People v. Tran CA4/3

Filed 11/20/15 P. v. Tran 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NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, G051332

v. (Super. Ct. No. 10WF1349)

BRUCE KING TRAN, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Lance Jensen, Judge. Affirmed. Cynthia M. Jones, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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A jury convicted defendant and appellant Bruce King Tran of one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 (Pen. Code, § 288.5, subd. (a), count 1, all further undesignated references are to this code), and six counts of lewd act upon a child under age 14 (§ 288, subd. (a), counts 2-7), and found true the additional allegation as to counts 2-7 that Tran engaged in substantial sexual conduct with a child (§ 1203.066, subd. (a)(8)). The court sentenced Tran to a total term of 28 years in prison, consisting of the 16-year upper term on count 1, plus consecutive 2-year terms (1/3 of the 6-year mid- term) on each of counts 2-7. We appointed counsel to represent Tran on appeal. Counsel filed a brief summarizing the proceedings and facts of the case and advised the court she found no arguable issues to assert on Tran’s behalf. (Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738; People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.) Counsel notified Tran that he could file a supplemental brief on his own behalf. However, the time to do so has passed and we have received no communication from him. To assist us in our independent review of the record, counsel suggested we consider a number of issues which are set out and discussed below. FACTS Tran was the primary caregiver for the victim (Victim) until she turned 15. Victim was born in 1995 and was 18 years old at the time of the trial. While not entirely clear, Victim’s mother appears to have been in an on-again, off-again relationship with Tran, and was not significantly involved in her upbringing. Victim testified Tran became sexual with her when she was 9 or 10 years old. Tran would come into her bedroom and touch her breasts and vaginal area, initially over her clothes but later under her clothes. The sexual touching occurred more than three times when Victim was 10 years old, and a total of 20 or 30 times when she was 9 to 10 years old. The touching of Victim’s vagina occurred when she was 11, 12, 13, and 14 years old.