People v. Yanez CA2/1

BACKGROUND

On four occasions between 2004 and 2007, appellant Jose R. Yanez sexually molested H.L., his live-in girlfriend’s daughter, beginning when she was eight years old. H.L. reported the abuse in 2013, shortly after her 18th birthday. When she accused Yanez of the abuse during pretextual telephone calls recorded by police, he repeatedly apologized, said he had to account to god for his actions, and wished he could take it all back. When she asked him why he had molested her, he said he felt like she had cared for him. Yanez was charged with committing a lewd or lascivious act with a child under 1 the age of 14 (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a)), aggravated sexual assault of a child (§ 269), attempted sodomy by force (§§ 286, subd. (c)(2), 664), and oral copulation with a child (§ 288a, subd. (c)(1)). At trial, H.L. testified she waited years to report the abuse because Yanez had told her he would hurt her mother if she reported him. Yanez testified he knew police were listening in on the pretextual telephone calls with H.L., but he carried on with the conversation because it seemed his only road to reuniting with his daughters, H.L.’s younger half sisters. A jury convicted Yanez…