People v. Deleonperez CA1/2

BACKGROUND

In March 2022, Deleonperez was charged by information with committing five lewd acts upon Jane 1 (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a); counts 1– 5), five lewd acts upon Jane 2 (id.; counts 6–10), and three lewd acts upon Jane 3 (id.; counts 11–13) while they were under the age of 14 years. (We collectively refer to the victims as the girls.) The information further alleged that Deleonperez committed the lewd acts against more than one victim. Deleonperez was tried before a jury in February and March 2024.1 The girls testified, as did their uncle’s wife, Jayone, Deleonperez, and other witnesses. The Prosecution’s Case Family Background All of the charged incidents of lewd acts took place while the girls lived with their grandmother and her husband, Deleonperez, in Contra Costa County. Before the charged incidents took place, the girls and their little brother had been living in North Carolina with their mother, Ingrid. At some point Ingrid “just stopped showing up.” Ingrid “would leave to go party.” Ever since Ingrid met her boyfriend, Ingrid “never came home,” and they were “always alone” for days. One girl testified that they “got abandoned . . . and . . . were kind of…