Opinion ID: 2552553
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Factor (b) Evidence

Text: Erika S. testified further at the penalty phase. It will be recalled that at the guilt phase there was testimony that on October 10, 1992, Erika, who was 17 years old, and defendant attended a high school dance. They left shortly after arriving and drove to a beach in Malibu, where they argued. At the penalty phase, the jury learned that defendant committed a sexual battery on Erika on the beach, running his hand under her dress and touching her vaginal area. The next night, after Erika left the church event about which there also was guilt phase testimony, defendant forced her into the back seat of a car, told her he wanted to have sexual intercourse with her, ignored her crying and her refusal, inserted a finger in her vagina, and told her that he could rip out [her] insides. After Erika kicked him in the head, he removed his finger and apologized. Erika obtained a restraining order against defendant but, because she did not want her mother to know about the sexual assaults, did not describe them on the application form. The prosecution also presented evidence of defendant's violent or menacing acts in county jail while awaiting trial. On October 6, 1993, a deputy sheriff searched defendant's cell and found a paper clip, a toothbrush, and two razor blades that had been turned into one or more potential weapons. On January 14, 1994, following a search of defendant's cell that again produced contraband, defendant had to be subdued by sheriffs deputies, saying it was lucky there were three of them, because otherwise he would have tried to stab them. As one of the deputies described defendant's threat, he told them, 1 was looking to stick your ass. On February 8, 1994, more contraband was discovered in defendant's cell. A blade that had been removed from a disposable razor was found taped underneath his bed.