People v. Woods

241 Cal. App. 4th 461, 194 Cal. Rptr. 3d 128, 2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 917
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 20, 2015
DocketD066741
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 241 Cal. App. 4th 461 (People v. Woods) 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. Woods, 241 Cal. App. 4th 461, 194 Cal. Rptr. 3d 128, 2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 917 (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

*465 Opinion

AARON, J.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Grey David Woods appeals from a judgment of conviction entered after a jury convicted him of 16 counts related to sexual misconduct involving his girlfriend’s underage daughter. 1

On appeal, Woods contends that his convictions on counts 1 through 15 should be reversed on either of two grounds. First, Woods contends that the trial court failed to instruct the jury sua sponte on lesser included offenses to the charged offenses of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation of a minor over the age of 14, and forcible oral copulation in concert of a minor over the age of 14. Second, Woods contends that the trial court prejudicially erred in instructing the jury on the meaning of “consent” as it relates to his case.

Woods also makes two arguments with respect to the jury’s findings regarding great bodily injury as to counts 1 and 16. Woods challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s finding of great bodily injury, arguing that the victim’s pregnancy and subsequent abortion do not constitute sufficient evidence that he inflicted great bodily injury on the victim. Woods also contends that the trial court prejudicially erred in instructing the jury with respect to the meaning of great bodily injury when it modified the instruction to state that “causing a woman to become pregnant can be the infliction of great bodily injury.” Finally, Woods contends that the cumulative effect of the errors that he alleges requires reversal. 2

The People concede, and we agree, that the trial court had a duty to instruct the jury regarding the lesser included offense of nonforcible oral copulation with a minor with respect to the charges of forcible oral copulation of a minor over the age of 14 and forcible oral copulation in concert of a minor over the age of 14. The People urge that the error was harmless. *466 However, under the circumstances of this case, we cannot conclude that there is no reasonable probability that Woods would have received a more favorable result if the court had provided the instructions on the lesser included offense.

We disagree with Woods that the trial court had a duty to instruct the jury regarding the offense of statutory rape as a lesser included offense of the offense of forcible rape. We conclude that the statutory rape offense that Woods identifies is not a lesser included offense of the substantive offense of forcible rape, even under the accusatory pleading test. We reject the remainder of Woods’s arguments for reversal.

We reverse Woods’s convictions on counts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, and 15. Woods may be retried on these counts. We affirm Woods’s convictions on the remaining counts.

II.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual background

A.C. met Woods in 2007 while playing World of Warcraft, an online “fantasy role-playing game.” A.C. was living in Rhode Island with her husband and their three young boys, as well as A.C.’s then 12-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, C.C. A.C. spent many hours each night playing the game. C.C. also played for many hours each night.

A.C.’s marriage eventually failed, and she and C.C. left the family home and moved in with A.C.’s parents. The marriage ended in large part because A.C.’s husband was unhappy that A.C. was spending so much time online, to the detriment of the family.

In June 2008, then 31-year-old A.C. decided to pursue a romantic relationship with Woods, who was 19 years old at the time. A.C. invited Woods to come to Rhode Island. Woods drove to Rhode Island from California and stayed in a hotel. A.C. brought 12-year-old C.C. with her to meet Woods at the hotel. The three of them shared a bed that night, with C.C. in the middle. Sometime during the night, Woods touched C.C.’s vagina and breasts, and asked her to touch his penis. C.C. felt “not good” about what Woods had done. At a later point that night, Woods again touched C.C.’s vagina. She told *467 him to stop, and he did. The next morning C.C. told her mother “that [she] didn’t want to do that.” A.C. “ignored” C.C., which made C.C. feel “sad.”

After this visit with Woods, A.C. decided that she was in love with Woods. In July 2008, Woods came to Rhode Island and moved into A.C.’s parents’ home, with A.C. and C.C. A.C. and Woods shared a room in the basement of the home, and C.C. had a room upstairs. Within two months of arriving in Rhode Island, Woods became physically abusive toward A.C.

During this time, Woods continued to sexually abuse C.C. The first time Woods sexually abused C.C. after he had moved to Rhode Island was at C.C.’s grandparents’ house. Woods entered C.C.’s room, locked the door behind him, and touched her vagina under her clothes. C.C. complained to her mother, who responded, “deal with it.” Woods then began to expect C.C. to perform oral sex on him “[d]aily.” She did not want to do it, but she “couldn’t say no.” When C.C. told her mother about what Woods was doing to her, A.C. got “mad” at C.C. “[b]ecause she was jealous that [C.C.] got more attention than her.” While in her grandparents’ house, C.C. did not feel that she had a choice to stop performing oral sex on Woods.

At some point, Woods, A.C. and C.C. moved into an apartment together, where they lived for a year and a half. Woods began having intercourse with C.C. every day, and she continued to perform oral sex on him. C.C. did not want to have sex with Woods, but he told her “it’s something [she] ha[d] to do,” and she did not feel she had a choice. C.C. told A.C. that Woods was demanding sex from her, but A.C. did nothing to try to stop the abuse. C.C. witnessed Woods being physically abusive toward A.C. C.C. believed that if she did not comply with Woods’s demands for sex, Woods would hurt her or her mother.

In July 2010, Woods, A.C. and C.C. moved to San Diego where they lived with Woods’s father, stepmother and grandmother. C.C. was 14 years old at the time of the move. By this point in time, A.C. and C.C. were financially dependent on Woods.

While in San Diego, Woods had “daily” intercourse and “almost daily” oral sex with C.C., and he sometimes, though rarely, would engage in anal sex with her.

A.C. would occasionally participate in the sexual encounters between C.C. and Woods, but C.C. did not “want that to happen.” She felt “gross” when it happened. C.C. was afraid to say no and feared that Woods would hurt her or A.C. if C.C. did not “[do] what [Woods] demanded.” Woods was, in fact, physically abusing A.C. during this time, on approximately a monthly basis, *468 according to C.C. On one occasion, he knocked A.C. unconscious. Woods put his hands on C.C.’s shoulders and “kind of push[ed] [her], not so much that it would hurt [her], but more to scare [her].”

At some point, Woods began taking pornographic photographs and videos of himself, C.C., and A.C. engaged in various sex acts.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
241 Cal. App. 4th 461, 194 Cal. Rptr. 3d 128, 2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-woods-calctapp-2015.