Ruffin
People v. Ruffin
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Gomes, J.
Pursuant to a negotiated settlement, prison inmate Maurice Ruffin pled no contest to a sex offense with the understanding that the court was to determine later whether the law required him to register as a sex offender. On appeal, he challenges as a violation of his constitutional right to equal protection the court’s later order requiring him to register. We reverse.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
On October 4, 2008, a correctional officer monitoring a California State Prison, Corcoran, visiting area saw a female visitor moving her head in Ruffin’s lap in an apparent act of oral copulation.
PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On September 3, 2009, an information charged Ruffin with oral copulation while confined in state prison (count 1; Pen. Code, § 288a, subd. (e)) 2 and with lewd conduct in a public place (count 2; § 647, subd. (a)) and alleged two 2002 prior robbery convictions as serious felonies, violent felonies, or juvenile adjudications under the three strikes law (§§ 211, 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)).
On May 28, 2010, Ruffin entered into a negotiated settlement in which he pled no contest to oral copulation in return for the court’s imposition of a mitigated…
Concurring Opinion
Poochigian, J.
I concur in the majority opinion remanding the matter to the trial court to exercise its discretion on the issue of whether appellant should be subjected to a registration requirement. We are compelled to do so in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Hofsheier (2006) 37 Cal.4th 1185 [ 39 Cal.Rptr.3d 821 , 129 P.3d 29 ] (Hofsheier). I write separately to comment upon anomalous aspects of the statutory scheme in which legislative review may be beneficial.
The substantive criminal statutes at issue in our equal protection analysis are Penal Code 1 sections 288a, subdivision (e) and 289.6, subdivision (a)(2). Section 288a pertains to the criminal act of oral copulation. Generally, section 288a provides criminal penalties for acts in which there is a party who is a minor or where the act is performed against the person’s will or with a victim who is unaware, defrauded, unconscious, or otherwise incapable of knowingly participating or giving legal consent. The single exception to the general approach is section 288a, subdivision (e) which deals with persons who may be consenting adults.