Vargas

A jury convicted defendant Amulfo Vargas of various sex offenses against four victims—Shosh G., Maria R., Tamika G., and Bin Z.—and also found true three so-called “one strike” allegations. The trial court sentenced defendant to three consecutive terms of 25 years to life in state prison, one consecutive term of 15 years to life, and a total consecutive determinate term of 61 years.

On appeal, defendant raises two contentions under Crawford v. Washington (2004) 541 U.S. 36 [ 158 L.Ed.2d 177 , 124 S.Ct. 1354 ] (Crawford), and its progeny. First, he contends that the trial court erred in admitting “testimonial” hearsay statements made by Maria R. during a sexual assault examination, requiring reversal of count 3 (forcible rape) and count 6 (sexual penetration by a foreign object). In the published portion of our opinion, we conclude that the court erred in admitting Maria R.’s hearsay statements. The error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt as to defendant’s conviction of count 3 (forcible rape), but not as to his conviction of count 6 (sexual penetration by a foreign object). We therefore reverse the latter conviction and the sentence on that count.

In the unpublished…