Martinez

Since the original enactment of the Penal Code in 1872, sodomy had been euphemistically defined as “the infamous crime against nature, committed with mankind or with any animal....” (Former Pen. Code, § 286.) In 1975 the Legislature amended Penal Code section 286 and bluntly redefined the crime of sodomy as “sexual conduct consisting of contact between the penis of one person and the anus of another person.” (Stats. 1975, ch. 71, § 7, p. 133.) The issue tendered in this appeal is whether penetration remains an element of the redefined crime of sodomy. We reaffirm that it does.

Defendant Michell Martinez was sentenced to an unstayed prison term of 12 years after a jury convicted him of 3 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a); all further undesignated statutory references are to this code), 2 counts of oral copulation with a child under the age of 14 and more than 10 years younger than defendant (§ 288a, subd. (c)), and 1 count of sodomy with a child under the age of 14 and more than 10 years younger than defendant (§ 286, subd. (c)). Defendant contends on appeal, among other things, that the trial court erred in instructing the…