People v. Sanchez CA2/4

Filed 7/20/16 P. v. Sanchez CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FOUR

THE PEOPLE, B266486

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. VA134962) v.

MIGUEL ANGEL SANCHEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Michael A. Cowell, Judge. Affirmed. Vanessa Place, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Margaret E. Maxwell and William H. Shin, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

INTRODUCTION A jury convicted defendant Miguel Angel Sanchez of oral copulation of a child under the age of 10 (count 1, Penal Code, § 288.7, subd. (b)1) and forcible lewd act upon a child (count 2, § 288, subd. (b)(1).) After factoring in defendant’s prior convictions, the court sentenced defendant to 95 years to life—55 years to life on count one, and 40 years on count 2, to run consecutively. On appeal, defendant argues that his actions were part of a continuous course of conduct, and therefore he should not have been sentenced to consecutive terms. We find that the two acts he committed on the seven-year-old victim were separate and distinct, and therefore affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The prosecution presented the following facts. Defendant was a friend of the victim’s family. Mother had four children at the time of the incident, E., age 14; J., age 12; B., age 7, and Ju.; age 3. On the day of the incident, mother was suffering from the effects of a miscarriage about a week earlier. Defendant called mother and offered to help her carry groceries home. Defendant met mother and her four children at the grocery store, and accompanied them on the walk home. They stopped on the way home to purchase a pizza. E. borrowed defendant’s bicycle and left to get a haircut. The rest of the group went to a park to eat the pizza. Afterward, mother and defendant walked to mother’s home with J., B., and Ju. When they reached the house, mother sat down on the steps in front of the house to watch J. and Ju. play. Defendant asked mother where to put the pizza, and she asked him to put it in the kitchen of the home. Mother also asked seven- year-old B. to take her purse and put it inside. Inside, defendant beckoned to B., and, thinking he was going to give her more pizza, she went to him in the kitchen. Defendant got on his knees, lifted B.’s skirt, and pulled her underwear to the side. Defendant opened B.’s vagina with his fingers, and