Massie

Defendant Richard Andrew Massie was sentenced to consecutive life terms in state prison after a jury found him guilty of torture and sexual penetration by a foreign object, committed with use of a deadly weapon during a first degree burglary.

The sole issue that defendant raises on appeal is whether the evidence is sufficient to support his conviction for torture. We conclude there is ample, indeed overwhelming, evidence to satisfy the elements of torture. Thus, we shall affirm the judgment.

We publish this opinion solely to address an argument that has begun to appear in criminal appeals in the Third Appellate District based on language in People v. Acevedo (2003) 105 Cal.App.4th 195 [ 129 Cal.Rptr.2d 270 ] (hereafter Acevedo) and People v. Brown (1989) 216 Cal.App.3d 596 [ 264 Cal.Rptr. 908 ] (hereafter Brown).

In defendant’s view, the evidence in this case is susceptible to a reasonable inference that his brutal and repeated assaults on the victim “occurred in an explosion of violence and animal rage triggered by [the victim’s] telling him that Jesus loved him.” In other words, defendant argues, there is a reasonable inference that his acts were “spontaneous rather…