People v. Sedano CA5

STATEMENT OF FACTS3

Jane Doe4 was born in May 1999 and adopted when she was four years old. Defendant is Jane’s uncle, the brother of her adoptive father, and has known her since her adoption. Defendant is 37 years older than Jane. According to Jane, who was 21 years old at the time of trial, she and defendant engaged in numerous sexual activities when she was between the ages of five and 18. (Sedano, supra, 88 Cal.App.5th at p. 477, fn. omitted.)

I. Testimony of Jane Doe

a. Background Jane testified she “felt like [she] didn’t belong in [her] family.” Her adoptive mother “never really took [her] out of the house or done fun stuff with [her] or anything,” “never really listened to [her] or opened up about anything to [her],” and “took a whole bunch of [her] life and just ruined it.” Jane “was never really allowed to go anywhere” and “didn’t have a lot of friends growing up.” On the other hand, when she was with defendant, whom she visited every other weekend, she was “in [her] own little world” and “happy to be alive.”

3 In our prior opinion, we did not detail the facts underlying defendant’s charges because they were “not germane to the issues on appeal.” (Sedano, supra,…