People v. Almazo CA4/1

Filed 1/15/21 P. v. Almazo CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D077565

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCN288698)

SANTIAGO G. ALMAZO,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Harry M. Elias, Judge. Affirmed.

Suzanne Antley, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Michael Pulos and Britton B. Lacy, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. On March 2, 2011, the San Diego District Attorney filed a complaint charging defendant Santiago G. Almazo with six counts of lewd acts on a

child under the age of 14 (Pen. Code,1 § 288, subd. (a); counts 1-6); penetration of a person under the age of 16 with a foreign object (§ 289, subd. (i); counts 7-8 and 10-11); and sodomy of a person under the age of 16. (§ 286, subd. (b)(2); count 9.) On July 10, 2019, pursuant to a negotiated disposition, defendant entered a plea of guilty to two counts of lewd acts upon a child. In return, the court dismissed the remaining charges. The court denied probation and sentenced defendant to eight years in state prison. On October 11, 2019, defendant hired private counsel and moved to withdraw his guilty plea. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied his motion. Defendant obtained a certificate of probable cause and appealed. Affirmed. STATEMENT OF FACTS N. was about 11 years old when she moved with her mother and two sisters from Mexico to the United States. Once in this country, N.’s mother married defendant, her stepfather. Defendant’s 19-year-old brother, Raymundo, moved in with the family. When N. was 15 years old, she told her mother defendant was sexually abusing her. N.’s mother confronted defendant about the abuse, which he denied. N.’s mother then directed N. to report the abuse to her middle school counselor. The next day, N. told her counselor about the abuse and a deputy was called to interview N. During the interview, N. reported defendant over the previous three years had raped her numerous times. Specifically, N. told the deputy that while her mother was at work, defendant would send her younger sisters to their aunt’s home and defendant would then fondle her and have sexual intercourse with her. She estimated