People v. Sanchez

251 Cal. Rptr. 3d 496, 38 Cal. App. 5th 907
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedAugust 15, 2019
DocketB291127
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 251 Cal. Rptr. 3d 496 (People v. Sanchez) 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. Sanchez, 251 Cal. Rptr. 3d 496, 38 Cal. App. 5th 907 (Cal. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

HOFFSTADT, J.

*911A 33-year-old woman French kissed, groped, and kissed the breasts of a female family member a little before and after the girl's 14th birthday. A jury convicted the woman of committing lewd and lascivious acts ( Pen. Code, § 288 ),1 and the trial court placed her on probation with an eight-year prison sentence hanging over her head. Among the challenges the woman raises to her conviction and sentence in this appeal, two entail issues of significance: (1) is "intent to sexually exploit " the minor a second intent element of the crime of committing lewd and lascivious acts against a minor, and (2) is it error for a trial court, when imposing a prison sentence but staying its execution, to impose but stay a probation revocation restitution fine (under section 1202.44) and a parole revocation restitution fine (under section 1202.45)? We conclude that the answer to each question is "no." Because the woman's remaining arguments on appeal also lack merit, we affirm but remand with directions.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Facts

Sandra Sanchez (defendant) is now a 37 year old gay woman. Y is now a 17 year *499old gay female. Defendant is Y's step-grandfather's niece.

A. Initial incident

On November 2, 2014, defendant was 33 years old and Y, then an "8th grade[r]," was 13.

Following a family gathering, defendant and Y went up to Y's bedroom to talk. By 3 a.m., they were alone, lying on Y's bed and talking. Y then turned to defendant, and gave her an open-mouthed kiss (a so-called "French kiss"). Although defendant thereafter turned away and told Y she was "sorry," defendant went on to French kiss Y seven or eight more times; defendant herself initiated one of those kisses. Y described the kisses as "emotional" and "passionate."

*912B. Budding relationship

Over the next three months, defendant and Y exchanged as many as 50 messages a day on a number of different platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat, Kik and regular text messaging. Amidst those messages, defendant asked Y what the "first thing" that Y "check[s] out in a girl." Defendant also told Y, "I miss you a lot, I need you, and I adore you." Defendant dedicated songs to Y, including songs with lyrics involving "love" and "lust." Defendant and Y also exchanged gifts: Defendant gave Y a few bracelets, and Y gave defendant a necklace and a sweater.

Approximately two weeks after the initial incident, Y's mother caught Y trying to hide her phone, took the phone away and saw some of the romantic messages. When Y's mother called the phone number associated with the messages, defendant answered. Recognizing defendant's voice, Y's mother told defendant to stay away from her daughter.

Ignoring Y's mother, defendant and Y met up on New Year's Day near the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. While there, they held hands, hugged, and French kissed. Y asked defendant to be her "girlfriend." Defendant said, "Yes." This mutual expression of affection and dedication was followed by more hugging and kissing.

When Y's mother went looking for Y on New Year's Day and found her with defendant, Y's mother "went off" on defendant, told her for a second time to stay away from Y, and took Y's phone away from Y.

C. Midnight rendezvous

The night of January 31, 2015-the night before the Super Bowl-defendant and Y, who had turned 14 years old, arranged to meet up in an alleyway near Y's grandmother's house. Y asked defendant to wear a shirt that accentuated her cleavage. Y snuck out of the house around midnight. While in the alley, defendant and Y hugged and French kissed. They also cupped one another's breasts, and moaned in response to one another's caresses. Defendant then kissed Y's bare breast, and left a "hickey." They stopped after about 20 minutes because Y's cousin came looking for Y.

D. The end of the relationship

On Super Bowl Sunday, Y's mother saw a photograph of Y's breast with the hickey on it (which Y had taken and sent to defendant). Y's mother texted defendant, calling her "nothing but a pedophile" and telling her-for the third time-to leave Y alone.

*913A few days later, one of Y's teachers noticed Y was upset and asked her what was wrong. When Y mentioned that she was in a "relationship" with an older woman, the teacher reported the matter to the vice principal, who then reported the matter to police.

*500II. Procedural Background

A. The charges

The People charged defendant (1) with committing a lewd and lascivious act with a minor under the age of 14 ( § 288, subd. (a) ) for the initial incident; (2) with misdemeanor child molestation (§ 647.6, subd. (a)(1)) for the interactions following the initial incident and preceding the midnight rendezvous; and (3) with committing a lewd and lascivious act with a minor 14 years or older ( § 288, subd. (c)(1) ) for the midnight rendezvous.

B. Trial

The matter proceeded to a jury trial.

Defendant called several witnesses in her defense.

She took the stand herself, testifying that she would "never refuse to do anything [Y] wanted" because she "wanted to be there for" Y and to "support" Y for being a young gay woman and because she was "afraid that [Y] would do ... horrible things" without that support. Defendant admitted that she had lied to police when she said her only physical contact with Y was a single, closed-lipped kiss on November 2, 2014. Defendant also never told police that she felt Y might harm herself.

Defendant called a forensic psychologist to offer the expert opinion that defendant had no "abnormal interest in sex with minors." Instead, the expert opined, defendant was a "giver" who had just "kind of got caught up in ... a very sensitive situation" and who ended up exercising "poor judgment." The expert acknowledged that she had never read the text messages between defendant and Y, and that defendant had lied to the expert about the extent of physical contact with Y.

Defendant also called her current, 37-year-old girlfriend and her sister, each of whom opined or relayed defendant's reputation for only engaging in normal sexual behavior. However, each witness conceded that her opinion might change if the charges in this case were true.

A jury found defendant guilty of all charges.

*914C. Sentencing

The trial court sentenced defendant to prison for eight years, reflecting the upper term for committing a lewd and lascivious act upon a minor under 14 years of age. The court imposed a concurrent three year prison sentence for the other lewd and lascivious act count.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
251 Cal. Rptr. 3d 496, 38 Cal. App. 5th 907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sanchez-calctapp5d-2019.