People v. Bathum CA2/4

INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Christopher Bathum owned a drug rehabilitation therapy network and held himself out as a therapist or counselor. A jury convicted him of multiple crimes against a number of the network’s female clients, including rape, sexual penetration with a foreign object, forcible oral copulation, sexual exploitation, furnishing methamphetamine, and furnishing heroin. He was sentenced to a total of 52 years and 8 months in state prison. Bathum contends his convictions should be reversed for many reasons. Among other things, he argues his convictions are not supported by substantial evidence; the trial court erred by denying his post-trial motions for relief based on an alleged Brady violation; defense counsel was ineffective in several respects; certain evidence should have been excluded at trial; and the trial court made several errors when instructing the jury.1 As discussed below, we conclude Bathum’s contentions are all meritless. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In June 2017, the Los Angeles District Attorney filed an amended information charging Bathum with 50 crimes, as summarized in the chart below.

Due to the…