People v. Ross CA1/2

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background1 Jennifer Dion testified that about 3 a.m. on May 24, 1994, as she and her three children were sleeping in the front bedroom of their home in Vallejo, Emily woke Dion and said someone was hiding under the bed. Dion turned on the lights and Ross, whom Dion knew, crawled out from under the bed. Dion saw a handgun tucked into the back of Ross’s pants. She asked why he was there and he “ ‘kind of sat there and looked at [her] really strange.’ ” He refused her repeated requests for him to leave. She thought he was drunk and might be on drugs, but he appeared to know what was going on around him and responded appropriately in their conversation. Since Ross would not leave, Dion thought it would be best to try to keep him calm and she tried to engage him in small talk. He eventually told her to turn off the light and remove her robe, and she did. He removed his clothes, told her to be quiet, pushed her down on the couch and forced her to engage in two acts of sexual intercourse over a 30-minute period. As Dion started to get up, saying she had to go to the bathroom, Ross grabbed her neck and began choking her. She screamed and tried to fight him off.…