P. v. Bunton CA2/1
A jury convicted Douglas L. Bunton (Bunton) of the following felonies: forcible rape (Pen. Code, § 261, subd. (a)(2) ); forcible oral copulation (§ 288a, subd. (c)(2)(a)); and battery (§ 242). The trial court sentenced Bunton to an aggregate sentence of 100 years to life plus five years.
On appeal, Bunton advances four principal arguments. First, he contends that the trial court erred by failing to declare a mistrial after the rape and oral copulation victim, Olivia T., became upset while testifying and addressed certain comments directly to Bunton. Second, Bunton argues that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting video footage of Olivia’s out-of-court photo identification of Bunton as her attacker. Third, Bunton claims that the trial court abused its discretion when it denied his Romero motion (People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497) requesting that the court strike one of his prior “strike” convictions.
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