People v. Rainwater CA3

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

A. Juvenile and Criminal History

Defendant began assaulting small boys, all of whom were strangers to him, when he was very young. In 1974, when defendant was 10, he lured a four-year-old boy to a secluded area and severely beat him in the head with a two-by-four. He pulled chucks of the boy’s hair out, pulled his pants down and looked at the boy’s buttocks. Defendant was arrested, made a ward of the state, and placed in a mental facility. Several group home placements followed. At 13, shortly after being released from a group home, defendant accosted a seven-year-old boy he saw playing near a ditch. He forced the boy’s pants down and masturbated the boy and himself. That same year, defendant told another seven year old boy he encountered about magic rocks in some nearby bushes. After luring the child into the bushes, defendant forced the child to masturbate him and defendant masturbated the child. Defendant admitted to orally copulating both boys. Based on these assaults, defendant was arrested for child molestation and later pleaded guilty to annoying a child. He was placed in several more group homes. Defendant was eventually released to his parents…