People v. Cajina

Opinion

JONES, P. J

Luis Alberto Cajina appeals his conviction by jury trial of failure to complete his annual registration as a sex offender and failure to register within five days of changing his address. (Pen. Code, § 290, subd. (a)(1)(A) & (D).

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) The key issue in the case was not whether he failed to register, but whether that failure was willful pursuant to section 290, subdivision (g)(2). On this issue, he asserts instructional error.

Prior to trial, appellant sought to exclude evidence of the nature of the prior conviction giving rise to his duty to register as a sex offender by offering to stipulate that he had suffered a conviction that subjected him to the registration requirements. He argued his status as a sex offender thereby became irrelevant. The trial court rejected his offer. In the unpublished portion of our opinion, we address the claim of instructional error; in the published portion, we reject his claim of evidentiary error.

BACKGROUND

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[932]

DISCUSSION

I., II.

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III.

Nature of Prior Conviction

Appellant contends the court erred in denying his motion in limine to delete any mention of his status as sex offender to the jury.

Prior to jury selection, the court heard appellant’s motion to sanitize his prior conviction of section 261 by which he sought an order that the People make no reference to that conviction in any of the exhibits they intended to offer into evidence or if they used the conviction for impeachment. Relying on Evidence Code section 352, appellant argued that categorizing him as a “sex offender” was unduly prejudicial when the only question for the jury was whether he had complied with the registration requirements. He offered to stipulate that he had a statutory duty to register and to stipulate to the requirements included in the registration statute, without any reference to the basis of his obligation. Alternatively, he offered to stipulate that he had a statutory duty to register because of “a felony conviction.” The People agreed not to refer to the particular offense, but objected to deleting any reference to his “sex offender” status, insofar as one element they had to prove was his knowledge of the requirements specific to sex offenders. The court denied his motion to allow the People to prove their case, “which is that he has a prior conviction for a sexual offense and there are strict standards for registration based on that conviction.” It agreed to sanitize the prior conviction by having it referred to only as a “sexual offense.”