People v. Torres CA2/1

Filed 8/28/14 P. v. Torres CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 ONE

THE PEOPLE, B248821 (Los Angeles County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. MA019362)

v.

RAUL TORRES, JR.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. William C. Ryan, Judge. Affirmed. ______ Rich Pfeiffer, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, James William Bilderback II and Robert C. Schneider, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ______

Raul Torres, Jr., appeals from the order denying his petition for a writ of mandate requesting relief from lifetime registration as a sex offender. Because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the writ, we affirm the order. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A six-count information, filed on January 29, 2000, charged Torres with (1) continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 (Pen. Code, § 288.5, subd. (a)1) (count 1); (2) exhibiting harmful matter to a minor (§ 288.2, subd. (a)) (count 2); (3) oral copulation with a person under the age of 16 (§ 288a, subd. (b)(2)) (counts 3 and 5); (4) sexual penetration with a person under the age of 16 (§ 289, subd. (i)) (count 4); and (5) sexual penetration with a person under the age of 18 (§ 289, subd. (h)) (count 6). All counts stemmed from Torres’s alleged sexual molestation of his stepdaughter beginning when she was 11 years old and continuing three to five times a year until she was 17 years old. Torres pleaded not guilty to all counts. The jury found Torres guilty on counts 3 and 4 and not guilty on count 2. It was unable to reach a verdict on counts 1, 5 and 6, which the trial court later dismissed pursuant to section 1385. The trial court sentenced Torres to two years in state prison for count 3, suspended imposition of sentence on count 4 and ordered lifetime annual registration as a sex offender pursuant to section 290. In 2005, Torres failed to register as a sex offender and returned to prison for a period of time for that offense. On May 8, 2012, Torres filed a petition for writ of mandate in the trial court seeking relief from lifetime registration as a sex offender. The court appointed a psychologist to examine whether Torres was likely to commit sexual offenses in the future. The psychologist concluded that Torres had molested his stepdaughter for the purpose of sexual gratification, based on deficient judgment and impulse control, but likely was not a pedophile as of the date of the assessment. The psychologist found Torres’s failure in 2005 to register as a sex offender constituted a high risk factor. According to the psychologist, Torres “presents as tense and guarded and denies any