People v. Israel CA2/3

BACKGROUND

Viewed in accordance with the usual rule of appellate review (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206), the evidence established the following. 1. The charged offense. On June 19, 2012, eight-year-old Sandra A. was riding an M.T.A. bus as part of her second-grade class field trip. Sitting across from her was defendant Israel, who put his bag on Sandra’s legs and started squeezing her knee with his hand. She tried to move her leg, but “he touched it again and he didn’t stop.” Israel then took his “private part out” and touched her knee with it. His hand was “squishing” his private part and Sandra could feel something soft touching her knee; it felt different from his hand which had felt hard. Sandra was scared: “I tried to scream, but . . . I couldn’t talk.” Yadira Corona, one of the field trip chaperones, saw Israel standing in front of Sandra and leaning up against her. Corona testified: “At one point he kind of like tilted back and I saw his penis.” Israel was moaning, holding his penis and touching Sandra’s knee with the tip of it. Corona walked up to Israel and hit him. He pushed her away and tried to get off the bus. Sandra was crying and scared. Corona…