People v. Thomas

223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 470, 15 Cal. App. 5th 1063, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 847
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedSeptember 11, 2017
DocketE065260
StatusPublished
Cited by88 cases

This text of 223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 470 (People v. Thomas) 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. Thomas, 223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 470, 15 Cal. App. 5th 1063, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 847 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

CODRINGTON J.

*1066I

INTRODUCTION1

Defendant Edward Lewis Thomas repeatedly molested his daughter for 10 years, beginning when she was four or five years old. He admitted his conduct in a pretextual telephone call with his daughter and in a letter to her mother. A jury convicted defendant of nine counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child.2 The court sentenced him to a total indeterminate sentence of 135 years to life.

On appeal, defendant argues that there is no substantial evidence that he committed his crimes by means of force, fear, menace, or duress. He further argues that his counsel's failure to object to the detective's testimony about the timeline of the oral copulation constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment, we hold that substantial evidence supports a finding of aggravated sexual crimes because of defendant's ongoing physical violence against the victim. Defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of *474counsel fails on the merits. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

II

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Defendant was born in 1962. Defendant married Lucy, Jane Doe's mother, in 1989. Jane Doe was born in 1990. Her parents separated in 1995 and divorced in 2001. Between 1996 and 2006, Jane Doe would stay with defendant on the weekends. At trial, Jane Doe was 25 years old and stationed with the U.S. Army in Germany.

Sexual Abuse for 10 Years

Jane Doe slept in the same bed with defendant until she was about nine or ten years old. Defendant repeatedly sexually abused Jane Doe once or twice a *1067month until she was about 14 years old. Defendant would hit Jane Doe on her hands or buttocks and would yell at her. Jane Doe did not tell anyone about the sexual abuse because she was very scared of defendant hitting her "a lot really hard." As she got older, defendant would give her a "very stern look like an angry stare"-she knew meant she was probably going to be beaten. She believed if she told anyone about defendant, then he would beat her again.

Jane Doe did not tell her mother because she worked most of the time and they did not have a close relationship. Once she tried to tell her mother she did not want to visit defendant but she was afraid to anger him.

Sexual abuse became a normal way of life for Jane Doe. She could recall specific incidents of abuse which involved "something different than what [she] was used to, or it would be painful, or ... something new" that would confuse her. When she eventually told the police, she could only estimate her age.

In 1994 or 1995, Jane Doe was about four or five years old when she lived in an apartment in Chino with defendant and her mother. Defendant would watch Jane Doe while her mother worked.

One day when they were alone, defendant took Jane Doe into the bathroom. Defendant placed the child on the sink facing the mirror and began massaging her genitals and penetrating her vagina with his hand for about five to ten minutes. Jane was scared. Another incident occurred about a year or two later. Other incidents occurred but Jane Doe was not sure whether they happened at the Chino apartment.

When Jane Doe was six or seven years old, defendant lubricated her inner thighs with lotion and rubbed his penis up and down until he ejaculated. Defendant used lotion on multiple occasions. When Jane Doe saw defendant putting lotion on the nightstand, it made her nervous because she knew that meant that something sexual was about to happen.

Jane Doe was about eight to 10 years old at the Olive Grove Apartments in Fontana. While Jane Doe was in bed, defendant pulled her to the edge of the bed, knelt down, and orally copulated her for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Once Jane Doe was asleep on a futon and covered with a blanket. Defendant used the blanket to cover her face and rubbed her genitals3 with *1068his hands until she had an orgasm. During another incident at the Fontana apartment, Jane Doe was sleeping in a chair when defendant again began touching her breasts and vulva *475until she climaxed. Defendant regularly would approach Jane Doe and touch her.

Another time, when Jane Doe was about ten or 12 years old, defendant tried to penetrate her vagina with his penis. Defendant told her to undress and directed her to sit on him while he lay on the bed and insert his penis. When she tried to do so, it hurt her so defendant had Jane Doe rub his penis until he ejaculated. Defendant also directed Jane Doe to copulate him orally for five or ten minutes until he told her to stop.

Defendant continued to perform oral copulation on Jane Doe when she was 10, 11, and probably 12 years old. Defendant also had her sit on him with her vulva touching his face. Her legs began to hurt and, when she told defendant that she was uncomfortable, defendant stopped. She did not remember how old she was or where it happened.

When Jane Doe was in fifth grade, defendant began hitting her with his belt because she got a "D" in Math. He struck her across her buttocks and the back of her thighs and she could not sit down properly for about two to three days.

Another incident of physical abuse occurred when Jane Doe was in San Bernardino and involved buying ice cream. Jane Doe did not return 50 cents in change from a dollar. Defendant grabbed Jane Doe's neck and kicked her in the buttocks. Her neck was sore for a couple of days. The physical abuse made Jane Doe afraid of defendant throughout her childhood. She knew never to cross him. Defendant stopped abusing her when she was 14 in 2004.

Pretext Phone Call

In 2014, Jane Doe, with the assistance of the Fontana police, conducted a pretext telephone call with defendant. Jane Doe asked defendant: "I want to know why you did it, you know you did all these sexual things for me, to me for over ten years .... Do you even care that it still bothers me and it makes things hard for me today?"

Defendant answered: "Yes it does bother me, it bothers me every single day of my life, it bothers me more than I can put in words.

Jane Doe responded: "I was like [14] when you stopped .... [¶] ... [¶] It took you so long to stop though you did it for over ten years you know, I was like four or five years old when it started, like it took you ten years for you to feel so bad to stop?"

*1069Defendant explained that he learned about sex when he was about four years old and his family did not recognize boundaries. Jane Doe persisted: "But that's not [¶] ... [¶] [a]n excuse to molest me though, like you started when I was like four or five years old too ...

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 470, 15 Cal. App. 5th 1063, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 847, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-thomas-calctapp5d-2017.