People v. Smith

189 Cal. App. 4th 1263, 117 Cal. Rptr. 3d 535
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 8, 2010
DocketC061805
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 189 Cal. App. 4th 1263 (People v. Smith) 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. Smith, 189 Cal. App. 4th 1263, 117 Cal. Rptr. 3d 535 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

189 Cal.App.4th 1263 (2010)
117 Cal. Rptr. 3d 535

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
LARRY STEVEN SMITH, Defendant and Appellant.

No. C061805.

Court of Appeals of California, Third District.

November 8, 2010.

*1267 Mark D. Greenberg, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Catherine Chatman and Jesse Witt, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

ROBIE, J.—

A jury found defendant Larry Steven Smith guilty of rape of an intoxicated woman (count I), rape of an unconscious woman (count II), and misdemeanor sexual battery. The trial court sentenced defendant to prison for eight years.

On appeal, defendant contends (1) the trial court gave misleading and incomplete instructions on rape of an intoxicated woman that require reversal of both rape convictions; and (2) because there is no crime of sexual battery of an intoxicated or unconscious woman, his conviction for sexual battery must be reversed. We shall affirm the judgment.

FACTS

During the afternoon of November 11, 2008, the victim, a 40-year-old woman, went shopping in the town of Jackson. Prior to noon she had taken medication for polymyositis, a disease which causes her immune system to attack her muscles, and included one milligram of Ativan, 10 milligrams of hydrocodone, 325 milligrams of acetaminophen, and 60 milligrams of Cymbalta.

Between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., the victim went into a bar, the Fargo, and ordered a drink that contained one-half-ounce shots of vodka, rum, gin, and tequila. She ordered two more of the same, but drank only about one-half to one-third of the last drink.

While the victim was seated at the bar, customers Bon Grosse and defendant sat on each side of her and the three conversed. While on her third *1268 drink, the victim went into the bathroom, stayed for several minutes, and when she returned she had wet her pants, she was "totally, like, out of it" and incoherent. She put her head on the bar, the bartender removed her drink, and she turned her head and vomited on the floor. The bartender called and obtained a room for the victim at the National Hotel, which was across the street.

Grosse and defendant took the victim to the hotel, physically supporting her because she was unable to walk by herself. While the victim sat on a barstool in the hotel's bar, Rebecca Hunderfund, the hotel's desk clerk and bartender, checked the victim into room 38. Hunderfund described the victim as "[v]ery, very out of it[,] [v]ery, very intoxicated," she was unable to walk by herself, and she had to be held to keep from falling off of the barstool.

Hunderfund gave Grosse the only key to room 38 and Grosse and defendant took the victim to the room. Grosse and defendant put the victim on the bed. Grosse placed the key on the sink and the two left, with Grosse closing the room's door.

The hotel's security videotape, which was played for the jury, showed that as Grosse and defendant were walking the victim down the hall, her brassiere was dangling in front of her blouse and defendant had his hand under her blouse and on her breast.

Grosse and defendant returned to the Fargo, but about 20 to 30 minutes later Grosse went to check on the victim because he could not recall whether the door to her room was locked. The door was locked and Grosse did not enter the room. Grosse told Hunderfund that the victim was "out for the night," had a quick drink, and then returned to the Fargo.

About 45 minutes to an hour after Grosse had left the National Hotel, defendant returned to the hotel, telling Hunderfund that he was going to check on the victim.

The hotel's videotape shows defendant entering the hotel at 8:32 p.m. and then walking toward the victim's room carrying a bag, switching hands with it and reaching into his pocket before going into the victim's room. Defendant is shown leaving the hotel at 7:55 a.m. the next morning.

The victim testified that she recalled ordering the second drink at the Fargo and vaguely remembered speaking with Bon Grosse and defendant while they *1269 sat next to her. However, she did not recall anything thereafter until she awakened in the hotel room, lying on a bed without her pants and underwear, and with defendant lying naked next to her. At 10:15 p.m., scared, she got dressed and drove home. The next morning when she went to the bathroom, she discovered that her tampon was shoved up inside her. She now thought she had been raped.

Accompanied by her mother, the victim went back to the Fargo to find out what had happened. At the Fargo, the victim confronted defendant and asked him what had happened. Defendant told her that she had gone into the bathroom, peed on herself, vomited, and that he and Grosse had taken her to the National Hotel. She said to defendant, "So what gave you the right to have sex with me?" He replied, "Oh, you initiated it" and she began to cry.

The victim went to a hospital to be examined and said she had been raped. The police were then called by the hospital staff.

DISCUSSION

I

Rape of an Intoxicated Woman

Relying on People v. Giardino (2000) 82 Cal.App.4th 454 [98 Cal.Rptr.2d 315], defendant contends the trial court's instructions to the jury on rape of an intoxicated woman were prejudicially incomplete and misleading because they fail to "adequately distinguish[] between [the victim's] exercising `poor judgment' and the complete inability to exercise `reasonable judgment.'" Not so.

Penal Code[1] section 261 provides in part: "(a) Rape is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person not the spouse of the perpetrator, under any of the following circumstances: [¶] ... [¶] (3) Where a person is prevented from resisting by any intoxicating or anesthetic substance, or any controlled substance, and this condition was known, or reasonably should have been known by the accused." (Italics added.)

In Giardino, the defendant was charged with a violation of section 261, subdivision (a)(3) and the court instructed the jury in substantially the same *1270 language set forth in the statute. (People v. Giardino, supra, 82 Cal.App.4th at pp. 465-466.) During deliberations, the jury requested a legal definition of "resistance." (Id. at p. 464.) The court responded by instructing the jury to" `use your common sense and experience to determine the everyday meaning of resistance.'" (Ibid.)

On appeal, Giardino held the trial court erred by failing to define the phrase "prevented from resisting" and should have instructed the jury that "its task was to determine whether, as a result of her level of intoxication, the victim lacked the legal capacity to give `consent' ... [which] is the ability to exercise reasonable judgment, i.e., to understand and weigh not only the physical nature of the act, but also its moral character and probable consequences." (People v. Giardino, supra, 82 Cal.App.4th at pp. 465-466.)

(1) Giardino went on to note, "In deciding whether the level of the victim's intoxication deprived the victim of legal capacity, the jury shall consider all the circumstances, including the victim's age and maturity. [Citation.] It is not enough that the victim was intoxicated to some degree, or that the intoxication reduced the victim's sexual inhibitions.

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Bluebook (online)
189 Cal. App. 4th 1263, 117 Cal. Rptr. 3d 535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-smith-calctapp-2010.