People v. Shannon T.

Opinion

SCOTLAND, P. J.

In a vernacular at odds with his suggestion that he was just “play[ing] around,” 14-year-old Shannon T. (the minor) went up to a 16-year-old girl at school and said, “Get off the phone. You’re my ‘ho.’ ” The girl, who was talking on her cell phone, replied “whatever” and began to walk to class. With a misguided sense of who was being offensive, the minor pursued the girl and complained, “Don’t talk to me like that.” He then slapped her face, grabbed her arm, and pinched her breast, causing her to cry. The pinch resulted in a one-inch by one-half-inch purple bruise with red dots “right above her left nipple.”

[621]

Finding that the minor committed sexual battery and battery on school property, the juvenile court placed the minor on probation under terms that limited his freedom.

On appeal, the minor notes that the victim acknowledged she and the minor had been friends and, in the past, had engaged in “playful hitting” of each other. Thus, he argues, the sexual battery finding must be reversed because there is insufficient evidence that he touched the victim on this occasion “for the specific purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse,” which is an element of the crime of sexual battery. (Pen. Code, § 243.4, subd. (e); further section references are to the Penal Code.) We disagree.

As we will explain, the sexual battery statute’s use of the phrase touching “for the specific purpose of . . . sexual abuse” encompasses a purpose of insulting, humiliating, intimidating, or physically harming a person sexually by touching an “intimate part” of the person, i.e., “the sexual organ, anus, groin, or buttocks of any person, and the breast of a female.” (§ 243.4, subd. (g)(1).) Because there is substantial evidence that the minor acted with the requisite purpose, we shall affirm the juvenile court’s finding.

DISCUSSION

Section 243.4, subdivision (e)(1) states: “Any person who touches an intimate part of another person, if the touching is against the will of the person touched, and is for the specific purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse, is guilty of misdemeanor sexual battery . . . .” As used in this provision, the word “touches” means “physical contact with another person, whether accomplished directly, through the clothing of the person committing the offense, or through the clothing of the victim.” (§ 243.4, subd. (e)(2).) An “intimate part” includes “the breast of a female.” (§ 243.4, subd. (g)(1).)