P. v. Simmons CA3
Defendant Michael Byron Simmons was tried by jury and convicted of one count of committing a lewd or lascivious act on his niece and goddaughter, B., a child under the age of 14 years, in violation of Penal Code section 288, subdivision (a). The trial court sentenced defendant to serve the middle term of six years in state prison and imposed other orders.
The central issues in this appeal involve a pretext phone call between B.’s father and defendant, in which defendant admitted touching the child’s vagina on one occasion. Defendant contends: (1) his trial counsel provided constitutionally deficient assistance by failing to move to exclude defendant’s admission during the phone call because it was involuntarily made as a result of coercion;
Comments on P. v. Simmons CA3