People v. Cruz CA2/8

FACTS

I. The Charged Offense

On June 10, 2019, Micah Childs lived in a studio apartment on Cerritos Avenue in Long Beach. When she returned home at about 9:30 p.m., she saw Cruz sitting on the stairs. She had not seen him before and did not know who he was. Cruz did not speak to her but she said “Hello.” She entered her apartment where she was living alone. There were two doors to her apartment. There was a black security door in front of an interior wooden door. She locked the security door but left the wooden door open. It was hot and she did not have air conditioning. A couple of hours later, her friend Hector arrived.3 Childs and Hector spent time together in the apartment. Cruz was sitting on the top of the stairs right in front of the door to her apartment. At trial Childs was asked whether she thought Cruz “was looking into your apartment when you and Hector were having an intimate moment” and whether she would characterize appellant as a “voyeur.” She said yes. Hector told Cruz he could not be there and Cruz left. Childs characterized Hector as a boyfriend or someone with whom she was intimate at this time. Hector left Childs’s apartment around midnight. She closed…