People v. Johnson

On August 1, 2004, defendant Romundo Johnson fought with his girlfriend and held her by the throat until she passed out. On August 8, 2004, he punched her in the face and elsewhere about her body and stabbed her in the arm. On August 12, 2004, he ripped out the telephone because he did not want her to use it any more.

A jury found defendant guilty of one count of corporal injury to a cohabitant (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)) and one count of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)) based upon the August 1 incident; three counts of corporal injury to a cohabitant (§ 273.5) arising from the August 8 incident; and one count of disabling a telephone line (§ 591) based upon his removal of the telephone from the residence on August 12. The trial court sentenced him to 16 years four months in prison.

On appeal, defendant argues that he cannot be convicted of three violations of section 273.5 for the single assault that occurred on August 8. He also argues that allowing evidence of the out-of-court statement of a previous victim violated his right to confrontation and cross-examination under Crawford v. Washington (2004) 541 U.S. 36 [ 158…