Opinion ID: 2513467
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: Defendant Jaime Vargas Soto committed aggravated lewd acts against two girls, his 12-year-old cousin C. and C.'s 11-year-old friend R. C. gave two police officers detailed accounts of defendant's sexual acts. Although she acknowledged making most of the statements the officers recorded, she disavowed them when testifying at defendant's trial. At trial, C. denied that any lewd acts took place. She claimed she lied to the police because she was angry at defendant for dating one of her friends. C. was impeached with her statements to the officers. R.'s trial testimony was consistent with her account to the police, which incriminated defendant. Defendant lived with C. and her mother but moved after C.'s mother saw him kissing C. The jury heard evidence of a pattern preceding the charged offense. When he lived in C.'s home, defendant often held C. tight, fondled her buttocks, and French-kissed her. He would refuse to release her when she told him to stop and tried to push him away. He also talk[ed] dirty to her when they were home alone. Defendant threatened to tell C.'s mother she had a boyfriend if she did not kiss him. In one instance, C. was in the bedroom watching defendant and her brother play a video game. After her brother left the room, defendant pushed her down onto the bed, lay on top of her, and rubbed himself against her. C. told a police officer she felt his thing and it felt nasty, but he was holding [her] so tight [she] couldn't do anything. After he moved, defendant knocked on C.'s window with a rock, saying he wanted to give her a last kiss. His behavior scared C. because she thought defendant was going to break the window and enter her room. The first charged incident with C. occurred in April 2005, when defendant was driving C. to school. Suddenly, defendant stopped the car, reclined C.'s seat, and climbed on top of her. He kissed her, rubbed his clothed penis against her crotch, and fondled her buttocks. C. pressed her legs together and tried to turn away. Defendant tried to touch her breasts, but C. pushed his hand away. C. told defendant she wanted him to stop. She tried to leave the car, but defendant locked the door. The second charged incident with C. occurred in May 2005 outside C.'s middle school. Before school began, defendant drove into the staff parking lot and called to C., who walked over and spoke with him. When C. noticed that the school's secretary was watching them, she motioned for defendant to drive around the corner and followed him there. The secretary became suspicious and alerted the principal. C. wanted to talk to defendant because she was angry that he was dating her best friend, 13-year-old A. At the new meeting spot, defendant got out of the car, grabbed C. around the waist and pulled her toward him. He hugged her, fondled her, and French-kissed her. Although C. tried to pull away, defendant grabbed her again. Holding her tightly, so that she could not move away, defendant rubbed his erect penis against C.'s thigh. Defendant eventually released C. when the bell rang and she told him she had to go to class. The principal saw C. walking toward the school and brought her into the office. After C. told him that defendant had kissed her, the principal said he intended to contact her mother and the police. C. returned to class, borrowed a phone, and called defendant. He told her not to reveal his name. Later that day, C. was questioned by a police officer, and five days later she was interviewed by a detective. She identified defendant and described the lewd acts. C.'s statements led the police to question her friend and next-door neighbor, R. One day, when defendant saw R. standing in her doorway, he asked for her name and told her she was pretty. R. told him she was 11 years old. Because R. thought defendant was nice and good looking, she asked C. to give him her phone number. A few days later, R. encountered defendant in a laundry room of their apartment complex. After brief conversation, defendant grabbed her and began kissing her. He tried to fondle her chest, but R. pushed his hand away. He grabbed R.'s hand, rubbed it against his erect penis, and said he wanted to have sex with her. R. tried to push him away. Later that night, defendant called R. and repeated his desire for sexual intimacy. Sometime later, after R. had started sixth grade, defendant telephoned and said that C. wanted her to come over. When she got to C.'s apartment, however, defendant was alone. He took R. into his bedroom and started playing a pornographic movie. R. asked him to turn it off because she was embarrassed. Defendant turned off the movie, lay on the bed, took a packaged condom out of his pocket, and told R. he wanted to have sex. R. said she had to leave. As she began to walk out, she tripped over a television cable and fell onto the bed. Defendant hugged and kissed her. R. told him to stop because she had to leave. She stood up, but defendant pulled her onto the bed. He repeatedly grabbed at her buttocks and the part between [her] legs. He tried to pull her pants down, while R. tried to push his hands away. Defendant removed his trousers but not his boxer shorts. He took R.'s hand in a firm, squeezing grip and placed it on his erect penis. Defendant said he wanted to have sex with her. After a few seconds, R. pulled her hand away and repeated that she had to leave. R. did not want to do these things with defendant, but she was afraid he would get upset and do something, like rape her. After she left the apartment, R. avoided defendant because she was afraid of him. Based on the two incidents with C. and the incident with R. in the bedroom, defendant was charged with three counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 by use of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear. (§ 288(b)(1).) He was also charged with committing a nonforcible lewd act against R. (§ 288(a)), based on the laundry room encounter. As to the section 288(b)(1) counts, the trial court instructed the jury with CALCRIM No. 1111. This instruction states that the People must prove the defendant used force, violence, duress, menace or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury to the child or someone else in committing the lewd act. It defines force and duress as follows: The force used must be substantially different from or substantially greater than the force needed to accomplish the act itself. [¶] Duress means a direct or implied threat of force, violence, danger, hardship, or retribution that causes a reasonable person to do or submit to something that he or she would not otherwise do or submit to. Finally, the version of CALCRIM No. 1111 read to defendant's jury stated: It is not a defense that the child may have consented to the act. [3] Defendant did not object to the instruction. In her closing argument, the prosecutor told the jury it could convict defendant of the section 288(b)(1) counts based on his use of force or duress. The prosecutor explained, with regard to the statutory factors of force, violence, duress, menace, and fear: You don't have to find all of them, just one of them is enough. It's also enough if some jurors find force and some jurors find duress, but you all must unanimously agree that it was accomplished [by one or the other]. Referencing CALCRIM No. 1111, she also argued: Consent is not a defense. It is not a defense that one or both of the girls wanted to do it or wanted to be with the defendant when this happened. Because he's the adult in the equation. The defense presented no evidence. During argument, defendant did not assert that C. or R. consented to any sexual contact. The gist of the defense was that both girls were lying. Even if the jury believed that defendant committed inappropriate touching under section 288(a), the defense maintained there was insufficient evidence of force or duress to convict under section 288(b)(1). The jury convicted on all counts, and defendant was sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison. In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeal reversed and remanded for retrial on the charges involving force or duress. Although the majority declined to address whether consent is a defense to a charge of lewd conduct committed by force, it held that consent is a defense to the charge of lewd conduct committed by duress and that it is error to instruct the jury otherwise. One justice dissented from this holding, finding no error in the trial court's instruction. We granted review on the question whether consent of the victim is a defense to the crime of aggravated lewd acts on a child under age 14.