Gerber

People v. Gerber

Good Law
126 Cal. Rptr. 3d 688·196 Cal. App. 4th 368·2011 Cal. App. LEXIS 703
Court of Appeal of CaliforniaJune 8, 2011No. H034639California9,864 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

Elia, J.

Defendant Joseph Lowell Gerber appeals from a judgment of conviction of possession of child pornography (Pen. Code, § 311.11, subd. (a)) 1 (count one), annoying or molesting a child (§ 647.6, subd. (a)) (count two), furnishing marijuana to a minor under 14 years of age (Health & Saf. Code, § 11361, subd. (a)) (count three), and two counts of furnishing a controlled substance to a minor (Health & Saf. Code, § 11353) (counts four and five).

On appeal, defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction of possession of child pornography (§311.11) and raises claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and instructional error. In addition, he asserts that the trial court lacked authority to make its no-contact order.

We hold that the phrase “the matter depicts a person under the age of 18 years personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct” in section 311.11 requires a real child to have actually engaged in or simulated the *372 sexual conduct depicted. We reverse the conviction of possession of child pornography in violation of section 311.11 based on the insufficiency of the evidence (count one) and we reverse the convictions of furnishing…

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