People v. Heflen CA3

BACKGROUND

The facts underlying defendant’s convictions are not relevant to the claim on appeal and are not recounted here. It suffices to say defendant repeatedly sexually molested a young family member. An information charged defendant with 12 sexual offenses. Defendant pleaded no contest to committing a lewd act upon a child under 14 years old (§ 288, subd. (a)) and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (§ 261.5, subd. (d)). Although he pleaded no contest, defendant continued to maintain his innocence throughout the proceedings. The trial court referred defendant for a psychological evaluation with Dr. Kevin Dugan to determine if defendant would benefit from sex offender therapy and if probation would pose a threat to the victim. (§§ 288.1, 1203.67) Dr. Dugan reported that

Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 defendant had been in the military and was in combat by the time he was 20 years old. Defendant admitted to Dr. Dugan that he was an alcoholic. Defendant indicated he started drinking while in the military and associated his alcohol problem with his combat experience in Iraq. He used alcohol as a coping mechanism for post-traumatic stress…