People v. Turner

171 Cal. App. 3d 116, 214 Cal. Rptr. 572, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 2393
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 30, 1985
DocketCrim. 12781
StatusPublished
Cited by79 cases

This text of 171 Cal. App. 3d 116 (People v. Turner) 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. Turner, 171 Cal. App. 3d 116, 214 Cal. Rptr. 572, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 2393 (Cal. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

*121 Opinion

SPARKS, J.

Defendant made an unsuccessful motion to dismiss the information on the grounds of double prosecution in violation of Penal Code section 654 as construed by Kellett v. Superior Court (1966) 63 Cal.2d 822 [48 Cal.Rptr. 366, 409 P.2d 206], He then pled guilty, obtained a certificate of probable cause and appealed solely on the ground that the trial court erroneously denied the motion. The central question is whether the Kellett issue is cognizable on appeal after a guilty plea. We hold that it is. On the merits, however, we find no violation of the proscription against multiple prosecutions and therefore affirm the judgment.

Under a plea bargain struck after his motion to dismiss was denied, defendant pled guilty to six counts of lewd and lascivious conduct upon a child under the age of 14 (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a)) 1 and two counts of penetration of the genital or anal openings of another person by a foreign object (§ 289, subd. (a)). Seven other counts were dismissed. Defendant was sentenced to 60 consecutive years in state prison. This appeal followed.

Factual and Procedural Background

In the afternoon of May 4, 1982, defendant twice became enraged at Tammy, his eight-year-old daughter, once because she was unable to complete a math problem and again when she failed to take out the garbage promptly. In the course of that violent afternoon, defendant grabbed Tammy’s hair and threw her around the kitchen. Then he hurled a chair at her. Finally, he pulled down her pants and started stinging her with a cattle prod, an instrument she described as the “hot shot.” Defendant stung her three to six times on her behind. The prod left small, dot-like marks on Tammy and caused her to become dizzy and cry. These events gave rise to a felony prosecution in May 1982 for infliction of cruel and inhumane corporal punishment on a child. (§ 273d.) Defendant pled guilty to that crime on July 7, 1982, and the court granted him probation with the condition he serve 11 months in county jail and pay a fine and penalty assessment.

On other various occasions from about January 1, 1982, to and including May 4, 1982, defendant inserted the end of a sewing machine brush in Tammy’s vagina and anus, penetrated her vaginal and anal openings with his penis, orally copulated her, and forced her to orally copulate him. Defendant threatened Tammy that if she did not participate in these acts, he *122 would hang her upside down from a punching bag. On two occasions defendant carried out that threat and hung Tammy upside down from the punching bag and stung her with the cattle prod. Defendant also forced Tammy to kneel in a corner clothed in panties on a screen surface he had devised and he then stung her with the cattle prod. These sexual offenses lead to a second prosecution commenced in August 1982. In the course of this second prosecution it was discovered that defendant had committed some of these sex offenses against Tammy on May 4, 1982, the same day he inflicted unlawful corporal punishment on her and for which he had earlier been prosecuted.

Defendant’s motion to dismiss was premised upon the assertion that “the physical and sexual abuse are part of the same course of conduct and the prosecution was aware of the sexual abuse allegations early in the prior proceedings, ...” Consequently, so the argument goes, the failure to join the sexual offenses with that earlier prosecution for corporal punishment resulted in a bar to a subsequent prosecution for the related sexual offenses. In support of his motion, defendant’s former counsel in the earlier proceeding filed a declaration in this case asserting that “[o]n or about May 24, 1982, the same day the preliminary examination was conducted in [the prior] case, Deputy District Attorney Perkinson informed me that there may be allegations of sexual fondling in connection with the case and that there had been an indication of that in a past offense. Perkinson added that he would inform me if sexually oriented charges would be filed.” The record shows that before defendant pled guilty to the corporal punishment charge, a probation officer contacted Deputy District Attorney John Perkinson, who was prosecuting that case, and expressed concern that defendant might be sexually abusing Tammy. The probation officer’s suspicion arose from the fact that while defendant was on probation for a 1977 battery of Tammy there had been a report of a molestation incident. In his counter declaration, the prosecutor declared that the probation officer “informed me in this conversation that the Defendant had been suspected of sexually abusing his daughter some time in the past (my impression was several years in the past), and, as a result, speculated that similar conduct might be present currently. [The probation officer’s] speculation at this time was based solely on this prior investigation as there were no current reports (statements from victim, etc.) to establish a basis for possible recent sexual abuse. . . . [U]p to Defendant’s plea on July 7, 1982, nothing further was developed nor communicated that would have led me to initiate further criminal charges against the Defendant.” In denying the motion, the court stated that, notwithstanding the communicated concerns of the probation officer, there was no evidence the prosecuting attorney was either aware of, or should have been aware of, any sexual crimes at the time of the first plea.

*123 Discussion

I

On appeal defendant renews his contention that the trial court committed prejudicial error in denying his motion to dismiss on grounds of impermissible multiple prosecution in violation of section 654. The People contend defendant’s argument is not cognizable on appeal because the claimed error was waived by his plea of guilty. We disagree.

Section 654 contains two separate provisions. 2 The first precludes multiple punishment where an act or omission is made punishable by different penal provisions. The second part of section 654 provides that “an acquittal or conviction and sentence under either one bars a prosecution for the same act or omission under any other.” This second aspect of section 654 is a safeguard against harassment and is not necessarily related to the punishment to be imposed. Consequently, “double prosecution may be precluded even when double punishment is permissible.” (Neal v. State of California (1960) 55 Cal.2d 11, 21 [9 Cal.Rptr. 607, 357 P.2d 839].)

In Kellett, the Supreme Court considered the policy factors underlying the statute and concluded that in order to avoid needless harassment of the defendant and the waste of public funds section 654 should be construed to prohibit successive prosecutions where the first prosecution results in acquittal or conviction and sentence, and the prosecution was or should have been aware of more than one offense in which the same act or course of conduct played a significant part. (63 Cal.2d at pp.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
171 Cal. App. 3d 116, 214 Cal. Rptr. 572, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 2393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-turner-calctapp-1985.