People v. Vaca CA4/2 ( 2014 )


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  • Filed 1/14/14 P. v. Vaca CA4/2
    NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication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 TWO
    THE PEOPLE,
    Plaintiff and Respondent,                                       E057074
    v.                                                                       (Super.Ct.No. BLF1200040)
    MARCOS CESAR VACA,                                                       OPINION
    Defendant and Appellant.
    APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Eric G. Helgesen, Judge.
    (Retired Judge of the former Tulare Mun. Ct. assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to
    art. VI, section 6 of the Cal. Const.) Affirmed with directions.
    Renee Paradis, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and
    Appellant.
    Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney
    General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Teresa Torreblanca and Barry
    Carlton, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
    1
    Defendant and appellant Marcos Cesar Vaca was convicted by a jury of corporal
    injury to a spouse or cohabitant (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)),1 assault by force likely to
    cause great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)), false imprisonment (§ 236), and felony
    evasion of an officer (Veh. Code, § 2800.2). In this appeal he argues that the evidence
    was insufficient to support the conviction under section 273.5 with respect to the
    “cohabitant” element.
    As a cross-appeal, the People point out that the abstract of judgment fails to list the
    conviction under section 273.5. We agree with the People in all respects, and will affirm
    the judgment.
    STATEMENT OF FACTS
    Due to the nature of defendant’s challenge, we focus on the evidence concerning
    the relationship between defendant and the victim, Denise Salcido. At the time of the
    incident, the victim had known defendant for 10 days. Although defendant lived “down
    the street,” he spent the nights at the victim’s residence, and prior to the incident she
    expected that the relationship would continue. She described defendant as “kind” and
    “loving,” and testified that the day before the incident he had driven her to a hospital
    emergency room when she developed high blood pressure symptoms. On the day of the
    incident, defendant had accompanied the victim in order to pick up her son from the “rec
    1 All subsequent statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise
    specified.
    2
    center.” Describing their day, the victim testified that “we spend time all of the time
    together.”
    Unfortunately, this idyll did not last. While the pair were at a party where the
    victim was drinking, defendant wanted her to leave so they could pick up her young son.
    When the victim declined, defendant dragged her by the hair to her vehicle and forced her
    inside. After the victim made two unsuccessful attempts to escape, defendant threw her
    on the ground and punched her in the face, knocking her unconscious.
    As noted above, defendant argues that this evidence is insufficient to show that he
    and the victim were cohabitating within the meaning of section 273.5. As again noted,
    we disagree.
    DISCUSSION
    The statute applies to injury upon a “spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, former
    cohabitant, or the mother or father of his or her child.”(§ 273.5, subd. (a).) When the
    defendant’s challenge is to the sufficiency of the evidence, we apply a deferential
    standard, reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the respondent, and we
    presume the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence.
    (People v. Lewis (1990) 
    50 Cal. 3d 262
    , 277.) While the evidence in favor of the verdict
    must be substantial, reversal is unwarranted unless no rational trier of fact could have
    found the significant allegations to be true. (People v. Huynh (2012) 
    212 Cal. App. 4th 285
    , 304.)
    3
    Cases have tended to construe the cohabitation element broadly, and there is no
    requirement that the parties’ relationship be in any way even quasi-marital. (People v.
    Moore (1996) 
    44 Cal. App. 4th 1323
    , 1333 (Moore).) There must be a substantial “living
    together” relationship, usually marked by sexual intimacy and some quantum of
    “permanence.” (See People v. Holifield (1988) 
    205 Cal. App. 3d 993
    , 999-1000
    (Holifield).) Duplicate residences do not preclude a finding of cohabitation. (People v.
    Taylor (2004) 
    118 Cal. App. 4th 11
    , 19.)
    “Permanence,” however, is a flexible term, and there is certainly no “bright-line”
    length of time before which the parties will not be deemed to have been cohabiting.
    Obviously a defendant’s challenge that argued that the parties had only been cohabiting
    while married for a period of days would fail, and there is no reason to give less
    protection to the unmarried cohabitant if the conditions of the term are met.
    Defendant argues that the cases finding “cohabitation” involve greater periods of
    commitment than that reflected in this case, but, as noted above, there is no rule
    specifying how long a relationship must have endured before the parties will be deemed
    “cohabitants” for the purposes of section 273.5. Though the parties in this case had been
    “dating” for only 10 days, as described by the victim, the relationship was a substantial
    one. She testified that since the commencement of the relationship, defendant spent
    every night at her house and that they also spent days together. He accompanied her to
    the hospital and also to pick up her son from care. He was “kind” and “loving,” and she
    expected the relationship to continue. Thus, although it was brief, the relationship was in
    4
    fact more intimate and exclusive than that described in some of the cases that defendant
    cites.
    Thus, in Holifield, defendant and the victim had been “seeing each other off and
    on for four years.” 
    (Holifield, supra
    , 205 Cal.App.3d at p. 995.) However, during the
    three months prior to the assault, defendant lived with the victim in her rented room for
    one month, then rented rooms elsewhere for a week or so, returned to the victim at least
    overnight, then stayed elsewhere for two weeks before returning for the last two weeks
    prior to the assault. When the defendant left the victim’s room, he normally took his
    belongings. In fact, defendant testified that he stored much of his clothing elsewhere.
    (Id. at p. 996.) In 
    Moore, supra
    , 44 Cal.App.4th at pages 1327-1328, also cited by
    defendant, the parties also had a long-standing (if volatile) relationship, but by the time of
    the assaults in question, the evidence was conflicting as to whether defendant was living
    with the victim. The defense evidence suggested that he had moved out and was even
    living with other girlfriends, although it was conceded that he continued to receive mail
    at the victim’s address and they continued to have a sporadic sexual relationship. The
    issue was whether a person can simultaneously cohabit with more than one person—or
    whether a person who spends some, but not all, nights with the victim can be convicted
    under section 273.5. (
    Moore, supra
    , 44 Cal.App.4th at p. 1335.) The court accepted
    arguendo that the defendant was far from committed on a full-time basis to the victim, yet
    found the finding of cohabitation proper. Finally, in People v. Belton (2008) 
    168 Cal. App. 4th 432
    (Belton), defendant and the victim were essentially transient during the
    5
    two months of their relationship and the record was unclear as to how much time they
    actually spent living together as a unit. (Id. at p. 438.) Nevertheless, and despite the
    defendant’s claims of emotional indifference to the victim, the court found sufficient
    evidence to establish sufficient “permanency” to permit a conviction under section 273.5.
    None of these cases controls here or compels the conclusion that a 10-day
    relationship cannot be the foundation for cohabitation. Indeed, as we suggested above,
    all three of the above cases involved substantial elements of impermanence and lack of
    commitment. Here, by contrast, there was evidence that the parties’ relationship,
    although recent in its commencement, had the elements not only of sexual attachment but
    emotional support and reliance which can support a finding of cohabitation. (Though the
    latter is not essential to it.)2 Defendant correctly argues that there was no evidence of
    shared expenses or support (cf. 
    Belton, supra
    , 168 Cal.App.4th at p. 435), but this is not
    essential. (See 
    Holifield, supra
    , 205 Cal.App.3d at p. 996.)3 Certainly, due to the
    nascent nature of the relationship, the parties had not yet had the opportunity to establish
    some of the typical elements of a cohabiting relationship, and, equally certainly, it is
    possible that they might never have done so. However, there was substantial evidence
    2 We note that in Holifield, there was attachment, but only running from the
    victim to the defendant.
    3 The construction here suggested by defendant would make it impossible for two
    persons, each of independent means and mindsets, to be “cohabitants” if they chose to
    keep their finances separate. Defendant also points to the fact that the victim ignored
    defendant’s health suggestions with respect to her drinking and high blood pressure.
    Surely such disregard is not unique to non-cohabitant relationships.
    6
    from which the jury could reasonably conclude that the relationship reflected the parties’
    mutual (if short-lived) determination to set a joint course under one roof.
    Finally, the People correctly note that the abstract erroneously denominates the
    conviction under count 1 of the information as being under section 236, false
    imprisonment, instead of section 273.5.4 We therefore direct the trial court to issue an
    amended abstract correcting the error.
    DISPOSITION
    The judgment is affirmed and the trial court is directed to issue an amended
    abstract of judgment as indicated above.
    NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
    HOLLENHORST
    J.
    We concur:
    RAMIREZ
    P. J.
    McKINSTER
    J.
    4   The abstract correctly reflects that the conviction under count 3 involved this
    offense.
    7
    

Document Info

Docket Number: E057074

Filed Date: 1/14/2014

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 4/18/2021