People v. Rivas CA4/1

INTRODUCTION

Cirilo Gudino Rivas appeals a judgment of conviction after a jury found him guilty of committing numerous sex crimes against his partner’s underage granddaughter and an unrelated minor who lived in the neighborhood. He contends the judgment must be reversed because the trial court inadvertently and erroneously provided the jury with a copy of a videotaped interview of one of the victims containing 15 minutes of footage that was never admitted into evidence. In the unadmitted footage, the victim stated: (1) Gudino Rivas put his finger inside her vagina four or five times and made her touch his penis two or three times; (2) he told the victim he watched videos— presumably pornographic videos—involving grandfathers and their grandchildren; and (3) he told the victim he had not had sex in seven years. Although the jury’s receipt of the extrinsic evidence during its deliberations clearly constituted trial error, the error did not prejudice Gudino Rivas. The additional footage was largely cumulative of other properly admitted evidence and most of it was far less inflammatory than the admitted—and highly compelling—evidence of Gudino Rivas’ guilt. Because it is not…