People v. Vasquez

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 29, 2017
DocketD069298
StatusPublished

This text of People v. Vasquez (People v. Vasquez) 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. Vasquez, (Cal. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Filed 8/29/17 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D069298

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCS266196)

MICHAEL VASQUEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County,

Dwayne Moring, Judge. Reversed.

Carl J. Fabian, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and

Appellant.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney

General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Eric A. Swenson, Lynne G.

McGinnis and Kristine Alton Gutierrez, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and

Respondent. I.

INTRODUCTION

"[D]emonstrative evidence [is] offered to help a jury understand expert testimony

or other substantive evidence . . . ." (People v. Duenas (2012) 55 Cal.4th 1, 20

(Duenas).) Demonstrative evidence is "not offered as substantive evidence, but as a tool

to aid the jury in understanding the substantive evidence." (Id. at p. 25.)

In this case, during the prosecutor's redirect examination of an alleged child

molestation victim (P.C.), the trial court permitted the People to display to the jury an

approximately twenty-foot long "timeline" of the alleged molestations that a therapist

created with P.C. in preparation for a prior proceeding in this case. The timeline

contained detailed statements describing the alleged abuse written by the therapist at

P.C.'s direction, together with dates and photographs of P.C. at various ages.1 The court

also permitted the prosecutor to directly question P.C. at trial about statements contained

on the timeline.

On appeal, defendant Michael Vasquez contends that the trial court erred in

permitting the jury to view the timeline and erred in admitting the related testimony. The

People contend that the timeline was properly displayed to the jury as demonstrative

evidence akin to a "map[ ], chart[ ], [or] diagram[ ] . . . ." (Quoting People v. Mills

(2010) 48 Cal.4th 158, 207 (Mills).) The People further argue that the court "properly

1 We have included photographs of the timeline contained in the record on appeal in part III.A.1.b, post. 2 allowed P.C. to directly explain some of the things shown on the timeline so the jury

would understand what they were seeing."

We conclude that the trial court committed clear error in permitting the jury to

view the timeline and allowing P.C. to read statements from the timeline into evidence.

The timeline did not constitute demonstrative evidence that could properly be displayed

to the jury in order to assist the jury in its understanding of P.C.'s testimony. Rather, the

timeline contained inadmissible out-of-court statements that were improperly offered for

their truth and to bolster P.C.'s credibility.

The error requires reversal of Vasquez's molestation convictions. To begin with, a

prior trial resulted in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. The evidence

presented to the juries at both trials was similar, with the notable exception that the

timeline was presented only to the jury at the trial that resulted in the guilty verdicts.2

Further, this case was essentially a credibility contest between the victims3 and Vasquez,

and the defense presented evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that the

victims had a motive to fabricate the allegations.4 Finally, the prosecutor prominently

featured the highly inflammatory timeline during his closing argument, displaying it to

the jury, making repeated reference to it, and urging the jury to rely on it as substantive

2 The reporter's transcript from the prior trial is contained in the record on appeal. 3 P.C.'s sister, E.C., testified that Vasquez had also molested her. 4 We emphasize that we do not intend to suggest that this court believes that the victims lacked credibility. Rather, we observe only that the defense presented evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that the victims had a motive to fabricate the allegations. 3 evidence. Under these circumstances, we are compelled to reverse the judgment and

remand the matter for a new trial.5

II.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual background6

1. The People's evidence

a. Vasquez's sexual abuse of E.C.

Vasquez began living with Patricia J. (Patricia) and her two daughters, E.C. and

P.C., in mid-2004 or early 2005. When Vasquez moved in, E.C. was approximately nine

years old and P.C. was approximately five or six years old.7 The family lived together in

a one-bedroom mobile home until September 2009.

5 In part III.B, post, of the opinion, we reject Vasquez's claim that he is entitled to a dismissal of the charges against him or recusal of the district attorney's office based on an alleged conflict of interest between the district attorney's office and the victim's family. In light of reversal of the judgment, we need not consider Vasquez's claim that the trial court failed to provide a proper unanimity instruction to the jury. However, we briefly address this issue in part III.C, post, of the opinion in order to provide guidance to the trial court on remand. We need not, and do not, address Vasquez's contention that he is entitled to a new sentencing hearing because the record does not reflect that the trial court was aware of a change in the law applicable to Vasquez's sentence. 6 We state the facts in the light most favorable to the judgment in this section. (See, e.g., People v. McGehee (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 1190, 1195). However, in part III.A.4, post, in assessing whether the trial court's error in permitting the jury to view the timeline was prejudicial, we consider the weight of the evidence. (See, e.g., Eisenberg et al., Cal. Practice Guide, Civil Appeals and Writs (The Rutter Group 2016) ¶ 8:301["the appellate court will consider the weight of the evidence in making its prejudicial error analysis"].) 7 E.C. was born in 1995, and was 20 years old at the time of trial. P.C. was born in 1998 and was 16 years old at the time of trial. 4 E.C. would often crawl into bed with Patricia and Vasquez during the night or in

the morning. When Patricia would get up, E.C. would stay in bed alone with Vasquez.

During this time, Vasquez would often hug E.C. from behind. On several occasions,

Vasquez touched E.C.'s breasts underneath her shirt and training bra, and grabbed and

pulled her nipples. E.C. would pretend to be asleep. On some of these occasions, E.C.

could feel Vasquez's erect penis. E.C. felt scared and uncomfortable and stopped going

into Patricia and Vasquez's bed.

b. Vasquez's sexual abuse of P.C.

P.C. would also occasionally crawl into Patricia and Vasquez's bed, and would

stay in the bed with Vasquez after Patricia left. When P.C. was five or six years old,

Vasquez would rub her thighs when she was alone in bed with him. When P.C. was in

second or third grade and around seven years old, Vasquez also began touching P.C.'s

breasts and the outside of her vagina under her clothing.

By the time that P.C. was in fifth or sixth grade, Vasquez would insert his fingers

inside her vagina. Sometimes the penetration would hurt, and P.C. would tell him to

stop. Also while P.C. was in fifth grade, Vasquez would rub his penis against P.C.'s

vagina with her pants off.

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People v. Vasquez, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-vasquez-calctapp-2017.