People v. White CA4/3

Filed 12/30/13 P. v. White CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G047252

v. (Super. Ct. No. 06HF2048)

SEKAYI RUDO WHITE, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Francisco P. Briseno, Judge. Affirmed. David McNeil Morse, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, A. Natasha Cortina and William M. Wood, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Appellant was sentenced to life in prison for committing multiple sex crimes against multiple victims. He contends instructional error tainted the jury’s verdict, and one of his convictions must be reversed due to insufficient evidence. We disagree and affirm the judgment. FACTS1 In November 2006, Sarah L. met appellant at a nightclub in Costa Mesa. She was beguiled by him, and they went out three or four times without incident. In December 2006, Sarah and appellant went to a hotel and had sex together for the first time. That’s when Sarah first experienced appellant’s violent tendencies. While she agreed to have sexual intercourse with appellant, he became extremely abusive to her during the act. Sarah testified she had engaged in consensual “rough sex” in the past, including “light spanking” and “light choking,” but only with partners whom she trusted. She did not discuss or agree to any of that with appellant. However, while they were having intercourse, appellant punched her in the face multiple times. She told him to stop, but he hit her hard on the buttocks and continued penetrating her. He also choked her and bit her breasts during the episode, even though she was continually yelling at him to stop. Eventually, Sarah got up, got dressed and left the room. As a result of the incident, she had bruising on her face and breasts and a hand-shaped mark on her buttocks. However, she did not go to the police at that time because she felt embarrassed. In her mind, “It started out as consensual. It definitely became nonconsensual, but it just didn’t seem like with things that happened in my past that [it] needed to be [brought] to anybody’s attention.”