People v. Stewart

14 Cal. Rptr. 3d 353, 119 Cal. App. 4th 163
California Court of Appeal·Decided June 22, 2004·No. C040094·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

Opinion

HULL, J.

Defendant was convicted by a jury of three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a)), one count of aggravated lewd and lascivious conduct (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (b)(1)), and one count of aggravated sexual assault (Pen. Code, § 269, subd. (a)(4)). He was sentenced under both the one strike law (Pen. Code, § 667.61, subd. (b)) and the three strikes law (Pen. Code, § 667 subds. (b)-(i)) to three consecutive indeterminate terms of 15 years to life, each tripled to 45 years to life (Pen. Code, § 667, subd. (e)(2)(A)(i)). A fourth indeterminate term of 15 years to life, tripled to 45 years to life, was ordered to be served concurrently. Sentence for the remaining offense was stayed pursuant to Penal Code section 654. He also received determinate terms of five years for a prior serious felony conviction (Pen. Code, § 667, subd. (a)) and one year for a prior prison term (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)). Defendant’s aggregate term was thus 135 years to life, plus six years.

Defendant appeals, claiming (1) violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel, (2) violation of his Fifth Amendment right not to testify, (3) *167 instructional errors, and (4) sentencing errors. We conclude that the matter must be remanded for resentencing but otherwise affirm the judgment.

Facts and Proceedings

The offenses charged in this matter occurred in September and October 2000. At the time, defendant was living with E. and her two daughters, 10-year-old S. and four-year-old M. Defendant was 43 years old and is M.’s father.

On September 3, 2000, while E. was away at work, defendant told the girls to take off their clothes while he videotaped them. He continued to videotape the girls as they ran around the house and later took a bath. At one point on the video, defendant tickled S., touching her breasts and her buttocks. At another point, defendant forced M. to sit on his lap. Both defendant and M. were naked. Defendant told the girls not to tell their mother about the videotape, because it was going to be a surprise for her.

On October 1, 2000, E. was again away at work and defendant and S. were in defendant’s bedroom watching television. M. was asleep in her room. Defendant told S. to take off her clothes in an “urging” voice and, after she did so, he told her to lie down and began rubbing lotion on her. She obeyed because she was scared and thought defendant might hit or do something else bad to her. Defendant told S. to relax, that he always did this to her mother. Defendant rubbed her arms, legs and chest. Later, defendant began licking her vagina. After about five seconds, S. began pushing defendant’s head away. Defendant continued to orally copulate her for two or three minutes; she told him three times to stop.

Defendant then told S. to take a shower. She did so and when she stepped out of the shower, she found defendant in the bathroom with her. Defendant told her that if she did not tell her mother what he had done, he would buy her any compact disk she wanted; she declined. Defendant then asked if he could rub lotion on her again, but she said no. She then put on her clothes and went to sleep.

The next morning, S. told her mother what had happened. E. asked defendant what he had done and defendant responded, “It just happened.” E. asked defendant if he wanted to spend the rest of his life in prison and he asked her to “just let [him] go.” E. reported the matter to the police. While at the police station, E. called defendant at home and asked him about the incident. The telephone conversation was recorded and later played to the jury. During the conversation, defendant admitted licking S.’s vagina and telling her that he did this to her mother. Defendant said this was the only time he did it and that he was ashamed.

*168 Two weeks after calling the police, E. discovered the videotape that defendant had made of the girls on September 3. Portions of the tape were played to the jury.

Defendant was charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault (Pen. Code, § 269, subd. (a)(4)), one count of lewd and lascivious conduct (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a)), and one count of aggravated lewd and lascivious conduct (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (b)) in connection with the October 1 incident with S. He was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct in connection with the September 3 taping. Defendant was also charged with two prior serious felony convictions.

Defendant was found competent to stand trial and entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. During the initial stages of the proceedings, defendant requested to be permitted to represent himself with cocounsel. The court denied the request. Defendant then elected to represent himself and asked to have counsel appointed in an advisory role. The court denied this request as well, but ordered standby counsel for defendant.

At the guilt phase of the proceedings, defendant testified on his own behalf, explaining that during the September 3 taping, he did not intend to appeal to the sexual desires of either himself or the girls. Regarding the October 1 incident, defendant testified that he had taken several pain medications that day. He said he was a nurse and had been trained to give massages. He massaged S. as he had been trained to do. After defendant finished the massage, he sat down at the end of the bed. He then heard E.’s voice say “go ahead,” which is what she said when they were going to have sex. Defendant started to orally copulate S., thinking she was E.. It was not until defendant heard S. say stop that he realized who she was. He said to S., “You tricked me. How did you do that?”

Defendant also presented the testimony of a registered nurse regarding the side effects of the various medications defendant claimed to have taken.

Defendant was convicted on all counts. The prior conviction charges were then tried to the jury and were found true.

At the sanity phase, defendant presented the testimony of a nurse at the county jail, who had written a report indicating defendant had obvious psychological problems. She further clarified on the stand that defendant had “behavioral problems.” Dr. Janice Nakagawa testified that defendant suffered from a “personality disorder,” but that defendant knew what he was doing at the time and could tell right from wrong and predict the consequences of his actions. Dr. Shawn Johnston testified that defendant suffers from a character *169 flaw that causes him to make trouble for others or himself. However, according to Dr. Johnston, none of these character flaws would have kept defendant from understanding what he was doing or from distinguishing right from wrong. However, neither of these psychological experts was qualified to assess the effects on defendant of the several medications that he claimed to have taken at the time of the October 1 incident.

Defendant again testified on his own behalf, indicating that he had signs and symptoms of temporal lobe epilepsy, schizophrenia, and multiple personality complicated by medications.

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People v. Stewart, 14 Cal. Rptr. 3d 353, 119 Cal. App. 4th 163 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004).

14 Cal. Rptr. 3d 353 (People v. Stewart) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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