People v. Tapia CA3

BACKGROUND

A detailed discussion of the substantive facts underlying defendant’s convictions is not necessary to resolve the issues raised on appeal. Defendant and the victim dated for some time until she decided to distance herself from him. She went to a dance club for her birthday and defendant was also there. After having some drinks, she accepted his offer to drive her back to her home. Instead of driving her to her home, he took her to his home which was in a trailer on a horse ranch in a rural area. There, he raped and beat her. She was able to escape when defendant fell asleep. (Tapia, supra, C050402.) Following a preliminary hearing, defendant was held to answer on a complaint charging him with kidnapping to commit rape (Pen. Code, § 209, subd. (b)(1) – count 1),

2 Defendant filed his notice of appeal on September 12, 2019. Due to multiple extensions to the briefing schedule, some pursuant to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) emergency orders, and supplemental briefing, this case was not fully briefed until June 2021. Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 forcible rape (§ 261, subd. (a)(2) – count 2), and making criminal threats (§ 422 –…