People v. Sorokin CA3

BACKGROUND

The mother met defendant in high school. Years later, they started dating and moved to a rural property in El Dorado County. The mother had a daughter from a prior relationship. The daughter initially lived with her grandmother, but visited the property frequently. The mother and defendant had two children together, born in 2016 and 2019. About a year after the younger child was born, the daughter moved to the property. The mother left defendant about a year later, taking the children with her, because of repeated acts of intimate partner violence inflicted upon her by defendant. After the relationship ended, the daughter disclosed that defendant had sexually abused her. Defendant became physically abusive toward the mother about three years before the relationship ended. The mother explained: “It started with him hitting me in the

2 presence of his parents or slapping me on the face in the presence of other people when he didn’t like something.” The first charged incident of intimate partner violence occurred in October 2019, when the youngest child was a few months old. The mother was breast feeding the child on a mattress next to his crib when defendant came into…