People v. Torres

Defendant followed Jane, age 19, home, and attacked, sexually assaulted, and robbed her. He was convicted of second-degree robbery causing great bodily injury (Pen. Code 211, 12022.7(a)), five counts of digital penetration (289(a)(1)(A)), one count of sexual battery by restraint (243.4(a)), and one count of forcible rape (261(a)(2)). The court found defendant had four prior convictions and sentenced him to eight consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences. The court of appeal affirmed in part, rejecting arguments that the evidence was insufficient to support the great bodily injury enhancement; the court abused its discretion in admitting irrelevant and prejudicial evidence that defendant attempted to use Doe’s credit card to purchase pills advertised as increasing sexual prowess; the prosecutor committed misconduct by mentioning the defense’s failure to retest the DNA during closing argument; and the court improperly imposed a life term for sexual battery by restraint. The court remanded the sentence: the trial court erred in ruling that it was required by the Three Strikes law to impose consecutive sentences for the digital penetration and sexual battery convictions. Proposition 36 largely left intact a sentencing court’s limited discretion under the Three Strikes law to impose concurrent sentences for multiple felonies committed on the “same occasion” or arising from the “same set of operative facts.” View "People v. Torres" on Justia Law