Armando Sotelo Pascacio v. Rosemary Ndoh

Background

On January 10, 2017, in the San Bernardino County Superior Court, a jury convicted Petitioner of engaging in sexual intercourse with a child ten years old or younger (Cal. Penal Code § 288.7(a)) and participating in oral copulation of a child ten years old or younger (Cal. Penal Code § 288.7(b)). (LD 1, at 217-18.) On March 6, 2017, Petitioner was sentenced to state prison for a total term of fifty years to life. (Id. at 231-32.)

Petitioner appealed. (See id. at 233 (Notice of Appeal); see also LD 5 (Appellant’s Opening Brief).) On February 26, 2019, the Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction in a reasoned opinion. People v. Pascacio, No. D074570, 2019 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 1323, 2019 WL 926739 (Cal. Ct. App. Feb. 26, 2019). (LD 8.) On April 4, 2019, Petitioner filed a petition for review with the California Supreme Court in which he asserted the same four claims. (LD 9.) The petition for review raises four claims: (1) there was insufficient evidence to sustain the conviction of unlawful sexual intercourse; (2) the trial court failed to instruct the jury that it could only use a hearsay statement from a non-testifying doctor to a police officer for the…