People v. Barrios CA2/8

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant Michael Barrios of committing a lewd act on a child and misdemeanor child abuse, and it found true two aggravating sentencing factors—that the victim was particularly vulnerable and that Barrios violated a position of confidence or trust when he committed the lewd act. The court sentenced Barrios to the upper term of three years in prison for the lewd act conviction, plus a one-year term for the child abuse conviction. On appeal, Barrios argues: (1) the court misunderstood the scope of its sentencing discretion when it imposed the upper term for his lewd act conviction; and (2) insufficient evidence supports the jury’s finding that the victim was particularly vulnerable. We reject each of Barrios’s contentions and affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Barrios and Ryan C. (Ryan) have two daughters, S.B. and R.B. S.B. was 14 years old during the incidents leading to both of Barrios’s convictions in this case. Although Barrios was charged with two other offenses, he was not convicted of them. We therefore summarize only the facts underlying the two counts for which Barrios was convicted. 1. Child abuse (count 4) In October 2019, after the family…