People v. Tobias

21 P.3d 758, 106 Cal. Rptr. 2d 80, 25 Cal. 4th 327, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 4073, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3313, 2001 Cal. LEXIS 2607
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedApril 26, 2001
DocketS085471
StatusPublished
Cited by86 cases

This text of 21 P.3d 758 (People v. Tobias) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Tobias, 21 P.3d 758, 106 Cal. Rptr. 2d 80, 25 Cal. 4th 327, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 4073, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3313, 2001 Cal. LEXIS 2607 (Cal. 2001).

Opinions

Opinion

BROWN, J.

In this case, we decide whether a child under 18 who has a consensual sexual relationship with a parent is, like the parent, guilty of incest (Pen. Code, § 285)1 and therefore an accomplice to the parent’s crime, whose testimony against the parent is subject to the cautionary rules governing accomplice testimony. The Court of Appeal held that such a child is an accomplice and therefore the trial court should have given accomplice instructions to the jury. Nevertheless, the court found the error harmless and affirmed defendant’s conviction.

We conclude that a child under 18 who has an incestuous sexual relationship with an adult is a victim, not a perpetrator, of the incest, and this conclusion remains valid even when the child consents to the sex. In short, the law puts the burden on the adult, not the minor child, to refrain from a sexual relationship. Therefore, a child in this situation can never be an accomplice, and accomplice instructions are not appropriate. We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal, but reject that court’s reasoning.

Factual and Procedural Background

In July 1995, when defendant was 38, his 16-year-old daughter, V., moved into his home with her infant child. Prior to 1995, V. lived with her mother, and defendant had no contact with her. V. testified that she moved into her father’s apartment because she wanted to get to know him. They began having sexual intercourse within a few weeks. V. stated she did not want to have sex with defendant, but she admitted he did not force her. She continued to live with him after the sexual relationship began, because in other respects “he was a good father, and [she] wanted to be with him.” They had sexual intercourse approximately every other day, sometimes every day, for about six months, at which time V. moved out. On June 13, 1996, V. gave birth to a child. Genetic testing later confirmed defendant was the father.

At trial, defendant admitted having sexual intercourse with V., but the evidence conflicted as to the extent of their sexual relationship and who initiated it. Defendant testified he had sexual intercourse with V. only once. He also claimed V. had not moved into his home until August or September [330]*3301995 and moved out in November, about the time he began having a sexual relationship with a girlfriend. The prosecution impeached defendant’s testimony by playing a tape of a conversation he had with police, in which he admitted having sex with V. “probably once a week” over the course of “[f]ive [to] six months.” In that conversation, he insisted that she sought the sex from him, even threatening to disclose their sexual relationship if he did not comply, and he claimed to have been drunk every time. The prosecution also played a tape of a telephone call between defendant and V., in which defendant spoke without knowing police were recording the conversation. V. asked defendant about the sex, and defendant said, “[i]t was you,” “that’s what you wanted to do,” and “[e]very time you got an urge you came to me.” When V. told defendant she was mad at him, he answered, “It sure didn’t seem to stop you when you were doing it.”

The information charged defendant with 31 counts of incest, one count for each week between July 1, 1995, and February 2, 1996. At the close of the evidence, the prosecution dismissed the first three of the 31 counts. The jury then found defendant guilty of 10 counts, relating to the period between September 9 and November 17. It acquitted him of one count, relating to the period between January 27 and February 2, and it deadlocked with respect to the other 17 counts. The information also charged defendant with one misdemeanor count of failure to register as a sex offender (§ 290, subd. (g)), to which defendant pleaded guilty. In a bifurcated proceeding, the court found true an allegation that defendant had been convicted in 1988 of a lewd or lascivious act on a child (§ 288, subd. (a)), and it found this conviction qualified as a serious felony for purposes of the three strikes law. (§ 667, subds. (b)-(i).) Defendant stipulated to an 18-year sentence in exchange for dismissal of the 17 counts that remained unresolved.

Defendant appealed, arguing among other things that the trial court should have instructed the jury to consider whether V. was an accomplice. The Court of Appeal agreed. The court felt it was a jury question whether or not V. participated voluntarily in the acts of sexual intercourse with her father, and if she did, she was, like him, guilty of incest and therefore an accomplice. Because the evidence was sufficient to support an accomplice finding, the Court of Appeal concluded the trial court had a sua sponte obligation to give standard accomplice instructions to the effect that the jury should view the testimony of an accomplice with caution and that accomplice testimony must be corroborated. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal found the error harmless in light of significant evidence in the record corroborating V.’s testimony. One justice concurred in the court’s judgment, but did not join the court’s opinion.

We granted review to consider whether a minor who consents to an incestuous sexual relationship with an adult is guilty of incest (§ 285), and [331]*331therefore an accomplice to the adult’s crime, necessitating accomplice instructions.

Discussion

Section 1111 provides: “A conviction cannot be had upon the testimony of an accomplice unless it be corroborated by such other evidence as shall tend to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense; and the corroboration is not sufficient if it merely shows the commission of the offense or the circumstances thereof. fl[] An accomplice is hereby defined as one who is liable to prosecution for the identical offense charged against the defendant on trial in the cause in which the testimony of the accomplice is given.” We have held that “[w]hen there is sufficient evidence that a witness is an accomplice, the trial court is required on its own motion to instruct the jury on the principles governing the law of accomplices,” including the need for corroboration. (People v. Frye (1998) 18 Cal.4th 894, 965-966 [77 Cal.Rptr.2d 25, 959 P.2d 183]; see also People v. Zapien (1993) 4 Cal.4th 929, 981-982 [17 Cal.Rptr.2d 122, 846 P.2d 704]; People v. Gordon (1973) 10 Cal.3d 460, 466, fn. 3 [110 Cal.Rptr. 906, 516 P.2d 298]; People v. Bevins (1960) 54 Cal.2d 71, 76 [4 Cal.Rptr. 504, 351 P.2d 776].)

The cautionary instructions governing accomplice testimony have their roots in English common law. (See People v. Eckert (1860) 16 Cal. 110, 112; People v. Guiuan (1998) 18 Cal.4th 558, 565 [76 Cal.Rptr.2d 239, 957 P.2d 928] (Guiuan).) The reason most often cited in support of these instructions is that an accomplice is inherently untrustworthy because he or she “usually testifies] in the hope of favor or the expectation of immunity.” (People v. Coffey (1911) 161 Cal. 433, 438 [119 P. 901].) In addition, an accomplice may try to shift blame to the defendant in an effort to minimize his or her own culpability. (Guiuan, at pp. 574-575 (cone. opn. of Kennard, J.).) In this case, if V. is “liable to prosecution for the identical offense charged against . . .

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. McFadden CA2/7
California Court of Appeal, 2025
People v. Espino CA4/1
California Court of Appeal, 2025
People v. Gonzalez CA2/5
California Court of Appeal, 2024
People v. Murcia CA4/3
California Court of Appeal, 2024
People v. Thomason CA5
California Court of Appeal, 2024
People v. Moy CA2/2
California Court of Appeal, 2023
Villa v. Matteson
N.D. California, 2023
People v. Serna CA1/2
California Court of Appeal, 2022
People v. Ebarb CA6
California Court of Appeal, 2022
People v. Trevino CA5
California Court of Appeal, 2022
People v. Segundo CA4/2
California Court of Appeal, 2022
People v. Sanchez CA1/1
California Court of Appeal, 2021
People v. Segundo CA
California Court of Appeal, 2021
People v. Brown CA5
California Court of Appeal, 2021
People v. Duarte-Lara
California Court of Appeal, 2020
People v. Hopson
396 P.3d 1054 (California Supreme Court, 2017)
State v. J. Kline
2016 MT 177 (Montana Supreme Court, 2016)
People v. Estrada CA2/1
California Court of Appeal, 2016
People v. Johnson
243 Cal. App. 4th 1247 (California Court of Appeal, 2016)
People v. Parker CA4/3
California Court of Appeal, 2015

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
21 P.3d 758, 106 Cal. Rptr. 2d 80, 25 Cal. 4th 327, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 4073, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3313, 2001 Cal. LEXIS 2607, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-tobias-cal-2001.