People v. Campbell

• Decision Date: 29 June 2020
• Docket Number: C088348
• Citation: 265 Cal.Rptr.3d 136,51 Cal.App.5th 463
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Isiah CAMPBELL, Defendant and Appellant.

51 Cal.App.5th 463

265 Cal.Rptr.3d 136

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Isiah CAMPBELL, Defendant and Appellant.

C088348

Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

Filed June 29, 2020

Scott Concklin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Eric L. Christoffersen and Christina Hitomi Simpson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

BUTZ, Acting P. J. Defendant Isiah Campbell appeals from the judgment entered after a jury found him guilty of three counts of pimping ( Pen. Code, § 266h, subd. (a) )¹ and 11 counts of pandering ( § 266i, subd. (a) ). He contends reversal is required for a variety of reasons, including improper venue, insufficient evidence, the pandering statute is void for vagueness, instructional error, ineffective assistance of counsel, and improper conviction on multiple counts of pimping.

We reject defendant's contentions and shall affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Factual Background

We summarize the relevant facts in the light most favorable to the jury's verdicts. (See People v. Abilez (2007) 41 Cal.4th 472, 504, 61 Cal.Rptr.3d 526, 161 P.3d 58.) Additional information necessary to the resolution of this appeal is set forth below. For purposes of consistency and clarity, we refer, as the parties did in the trial court, to the alleged victims in this case as Jane Doe 1 through Jane Doe 12 (hereafter JD1, JD2, etc.; collectively Jane Does).

JD1's Testimony

JD1 is from Serbia. When she lived there, she occasionally had sex with men in exchange for money or favors, which was an acceptable and a common occurrence at the time.

Around 2008, JD1 immigrated to the United States. Thereafter, she married a man named Rade² and worked various jobs. At some point, she posted an advertisement on Backpage.com, a classified advertising Web site commonly used to advertise for prostitution activities, and had sex with men in exchange for money or favors "from time to time."

In early 2014, JD1 met defendant online and they began exchanging messages. They met in person about a year later. Shortly thereafter, she became pregnant. At the time JD1 met defendant in person, she was living at a motel in Sacramento. Although JD1 and Rade never "formally separated," they had gone their "separate ways" by 2015.

Defendant was good with computers and came up with a plan in early 2015 to make money and travel by having JD1 engage in sex for money. As part of the arrangement, he took pictures of her, designed and posted advertisements for her on the Internet (e.g., Backpage.com), established the prices she charged for specific sexual acts, negotiated the "meet up" or "dates"³ (which largely took place in hotel rooms), booked hotels for her, drove her around as necessary, and protected her. In return, she agreed to split her earnings with him equally.

Defendant set up dates for JD1 in Seattle and various cities in the Sacramento area, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley, and Southern California. During the dates, he would wait outside the hotel or somewhere nearby.

Defendant used fear and violence to dominate and control JD1. Following the birth of their daughter in December 2015, JD1's relationship with defendant changed for the worse. He became controlling and violent. He dictated when and where she would engage in prostitution activities and forced her to work all day, including shortly after giving birth. He decided where she lived and when she could see her daughter. He had sex with her against her will and occasionally beat her before they had sex. He also beat her if she failed to follow his directions or if she expressed her opinion. The beatings occurred frequently, about "every other day." On a few occasions, the beatings were "very bad, very, very bad."

JD1 attempted to end her relationship with defendant several times. However, he would eventually find her and "bad things would happen," including an incident where he beat her and hit their daughter. In addition to his violent and controlling behavior, defendant decided to take a larger share of JD1's earnings. He took her bank card and withdrew money from her account without her permission to pay for his personal expenses and expenses related to other women with whom he was working. When she complained about how he was handling her earnings, he beat her.

JD1 worked with defendant until he was arrested in March 2017. During the time period she worked with defendant, he also worked with JD2, JD3, JD5, JD6, JD7, JD8, JD9, JD10, and JD11. Although JD1 never worked with JD4, she recognized JD4 from a photograph and noted that defendant had told her that he worked with JD4. When asked, JD1 explained that "working" for the women meant exchanging sex for money.

The Sting Operation

On March 16, 2017, detectives from the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department conducted an undercover human trafficking sting operation at the Best Western Motel in Placerville. After researching various Web sites, an undercover investigator set up a date with JD1 at the motel.

At 8:45 p.m., defendant dropped JD1 off at the motel. After she and the undercover investigator agreed on the sex act to be performed and she received the negotiated sum of $300, officers entered the room and detained her. Meanwhile, officers approached defendant's car and detained him. A search of his person revealed the following items: approximately $2,000 in cash, two cell phones (hereafter, HTC cell phone & ZTE cell phone), some currency from the Philippines, a credit card, a bank deposit receipt in the amount of $1,100, and a receipt from a 7-Eleven store in Seattle.

JD2's and JD3's Testimony

JD2's and JD3's testimony was similar to and consistent with JD1's testimony.⁴ They both began working with defendant, who referred to himself as "Pharaoh" the tech/computer savvy personal assistant, after he promised to provide them Internet advertising services in exchange for a share of their earnings from prostitution activities. He gave them "professional" names and linked their phone numbers to his Google Voice account, which allowed him to monitor their communications and to communicate with clients on their behalf. He placed advertisements for them online (e.g., Backpage.com), set up their dates with clients, established the prices they charged for specific sex acts, booked their hotel rooms, drove them to meet clients, and waited nearby during their dates. He also provided JD2 with condoms and lubrication, and supplied some of the women with drugs.

Defendant was physically and verbally abusive to JD2. While he did not physically abuse JD3, he threatened her with physical violence and verbally abused her. He was also controlling over JD2 and JD3 and frequently angry. He demanded that the women he worked with stay in their hotel rooms all day; they were allowed to leave only with his permission. He decided how many dates the women would go on and attempted to make JD3 engage in sexual acts she was not comfortable with, including sex without a condom and allowing a client to urinate in her mouth. He also decided when the women had earned enough money to travel to a new location. At some point, he decided to take a larger share of JD2's and JD3's earnings. He also took JD2's bank card and withdrew money from her account to pay for expenses related to other women working with him.

During the time period JD2 worked with defendant, he also worked with JD1, JD3, JD5, JD6, JD8, JD9 and JD11. At times, JD2 worked with JD1, JD3, and JD5. She explained that she occasionally shared a room with these women,⁵ and that the "work" the women engaged in was exchanging sex for money. According to JD2, defendant treated JD1 better than the other women he worked with and seemed to care about her more and was more controlling over her. When asked, JD2 said that she saw defendant provide JD1 with condoms and lubrication.

During the time period JD3 worked with defendant, he also worked with JD1, JD2, JD6, JD8, and JD11. JD3 estimated that approximately 10 different women worked with defendant from the summer of 2016 to early 2017. When asked, JD3 indicated that the "work" the women engaged in was exchanging sex for money. She noted that she shared a room with JD1, JD6, JD8, and JD11.

After defendant was arrested, he called JD2 from jail and asked her to change the passwords to some of his accounts, including his Hotels.com account and his "pinknjuicy" and "yunggoon" e-mail accounts. He explained that she needed to do this because he "got caught human trafficking." He also told her not to talk to the police.

Police Contact in Galt

Around 12:15 a.m. on August 17, 2016, a Galt police officer found defendant asleep in his car, which was parked in a city parking lot. A search of the car revealed the following items: a large quantity of condoms, vaginal fungus cream, female hygiene products and toiletries, a bottle of Extenze pills (a male sex enhancement supplement), a piece of paper containing a list of e-mail addresses and passwords (one of which had JD5's name next to it), a laptop computer, and multiple motel keys and digital cameras. When the officer opened the laptop, he observed an e-mail account with a "bunch" of e-mails, one of which was asking about availability and prices for different sex acts. The laptop also contained numerous photos of women wearing lingerie or very little clothing.

When defendant was searched, the officer found cash, credit cards, and wire-transfer receipts in the amount of $1,030 and $130.

Electronic Evidence

Following defendant's arrest, the police monitored his jails calls. During one of those calls, he asked a woman to change the passwords to his Backpage.com account and his nottierose@gmail.com e-mail account. In doing so, he revealed the passwords to those accounts. Thereafter, a search warrant was obtained for...