People v. Carranza
| Decision Date | 13 December 2019 |
| Docket Number | G055902 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ALVARO CARRANZA, JR., Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
The opinion filed December 13, 2019, is ordered modified as follows:
1. On page 8, before the last sentence (beginning, "In sum, . . . .") of the second new paragraph on the page, insert the following new sentence:
As in Eccleston, "Our independent review of the record has produced no basis for disputing the factual findings relevant to the constitutional issue of reliability carefully made by the trial court." (Eccleston, supra, 89 Cal.App.4th at p. 449.)
2. On page 13, modify the first sentence of the third new paragraph on the page so that it reads:
We note that defense counsel's general objections asserting a lack of "foundation" for Ward's testimony regarding CSAAS do not support Carranza's suggestion on appeal that an observer at trial—the jurors—would conclude Ward was implicitly testifying about Carranza.
These modifications do not affect the judgment.
The petition for rehearing filed December 30, 2019, is DENIED.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
OPINIONAppeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Lance Jensen, Judge. Affirmed.
Joanna Rehm, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Arlene A. Sevidal and Andrew S. Mestman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
* * * A jury convicted Alvaro Carranza, Jr., of 12 sexual offenses against his two young nieces: eight counts of committing a lewd act on a child (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a); further undesignated statutory references are to this code), three counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration of a child who is 10 years old or younger (§ 288.7, subd. (b)), and one count of sexual intercourse with a child age 10 or younger (count 10; § 288.7, subd. (a)). The jury also found true sentencing enhancements for committing a sex offense against more than one victim on all but one of the counts on which the enhancements were alleged. (§ 667.61, subds. (b) & (e)(4) as to several counts, subds. (b) & (e)(5) as to one count.) The lone exception was the lewd act count, on which the jury was unable to reach a verdict. The trial court sentenced Carranza to 145 years to life in prison, consisting of 25 years to life on count 10, and eight consecutive terms of 15 years to life on the other counts.
Carranza seeks reversal based on numerous alleged evidentiary errors and two claims of instructional error. He also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction on three counts. Finally, he contends the trial court's sentence violates the state and federal constitutions because it serves no penological purpose since no person could live long enough to serve it. As we explain, these contentions are without merit. We therefore affirm the judgment.
Carranza's brother and his brother's wife had three children together, including two daughters A.C. and P.C. The girls were 11 and 9 years old, respectively, at the time A.C. first disclosed that Carranza had sexually abused her. Beginning when A.C. and P.C. were in the fourth and second grades, they would go to their grandparents' house every day after school because their parents worked. Before that, once they had turned five years old, A.C. and P.C. often spent the night at their grandparents' house.Carranza, who was 32 years old at the time of trial, lived at the house with his mother and father, the girls' grandparents.
In fifth grade, A.C. disclosed to her friend that her uncle did something "that she didn't like." In the context of A.C. also telling her friend that a different "long lost" uncle had raped her in a garage, and her father had rescued her, A.C.'s friend encouraged her to reveal the abuse to A.C.'s parents. A.C.'s father had apparently not ever rescued her from an unrelated assault; he testified at trial there had been no such incident involving a long lost relative. But A.C.'s friend affirmed at trial that she had counseled A.C. to report the abuse she was suffering, and A.C. did so within a few days.
In late January 2016, A.C. pulled her mother aside to go for a walk while the rest of the family was eating dinner at a shopping center. Crying, A.C. told her mother that Carranza had been touching her. The family drove home and A.C.'s father called his mother to report Carranza's actions; however, concerned they might lose the children, A.C.'s parents did not report the abuse to the police until a few days later. A police officer came to the house that night, and A.C. told him about the abuse. Both A.C. and P.C. subsequently spoke to a Child Abuse Services Team (CAST) social worker in separate videotaped interviews that were played for the jury.
The day after the interviews, the police arrested Carranza. After being read his rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436, he spoke to detectives at the police station. He denied any abuse but admitted there were times when he played with the girls that he "might've popped a boner or something." When asked if it were possible that A.C. felt it, he responded, "Could've been." Carranza admitted he occasionally had erections around the girls. When they noticed and would ask, "what's that," he would tell them "don't worry about it, nothing."
Carranza conceded only that he might have "grazed" A.C.'s breast while hugging her. He claimed the girls were not allowed in his room. He admitted euphemistically that he "pitched a tent" or got an erection when playing with A.C., andhe claimed she was curious about it, but he "just tried to push her off" and "get away." He claimed A.C. playfully swiped at his erection through his clothes. He denied he ever ejaculated on A.C. He admitted that three or four years earlier when he was watching the Playboy Channel in his room, A.C. walked in while when he was masturbating and he ejaculated into a towel.
On a recent visit, he was playing a game with P.C. in which they licked each other's cheek, which he suggested made A.C. jealous. He admitted he got an erection, and both girls climbed on top of him, but his mother entered the room and made them leave.
When the detectives told Carranza that A.C. was pregnant (she was not), he said he did not know how the baby could be his, but offered to help out however he could. He denied he had "done anything to her." He admitted the "five or six" occasions he had gotten an erection while playing with the girls were "slip ups," but claimed he stopped each time before things went any further, and that he would not "horse around" with them anymore.
In her trial testimony, A.C. recounted numerous acts of abuse. Among other acts, she testified Carranza often took her into his room alone, where he would touch her or have her touch him. The abuse began when she was four or five years old. The first time, Carranza woke her, led her into his room, took off her clothes, and showed her his penis. Once when she was six years old or older, Carranza, wearing only a shirt, turned her over and put his penis in her "butt." This happened on more than one occasion.
Another time, Carranza showed her a pornographic movie depicting oral sex, put his penis in her mouth, and made her drink something that came out of his penis, causing her to gag. Then he gave her Gatorade to drink. On other occasions, he would put "white stuff" from his penis on her stomach or back, which he would wipe off with a towel.
Carranza had been kissing A.C. on the mouth, sometimes using his tongue, since she was seven or eight years old. She estimated he had her orally copulate him beginning when she was eight years old, which continued until she was 10. When she was nine years old, Carranza put his fingers in her vagina, asking her if she liked it. When he put her hands on his penis, if she refused to move them, he would move her hands for her. On her 11th birthday, he told her he had a present for her. When she went into his room, he took off her pants and put his penis in her vagina, then inside her buttocks. The abuse continued until a final incident when he took her into his room, put his penis in her vagina and buttocks, touched her breasts and vagina, and made her kiss his mouth.
P.C. also testified at trial. Beginning in second grade and on more than one occasion, Carranza would lift her dress and touch her "private[s]." Other times he would take her into his room, pull down her pants, and "check [her] inside the private." He would place a pillow on her chest so she could not see what was happening, but she felt something hard touching her.
P.C. claimed Carranza "raped" her, by which she meant he abused her. He would touch her vagina under her clothing, moving his hand around. Sometimes he would touch her chest and her butt, both over and under her clothing. He would sit her on his lap, and she could feel his penis on her butt through his clothing. He would similarly seat A.C. on his lap. On one occasion when he was in bed next to A.C., he made her (P.C.) leave the room. P.C. initially denied abuse when her mother asked her about it, but later disclosed it because she did not want him to hurt her anymore.
A.C.'s and P.C.'s testimony did not differ substantially from their CAST interviews, which had been recorded nearly two years earlier. The jury convicted Carranza as noted...
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