People v. Viveros CA5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 15, 2021
DocketF078003
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Viveros CA5 (People v. Viveros CA5) 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. Viveros CA5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

Filed 3/15/21 P. v. Viveros CA5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, F078003 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. F16904603) v.

JOEL VIVEROS, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Fresno County. F. Brian Alvarez, Judge. Scott Concklin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Carlos A. Martinez and Catherine Tennant Nieto, Deputy Attorneys General, for Appellant and Respondent. -ooOoo- Appellant Joel Viveros was convicted following a jury trial of forcible rape (Pen. Code,1 § 261, subd. (a)(2); count 1) with a one-strike kidnapping circumstance (§ 667.61,

1 All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. subd. (d)(2)) and forcible oral copulation (§ 288a, subd. (c)(2)(A); count 2) with a one- strike kidnapping circumstance (§ 667.61, subd. (d)(2)). Appellant was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 25 years to life (one for each count) for a total of 50 years to life. On appeal, appellant contends: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support the kidnapping circumstances; (2) the court’s instruction to the jury on the kidnapping circumstance was impermissibly ambiguous (CALCRIM No. 3175); (3) the court erred by sentencing appellant to consecutive terms (§ 667.6, subd. (d)); (4) the court’s order prohibiting visitation with the victim was unauthorized; (5) the sentencing minute order must be corrected to reflect the termination of a pretrial criminal protective order; and (6) the abstract of judgment must be corrected to reflect the court’s oral pronouncement of appellant’s sentence. Respondent concedes error with regard to appellant’s latter three arguments. We accept respondent’s concessions but otherwise affirm the judgment. FACTS On July 31, 2009, around 10:30 p.m., Kimberly G. left a party to meet her boyfriend at her mother’s house a few blocks away. Kimberly took the long way to her mother’s house, staying on “a busy street” rather than cutting through a nearby school with no lights or walking through a neighborhood. While she was walking on the sidewalk, a stranger came up behind her and started talking to her, asking her where she was going and if she lived in the neighborhood. Kimberly felt scared, so she tried to ignore him and began to walk faster. After a couple of minutes of trying to talk to Kimberly, the stranger punched Kimberly in the face more than once, causing her to fall to the ground. The lighting in the area where the perpetrator punched Kimberly was “dim,” but she could see where she was. There was a park across the street with lights on the street around it. After the perpetrator punched Kimberly, he dragged her by her arms about 10 to 15 feet across a grass area to some bushes by a building where it was “really dark.” While dragging her, the perpetrator told Kimberly he had a knife, and that if she screamed, he would kill her. Kimberly testified the perpetrator dragged her to a space

2. between the bushes and the wall of the building where it met a chain-link fence, and that the bushes possibly could have concealed her if they were longer. The perpetrator then told Kimberly to perform oral sex on him, and she heard him unbuckling his belt. She complied. She told the police officer who was later dispatched that she had initially refused, but the perpetrator tried to force his penis into her mouth and was able to put his penis in her mouth about 10 times. While the perpetrator was forcing Kimberly to orally copulate him, he told her to close her eyes and not look at him, and he continued to threaten to kill her and her family. Kimberly told the reporting officer the perpetrator became angry when she would not perform oral sex on him, so he punched her again, and she fell to the ground. At that point, the perpetrator then removed Kimberly’s underwear and shorts, got on top of her, and penetrated her vagina with his penis 10 to 15 times while calling her names. Afterward, the perpetrator told Kimberly to keep her eyes closed, count to 10, and if she told anyone what happened, he would find her and kill her. Kimberly estimated the entire sexual assault lasted less than five minutes, but “seemed like forever.” During the assault, there were vehicles driving by, but the headlights were not pointing towards her, and she was not close enough to yell toward them for help. Kimberly ran to the closest busy street and got the attention of a man on a bicycle who then walked her to a nearby hospital. When they got there, they waved down a police car in the parking lot. Kimberly told an officer that she was covered in bushes while being raped, and the bushes were surrounding her body. Kimberly underwent a sexual assault exam. The nurse who performed Kimberly’s exam observed Kimberly’s left jaw was swollen, and she had a loose tooth and black and blue lip. Kimberly also had several abrasions to her hand and thigh. Kimberly told the nurse she experienced pain during her vaginal exam. The nurse collected swabs from various parts of Kimberly’s body, as well as suspected semen from her vagina.

3. A crime scene technician photographed the scene. Kimberly’s broken glasses were found in the grass, and one of her sandals, her panties and shorts were found near the wall and bushes of the nearby building. The crime scene technician estimated it was approximately 30 feet from the sidewalk to the wall of the nearby building. In 2016, a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) “hit” revealed appellant as a DNA match to the perpetrator. A search warrant was issued for the collection of appellant’s DNA, and further analysis confirmed the match. Appellant agreed to be interviewed by the police at the time the search warrant was being executed; the interview was recorded and a video of his interview was played for the jury. During his interview, appellant initially stated he did not remember committing the crimes, noting he was “heavily on drugs” in 2009. Eventually, he stated he did remember approaching Kimberly and that she may have said something to make him angry causing him to push her. He recalled taking her “off to the side of somewhere”; he said he “drug her back” by some bushes by a building and sexually assaulted her. He recalled her trying to fight him off. He said he took her clothes off. He did not recall asking her to perform oral sex but it was possible that he did. Appellant said he remembered feeling like he did something wrong in the few days that followed. He remembered hearing “somewhere down the line that somethin’ similar to that happened in that area” and hoped it was not him. Appellant said Kimberly “did not deserve that. And I’m sure that ruined her life.” He said, “the reason I’m admitting to this after so long is because it’s somethin’ that’s kinda (been on) to me all my life … since that day.” Appellant testified in his own defense that he felt he was pressured into confessing in his interview. He admitted he had an “encounter” with Kimberly, but he did not recall the nature of it because of short-term memory problems due to past head trauma. He testified the detectives gave him the details of the assault he mentioned in his interview before the recording started.

4. DISCUSSION I. Sufficiency of the Evidence—One-Strike Kidnapping Circumstances Appellant contends the evidence was insufficient to support the one-strike kidnapping circumstances (§ 667.61, subd.

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People v. Viveros CA5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-viveros-ca5-calctapp-2021.