People v. Blueford CA3

BACKGROUND

The victim reported to her stepmother that defendant sexually assaulted her more than 100 times when she was between 10 and 13 years old. She described incidents of vaginal intercourse, oral copulation, and digital penetration. An amended information charged defendant with 21 counts of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child under the age of 14 by use of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury. (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (b)(1).)1 The information also alleged six circumstances in aggravation. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.421(a)(1), (a)(3), (a)(8), (a)(11), (b)(2), (b)(4).) Defendant waived his constitutional rights and pleaded no contest to counts one, four, seven, and sixteen, and admitted the aggravating circumstance that the victim was particularly vulnerable. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.421(a)(3).) The plea agreement provided the trial court would sentence defendant to the upper term of 10 years on each count for an aggregate prison sentence of 40 years. The balance of the counts and circumstances in aggravation were to be dismissed. Approximately three months later, defendant filed a motion to withdraw his plea. He…