People v. Tran CA6

Filed 1/10/25 P. v. Tran CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H050319 (Santa Clara County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. C2007954)

v.

HOANG HAY TRAN,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Hoang Hay Tran appeals from a judgment convicting him of fourteen counts of child sexual abuse. Tran contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury concerning Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome (CSAAS). He also contends that a minute order concerning his sentence is erroneous. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the judgment but order correction of the minute order. I. BACKGROUND Tran was charged by information with three counts of aggravated sexual assault (by oral copulation) of a child under 14 years of age in violation of Penal Code1 section 269, subdivision (a)(4), 10 counts of lewd conduct with a child under 14 years of age in violation of section 288, subdivision (a), and one count of attempted rape of a child under 14 years of age in violation of section 261, subdivision (a)(2), section 269,

1 Subsequent undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

subdivision (a)(1), and section 664. The information also alleged that Tran committed sexual offenses against multiple victims in violation of section 667.61, subdivisions (b) and (e). In March 2022, Tran’s case went to trial. The prosecutor presented testimony from three adult woman—Ngan Doe, Han Doe, and Hang Doe—who testified that Tran abused them when they were children. Ngan Doe testified that Tran, who was a family friend, abused her in various ways from 2004 to 2006 and 2009 to 2013. Ngan Doe’s younger sister, Han Doe, testified that Tran abused her and her sister in various ways from 2009 to 2016. Another, unrelated woman, Hang Doe, testified that Tran, who was a friend of her family, abused her in various ways from 2005 to 2009 and at one time attempted to have intercourse with her. Ngan Doe testified as well that in 2013 she told her grandmother that Tran had touched her. However, the grandmother told Ngan to forget the incident, and neither Ngan nor her sister Han disclosed Tran’s abuse to another adult until 2021 when Ngan Doe learned about an aggressive confrontation between Tran and her sister’s boyfriend. The prosecutor also presented testimony from Dr. Blake Carmichael, a clinical psychologist, who was qualified as an expert in CSAAS. Dr. Carmichael testified that CSAAS is used, not to determine whether a child has been abused, but rather to educate how children who have been sexually abused tend to act. In particular, he testified that CSAAS has several components, including secrecy, helplessness, and “[d]elayed, unconvincing, and conflicted disclosure.” Tran testified in his own defense, and he presented testimony from his daughter, who had been a close friend of Han Doe. On March 30, 2022, the jury found Tran guilty on all 14 counts charged and found all allegations true. On August 19, 2022, the trial court sentenced Tran to a determinate term of seven years on the attempted rape count and 15 years to life on each of the remining counts, with four of the counts consecutive to the initial count and the others 2