and across the street to M.G.’s house, where she was able to call 911.

The emergency room doctor observed that R. was braised all over.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
23 Cal. Rptr. 3d 508, 125 Cal. App. 4th 1035, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-martinez-calctapp-2005.