People v. Aguirre CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant and appellant Ricardo Moreno Aguirre of two counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14. The victim was his stepdaughter, L., who was approximately six years old at the time. The jury acquitted Aguirre of four counts alleging that he committed various acts of forcible sexual assault against L. The trial court sentenced Aguirre to eight years in prison. Aguirre challenges his conviction on two grounds. First, he argues that the trial court erred in admitting incriminating statements he made during a police interview. During the interview, Aguirre admitted he had shown L. his penis and had penetrated her mouth and her vagina or anus with it. He argues that, because he was in custody during the interview, the police should have read him his Miranda1 rights before asking the questions that caused him to make the incriminating statements. Second, Aguirre argues that “comfort” given by a witness support person to the victim’s mother while she testified violated his due process and confrontation rights. Because Aguirre was not in custody when he made the incriminating statements, and because the record does not…