State v. Curbello-Rodriguez

351 N.W.2d 758, 119 Wis. 2d 414, 1984 Wisc. App. LEXIS 3819
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedMay 25, 1984
Docket83-1335-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 351 N.W.2d 758 (State v. Curbello-Rodriguez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Curbello-Rodriguez, 351 N.W.2d 758, 119 Wis. 2d 414, 1984 Wisc. App. LEXIS 3819 (Wis. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinions

[420]*420BEILFUSS, Reserve Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction and sentence, and order denying postconviction motions. The defendant-appellant, Lazaro Curbello-Rodriguez, was convicted by a jury of three counts of first degree sexual assault under sec. 940.225 (1) (c), Stats., six counts of first degree sexual assault as an aider and abettor under secs. 940.225(1) (c) and 939.05, Stats., and one count of abduction under sec. 940.32(3). He was sentenced to twenty years on each of the three sexual assault charges, to run consecutively; twenty years on the six aiding and abetting charges, to run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the other sentences; and ten years on the abduction charge, to run concurrently with the other sentences. The total sentence is eighty years. The issues on appeal are as follows:

1. Did the trial court err in holding that appellant did not have standing to challenge admission of a knife seized during an allegedly illegal search? If so, was the error harmless ?

2. Did the trial court err in admitting an out-of-court statement into evidence?

3. Did the trial court err in instructing the jury on first rather than second degree sexual assault for the aiding and abetting charges ?

4. Was the sentence an abuse of discretion?

We affirm.

FACTS

On the evening of August 20, 1981, S.P., a sixteen-year-old girl, was visiting D.H. at her house in Madison, Wisconsin. The girls were later joined by R.L.

Late in the evening S.P. started to make arrangements to get home. After attempting unsuccessfully to obtain a ride, S.P. left with R.L. S.P. and R. L. met Armando [421]*421Garcia on a Madison street. R.L. indicated she knew Garcia from a party they had both attended. S.P. asked Garcia if she could borrow a dollar. Garcia stated he did not have a dollar with him, and invited the young women to his apartment where he would give them money. The young women accompanied Garcia to his apartment. There they encountered Curbello, Isidro Sosa and Wilfredo Corborberde.

The only English-speaking male in the group was Garcia. S.P. and R.L. did not speak Spanish. S.P. and R.L. sat at the kitchen table and smoked marijuana with the men. The men conversed with each other in Spanish. Two of the men made sexual advances toward the girls.

The young women, having decided they wanted to leave, announced they were going to the store to purchase soda and would come back. Sosa said “no,” and, according to R.L., hit a bicycle chain against a chair. Garcia told the young women Sosa said he would go for soda. One of the men did leave and returned with soda.

When S.P. and R.L. later stated they had to leave, the men jumped up and went to different areas of the apartment. Sosa slammed the bicycle chain against a table and the chair in which S.P. was sitting, then turned the living room lights off and on. Someone turned up the music.

The young women thought they would not be allowed to leave. S.P. decided to say she was sick and had to go to the bathroom to get away from the men. She walked toward the bathroom. The appellant held onto her and Sosa walked in front of her. S.P. motioned to the outside door and the men said no. She noticed that the door had been chain locked. She then said she didn’t have to go to the bathroom and tried to return to the table. The appellant attempted to pull her into the bathroom, and a struggle ensued. S.P. pushed her left arm against the door frame. Sosa grabbed her purse off her shoulder [422]*422and yanked her arm off the door. Appellant pulled her into the bathroom and shut the door. He tugged at her clothing, but she refused to undress. The appellant pulled out a folding knife, held it to and tugged at S.P.’s clothing. She removed her clothing. The appellant turned her around and bent her over the tub. S.P. feared he would cut her all the way down her back with the knife. Instead, he had anal intercourse with her. Afterwards, he set the knife on a bathroom shelf and had vaginal intercourse with her. Corborberde and Sosa entered the bathroom in immediate succession and had vaginal intercourse with S.P. Corborberde also had oral intercourse with S.P.

The appellant took S.P. into the bedroom where he had vaginal intercourse with her on a bed. Corborberde, Sosa and Garcia each took a turn having vaginal intercourse with S.P. in the bedroom. Each man ordered S.P. to bathe prior to his sexual contact with her and took her to the bathroom and observed her bathing. S.P. resisted and did not consent to any act of intercourse.

Before S.P. and R.L. left, the appellant pulled out his knife and motioned up and down his face or rubbed the knife while speaking in Spanish. According to Garcia’s translation, appellant stated if the young women told anyone about what had occurred, he would cut them or hurt someone in their families. S.P. told the men that she would not tell anyone about the incident and would take them to a party that night. She did this so the men would not think she was angry and would allow the girls to leave.

S.P. returned to D.H’s home, where she telephoned the police. The police arrested the men later that morning and transported them to the Dane County jail. Some of the officers returned, searched the apartment and seized certain items, including the appellant’s knife.

[423]*423I. ADMISSIBILITY OF KNIFE

The appellant argues he had standing to object to the legality of the search and seizure of his knife and it was prejudicial error for the trial court to allow the knife into evidence. The question of standing involves an inquiry into whether the person challenging a search had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched. State v. Fillyaw, 104 Wis. 2d 700, 312 N.W.2d 795 (1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1026 (1982). The burden is on the defendant to prove his legitimate expectation of privacy. State v. Callaway, 106 Wis. 2d 503, 520, 317 N.W.2d 428, 437 (1982).

At the suppression hearing the trial court found that Garcia and a non-defendant appeared on an apartment directory as occupants of the apartment, there were two beds in the apartment, and Garcia gave permission for the police officers to enter. At the postconviction motion hearing, the trial court stated:

Well, I guess I do think we’ve gone over the business of admissibility of the knife during the course of the early phases of the charge prior to trial and I guess I would have to stand pretty much on that record. There was not much effort to show standing within the framework of the cases that you cited.

No additional findings were made based on the evidence presented at trial. The parties do not dispute that the appellant was an overnight guest in the apartment the night before the search, had moved from room to room during the assaults and owned or at least had possession of the knife. We adopt the findings of the trial court, while adding the undisputed facts set forth above.

[424]*424We need not defer to the trial court’s legal conclusion that appellant had not proven standing. Fillyaw, 104 Wis. 2d at 711, 312 N.W.2d at 801. Fillyaw lists several factors relevant to determining whether one has a legitimate expectation of privacy:

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Bluebook (online)
351 N.W.2d 758, 119 Wis. 2d 414, 1984 Wisc. App. LEXIS 3819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-curbello-rodriguez-wisctapp-1984.