Thomas

Defendant Rodney Eugene Thomas appeals from a judgment upon jury convictions of three counts of oral copulation (Pen. Code, § 288a, subd. (c)); two counts of rape (§ 261, subd. (2)); two counts of sodomy (§ 286, subd. (c)); and one count of false imprisonment (§ 236). The trial court sentenced defendant to prison for seven consecutive eight-year upper terms for the sex crimes plus one consecutive three-year upper term for the false imprisonment.

Defendant raises many issues on appeal which we will discuss seriatim after summarizing the facts.

At about 9 p.m. on December 19, 1983, Priscilla P. put her one-year-old son to bed and lay down on the couch in her home in Wasco, California, to watch television. She fell asleep there. Later that night she was awakened by defendant’s hands strangling her. She screamed and tried to break away. Her son woke up crying. Priscilla stopped screaming after defendant threatened to kill her and her son.

Defendant then held Priscilla’s neck in the crotch of his arm. He pushed her onto her back, sat on her chest, and told her he had come to rob the house but had “found something better.” Defendant ordered Priscilla to “suck on him.” Out of…