People v. Givens CA2/8

Filed 2/3/25 P. v. Givens CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B330497

Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA503269 v.

DENNIS LEE GIVENS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Gustavo N. Sztraicher, Judge. Affirmed. Joanna Rehm, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Noah P. Hill and Thomas C. Hsieh, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________

Dennis Lee Givens asks us to reverse his conviction for human trafficking and order a new trial. We affirm. Statutory citations refer to the Penal Code. I In September 2020, Givens, using the dating app “Tagged,” matched with J.C., a woman around 20 years his junior, who was 20 years old at the time. J.C. and Givens had met several years before, when J.C. was a child, because their mothers used to be best friends. After matching on the app, J.C. and Givens saw each other every day. J.C. then began to work as a prostitute because Givens told her he “didn’t want to be broke.” J.C. had never done commercial sex work before, so Givens taught her what she needed to do and imposed “ground rules” he required her to follow. Givens set quotas for J.C. to meet every night and would have “an attitude” if she failed to meet his quotas. J.C. gave all of her prostitution earnings to Givens “because he wanted all of it.” When Givens was displeased with J.C., he would take away her phone and ID cards, yell at her, and threaten her. Givens hit J.C. in the face at least three times, inflicting a cut lip, a black eye, a swollen nose, and swollen cheeks. In February 2022, J.C. called her mother, Almasita Cruz, and “vented” to her about working for Givens. J.C. told Cruz she was tired of sex work and felt like she was “losing herself.” Soon afterwards, Cruz called the Los Angeles Police Department to ask them to help J.C. The police officers found J.C. in Hollywood and took her to the police station to interview her. After reviewing photos and text messages on J.C.’s phone, the police arrested Givens.