People v. Salinas CA5

INTRODUCTION

Between October 2008 and July 2017,1 defendant Pedro Salinas sexually abused his girlfriend’s young daughter and the daughter’s cousin multiple times. A jury convicted defendant of multiple counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 years of age (some committed by force), sodomy of a child under 14 years of age, forcible sodomy of a minor, and sexual penetration of a minor. The trial court sentenced defendant to a total term of 122 years to life in prison, including five separate terms of 15 years to life, pursuant to the “One Strike” law (Pen. Code, § 667.61).2 Defendant contends on appeal (1) the evidence was insufficient to prove that the victim was under 14 years of age at the time of the lewd act charged in count 5; (2) the evidence was insufficient to prove forcible sexual penetration of a child 14 years of age or older, as charged in count 12, because the act of penetration involved use of defendant’s penis which is not a foreign object for purposes of the statute; (3) the trial court erred in not staying his sentence as to count 8 because it involved the same act of forcible sodomy as charged in count 9; and (4) the trial court erred in instructing the jury to…