People v. Dawkins

Dawkins was convicted of stalking, false imprisonment, criminal threats, lewd acts upon a child, and indecent exposure based on two incidents during which he harassed passengers on Bay Area Rapid Transit trains. After finding true various prior-conviction allegations, the court sentenced Dawkins to 25 years in prison. The court of appeal affirmed, rejecting Dawkins’ claims that venue for the indecent-exposure offense was not proper in San Mateo County because he committed the offense while the train was in Contra Costa County; his constitutional rights were violated when the jury was inadvertently provided with a printout of his criminal history; and the trial court abused its discretion by striking only three of the four prior convictions. Venue was proper under Penal Code section 783, which pertains to offenses committed on various modes of transportation. Given the jurors’ unanimous agreement that the rap sheet did not affect their deliberations, Dawkins failed to demonstrate prejudice. Dawkins argued that his life circumstances establish he is “outside the spirit of the Three Strikes law” but the court noted that he was sentenced as a two-strikes offender, allowing him to avoid a life term, and that his long criminal history brought him well within the spirit of the statute. View "People v. Dawkins" on Justia Law