People v. Luck CA3

Filed 2/1/21 P. v. Luck CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (El Dorado) ----

THE PEOPLE, C087056

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. P17CRF0268)

v.

LAWRENCE LELAND LUCK,

Defendant and Appellant.

Following a trial, a jury found defendant Lawrence Leland Luck guilty of one count of committing a lewd act upon a child under the age of 14 years and found true a special allegation that defendant engaged in substantial sexual conduct with the victim. Defendant’s sole contention on appeal is that the trial court erred in ruling that it would permit the prosecutor to cross-examine defendant’s wife, if she were called as a defense witness, about her reaction to prior accusations of sexual abuse against defendant. We will affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1

Defendant was charged with committing a lewd act upon a child under the age of 14 years (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a); count 1)1 and oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child under 10 years (§ 288.7, subd. (b); count 2). It was further alleged that defendant engaged in substantial sexual conduct with the victim. (§ 1203.066, subd. (a)(8)). Defendant and S.L. were Jane Doe’s grandparents and the parents of Jane’s mother, L.D.2 When Jane was about 4 years old, she and L.D. moved into defendant’s and S.L.’s house in Salinas for about a year. In 2001 or 2002, when Jane was 8 years old, she moved with her siblings, L.D., and L.D.’s husband, G.D., to Placerville. L.D. asked her parents to move closer to be near her growing family. Defendant and S.L. moved in with L.D.’s family for nine months while their home was being built. During the nine months that defendant and S.L. lived there, L.D. and G.D. shared a bedroom, defendant and S.L. shared another bedroom, and each of the three children had their own bedroom. Years later, in November 2015, Jane unexpectedly came home from college to talk to L.D. and G.D. She disclosed to L.D. and G.D. that defendant had molested her years before when he lived with the family. The family decided to file a police report. Sergeant Anthony Prencipe interviewed Jane after she made her police report. After interviewing Jane, Sergeant Prencipe had her make a pretext call to defendant accusing him of molesting her. The goal was to obtain an admission of the abuse. Defendant denied the allegations during this pretext call. A week later, L.D. made another pretext call to defendant. He hung up on her first call but answered a second call 10 minutes later. In the second call, defendant admitted to L.D., “One morning I get up, she crawled over next to me and I just put my hand on her crotch. Simple as that, okay.