People v. Ratcliffe

124 Cal. App. 3d 808, 177 Cal. Rptr. 627, 1981 Cal. App. LEXIS 2268
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 21, 1981
DocketCrim. No. 21744
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 124 Cal. App. 3d 808 (People v. Ratcliffe) 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. Ratcliffe, 124 Cal. App. 3d 808, 177 Cal. Rptr. 627, 1981 Cal. App. LEXIS 2268 (Cal. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

Opinion

WHITE, P. J.

Procedural History

On May 19, 1978, a jury found defendant and appellant Ronald Ratcliffe guilty of kidnaping (Pen. Code, § 207), oral copulation by force (Pen. Code, § 288a, subd. (c)), forcible rape (Pen. Code, § 261, subd. 2), and false imprisonment (Pen. Code, §§ 236-237). The jury also found that appellant used a dangerous weapon (a knife) in the commission of the false imprisonment charge within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022, subdivision (b). On June 16, 1978, the Honorable Richard W. Rhodes sentenced appellant to a term of imprisonment of [813]*813seven and one-third years: five years on the rape charge (the upper base term); one and one-third years on the kidnaping charge; and one year on the oral copulation charge. A concurrent term of one year was also imposed on the false imprisonment charge. This court, in People v. Ratcliffe (Nov. 6, 1979) 1 Crim. 18566, [unpub. opn.], authored by Scott, J., affirmed the judgment.1

On April 16, 1980, appellant filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Santa Clara County Superior Court contending (1) the trial judge failed to state his reasons for imposing consecutive rather than concurrent terms; and (2) the imposition of sentence on the kidnaping and false imprisonment charge was violative of the prohibition against multiple punishment contained in Penal Code section 654. On May 30, 1980, the Honorable Peter G. Stone, judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court, granted appellant’s petition insofar as it claimed an impropriety in the imposition of consecutive sentences and directed that appellant be returned to the Santa Clara County Superior Court for resentencing.

On August 1, 1980, appellant appeared before the Honorable Richard W. Rhodes for resentencing. Judge Rhodes found that Penal Code section 654 was not applicable “to these four charges” and sentenced appellant to a term identical to the previously imposed sentence except that the concurrent term on the false imprisonment charge was three years.

Appellant has appealed from the sentence imposed on August 1, 1980,2 and contends on appeal that (1) the imposition of consecutive sentences for kidnaping, rape and oral copulation violated the multiple punishment prohibition of Penal Code section 654; (2) the imposition of a sentence for false imprisonment violated the multiple punishment prohibition of Penal Code section 654; (3) the court erred in using the same facts to impose an aggravated term and consecutive sentences; and (4) the inclusion of erroneous and irrelevant material in the probation report used at appellant’s sentencing hearing was prejudicial and constituted a denial of due process of the law. We find that appellant was erroneously convicted of false imprisonment, a lesser included of[814]*814fense of kidnaping. We affirm the remaining judgments of conviction, but remand for resentencing without the dual use of facts for imposition of aggravated and consecutive sentences.

Facts

The bulk of the People’s case was established through the testimony of Ms. Dillard,3 the complaining witness. At this point a brief summary of that testimony evidencing appellant’s shockingly flagrant felonious conduct will suffice. The jury’s verdicts necessarily imply that they determined that appellant in the order designated (1) forcibly kidnaped Dillard (from her apartment via automobile to his own); (2) therein after physically threatening her with a baseball bat, he demanded her money; (3) her screams for help unanswered, he then required her to strip naked, tied her to a bed, terrorized and assaulted her with a knife blade, and then raped her; (4) before releasing her bonds, he forced her to orally copulate; and (5) after he untied her, appellant forced her to drink clorox and to swallow some pills. Fortunately, Dillard escaped by jumping or falling out a window two stories high. The “incident” lasted the better part of six hours and included the perpetration of humiliating, degrading and depraved sexual indignities upon Dillard that we summarily discuss hereinbelow. In light of the above perspective, we now discuss appellant’s contentions of alleged sentencing errors.

Multiple Punishment .

Appellant contends that the imposition of consecutive terms for kidnaping, rape and oral copulation and a concurrent term for false imprisonment was violative of the prohibition against multiple punishment contained in Penal Code section 654.4 Appellant argues that he cannot be punished for rape and oral copulation and also kidnaping and false imprisonment because the objective of the kidnaping and false imprisonment was to commit the sexual acts.

[815]*815Penal Code section 654 is applicable where multiple convictions are based on a single act or omission. Penal Code section 654 provides in part: “An act or omission which is made punishable in different ways by different provisions of this code may be punished under either of such provisions, but in no case can it be punished under more than one; ...”

The single act or omission is not the only test that is employed to determine the applicability of section 654. (People v. Beamon, supra, 8 Cal.3d 625, 637.) “The proscription against double punishment in section 654 is applicable where there is a course of conduct which violates more than one statute and comprises an indivisible transaction punishable under more than one statute within the meaning of section 654. The divisibility of a course of conduct depends upon the intent and objective of the actor, and if all the offenses are incident to one objective, the defendant may be punished for any one of them but not for more than one.” (People v. Bauer (1969) 1 Cal.3d 368, 376 [82 Cal.Rptr. 357, 461 P.2d 637, 37 A.L.R.3d 1398], cert. den. 400 U.S. 927 [27 L.Ed.2d 187, 91 S.Ct. 158].) “On the other hand, if the evidence discloses that a defendant entertained multiple criminal objectives which were independent of and not merely incidental to each other, he may be punished for the independent violations committed in pursuit of each objective even though the violations were parts of an otherwise indivisible course of conduct.” (People v. Perez (1979) 23 Cal.3d 545, 551 [153 Cal.Rptr. 40, 591 P.2d 63].)

Appellant states “There is absolutely no evidence to support the conclusion that the kidnapping in the instant case had any ‘independent purpose’ ... or was anything more than being ‘merely incidental’ to the ‘principle [j/c] objective’ of the extended period of sexual gratification, which also included the use of a camera and tape recorder which were located in appellant’s apartment.” Appellant further asserts that the “sentence for false imprisonment enhanced by the [use] allegation suffers the same disability as the sentence for kidnapping.”

The determination of whether the acts of which a defendant has been convicted constitute an indivisible course of conduct is generally a factual determination made by the trial court on the basis of the findings concerning the defendant’s intent and objective in committing the acts.5 [816]

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Related

People v. Ratcliffe
124 Cal. App. 3d 808 (California Court of Appeal, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 Cal. App. 3d 808, 177 Cal. Rptr. 627, 1981 Cal. App. LEXIS 2268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ratcliffe-calctapp-1981.