P. v. Placencia
Filed 8/14/06 P. v. Placencia CA2/5
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION FIVE
| THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. RICHARD DEAN PLACENCIA, Defendant and Appellant. | B184184 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. KA067636) |
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Phillip S. Gutierrez, Judge. Affirmed as modified.
Lynda A. Romero, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Jaime L. Fuster and Lance E. Winters, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
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Defendant and appellant Richard Placencia was charged with committing 20 counts of sexual abuse against his stepdaughter Valerie[1] at the time she was 14 and 15 years old, and also with one count of causing corporal injury to his spouse Martha.[2] A jury convicted him of forcible sexual penetration (Pen. Code, § 289, subd. (a)(1)),[3] sexual penetration with a person under the age of 16 (§ 289, subd. (i)), two counts of forcible oral copulation (§ 288a, subd. (c)(2)), five counts of oral copulation of a person under the age of 16 (§ 288a, subd. (b)(2)), rape (§ 261, subd. (a)(2)), four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse (§ 261.5, subd. (d)), and battery against a spouse (§ 243, subd. (e)(1)). Defendant was sentenced to 40 years in state prison, with credit of 361 days, consisting of 314 days credit for time served and 47 days of conduct credit.
In this timely appeal from the judgment, defendant first contends that there was insufficient evidence of duress to justify his conviction for forcible sexual penetration, forcible oral copulation, and rape. Defendant also contends the trial court prejudicially erred in admitting expert testimony on the subject of the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome (CSAAS), a condition that explains why some children do not disclose abuse and deny its existence for some time after the abuse begins. Defendant argues the CSAAS testimony lowered the burden of proof required for conviction and improperly assumed that abuse had occurred. Finally, in his reply brief, defendant argues that his attorney's failure to object to the CSAAS testimony on these grounds during trial amounts to constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel. The Attorney General objects to the calculation of presentence credits awarded to defendant. We reject each of defendant's contentions, modify the amount of defendant's presentence credits as suggested by the Attorney General, and otherwise affirm the judgment.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The Prosecution Case
Valerie was born in August of 1988. She first met defendant, her stepfather, in 1998, when he moved into the house with her mother Martha, her sisters Monique, Crystal, and Stephanie, her brother Pete, and Monique's son, Frankie. In March 2003, defendant and Martha had a son, Miles. At first, defendant treated Valerie well, but he did not get along with Valerie's sisters and would often hurt Valerie's brother Pete when punishing him.
When Valerie was in seventh grade, she witnessed defendant and her mother having â€
