Peyton

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant Raymond Eugene Peyton was convicted of one count of committing a lewd act with duress, fear or force on a child under the age of 14, in violation of Penal Code section 288, subdivision (b)(1) (count 1), three counts of aggravated sexual assault (penetration by a foreign object), in violation of section 269, subdivision (a)(5) (counts 2-4), and one count of aggravated sexual assault (oral copulation), in violation of section 269, subdivision (a)(4) (count 5). All of the convictions involved the 12-year-old daughter, K., of defendant’s live-in girlfriend, C. Defendant was sentenced to an aggregate indeterminate term of 66 years to life.

In the published portion of this opinion, we address defendant’s claim that his defense counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the filing of an amended information at the close of the prosecution’s case when no preliminary hearing had been held. In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we address defendant’s claims that (1) there was insufficient evidence to establish that any of the acts were committed with force or duress, and (2) he was unconstitutionally deprived of a jury’s findings on the facts…