PEOPLE v. MASSIE

Filed 8/29/06

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT

(Butte)

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THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

RICHARD ANDREW MASSIE,

Defendant and Appellant.

C050124

(Super. Ct. No. CM022055)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Butte County, James F. Reilley, Judge. Affirmed.

Candace Hale, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Mary Jo Graves, Senior Assistant Attorney General and John G. McLean, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Defendant Richard Andrew Massie was sentenced to consecutive life terms in state prison after a jury found him guilty of torture and sexual penetration by a foreign object, committed with use of a deadly weapon during a first degree burglary.

The sole issue that defendant raises on appeal is whether the evidence is sufficient to support his conviction for torture. We conclude there is ample, indeed overwhelming, evidence to satisfy the elements of torture. Thus, we shall affirm the judgment.

We publish this opinion solely to address an argument that has begun to appear in criminal appeals in the Third Appellate District based on language in People v. Acevedo (2003) 105 Cal.App.4th 195 (hereafter Acevedo) and People v. Brown (1989) 216 Cal.App.3d 596 (hereafter Brown).

In defendant's view, the evidence in this case is susceptible to a reasonable inference that his brutal and repeated assaults on the victim â€

Description	Evidence supported jury's finding that defendant acted with specific intent to cause cruel or extreme pain and suffering for purpose of revenge, extortion, persuasion, or for any sadistic purpose, thereby supporting defendant's torture conviction under Penal Code Sec. 206, where defendant attacked victim after she refused to submit to rape. He attacked her for significant time involving different episodes with breaks during which he had time to reflect on his conduct and continued attack despite being able to see cruel and extreme pain he was inflicting on victim and he used several different methods of inflicting pain, including choking victim, dragging her by hair, stomping her face with his boot heels, and breaking picture frame so he could cut her with glass shards.
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