People v. Smith

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. RONALD JAKE SMITH, Defendant and Appellant.

D076849

California Court of Appeals, Fourth District, First Division

September 7, 2021

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County No SCE378134, Herbert J. Exarhos, Judge. Affirmed as modified.

Stephen M. Hinkle, under appointment by the Court of Appeal for Defendant and Appellant.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Arlene A. Sevidal, Randall D. Einhorn and Minh U. Le, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

AARON J.

I. INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant Ronald Jake Smith of 13 counts of lewd acts on a child. The victims of Smith's offenses were his stepdaughter and daughter. On appeal from the judgment, Smith raises six arguments.

First, Smith contends that the trial court erred when it concluded that a prospective juror's comments during voir dire did not taint the entire venire. He argues that the trial court's error is structural and requires reversal of the judgment. Second, Smith contends that the trial court denied him the right to present a full defense when it excluded certain evidence regarding Global Positioning System (GPS) information from his work truck and evidence of referrals to Child Welfare Services (CWS) unrelated to the charges at issue in this case. Third, Smith claims that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting expert testimony regarding common behaviors of child molestation victims, known as child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS).

Fourth, Smith contends that the trial court erred when it instructed the jury with CALCRIM No. 1193, which is the pattern instruction on CSAAS evidence. According to Smith, the instruction informs the jury that it may consider CSAAS testimony as evidence that the defendant committed the charged offenses. Fifth, Smith contends that the cumulative effect of the errors that he has identified warrants reversal of his conviction.

Finally, Smith contends that the trial court violated his right to due process when it imposed various fines, fees, and assessments without first determining his ability to pay.

We conclude that Smith's arguments on appeal are without merit. However, we also conclude that a recent ameliorative amendment to the law entitles Smith to have vacated any portion of the fee imposed pursuant to Government Code section 29550 that remained unpaid as of July 1, 2021. We therefore vacate the unpaid balance of this fee, and otherwise affirm the judgment as modified.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual background

1. The victims

Victim S.S. is Smith's youngest child. She was born on March 10, 2011 and was eight years old at the time of trial. Smith had three children, including S.S., with his ex-wife, N.B., and shared custody of his children with her.

Victim J.T. was born on April 14, 2003; she was 15 years old and in tenth grade at the time of trial. Her mother, A.S., met Smith in February 2013, and A.S. and Smith were married in August 2013.

2. Smith's abuse of victim J.T.

J.T. reported that Smith touched her inappropriately many times-more times than she could count. She explained that Smith had touched her vagina, skin to skin, with his hand. On some occasions, Smith inserted one or two fingers inside the lips of her vagina and rubbed it. J.T. felt pain in her vagina. Smith touched her vagina both over and under her clothing. Although J.T. testified about certain instances of abuse that she remembered, she also testified that she found it difficult to remember other specific occasions when Smith had inappropriately touched her because, she explained, “so many of them happened it's just hard to remember everything.” J.T. did not want Smith to touch her, and she did not feel safe or comfortable at home. J.T. felt so uncomfortable that she packed a bag with a change of clothes and necessary toiletries “just in case [she] needed to leave at any given moment” because she was “scared that something would happen to her.” J.T. thought about “[c]alling the police” or “telling somebody” about the abuse, but she “was just too afraid to do anything.”

a. Abuse that occurred at the Old Highway 80 House^[1]

While J.T., her mother and Smith were living in the Old Highway 80 House, J.T. was in junior high school. The school day ended at around 1:30 p.m. For most of the time the family lived in the Old Highway 80 House, Smith worked for a “company called Aztec Fire and Safety.” He ended his work day earlier than A.S. did, so he would often pick up J.T. after school using his work truck.^[2] Smith would sometimes pick up J.T. from school, and other times from the Boys & Girls Club. Smith's mother would occasionally pick up J.T. after school as well.

Smith first touched J.T. inappropriately around Christmas when J.T. was 10 or 11 years old and in fifth or sixth grade, which was while they were living in the Old Highway 80 House.^[3] After Smith brought J.T. home that afternoon, she was on the couch watching television. No one else was present. J.T. was lying on the couch when Smith sat next to her. He touched her vagina with his fingers. He did not say anything to J.T., and she did not say anything to him. After Smith touched her, he went out to the garage and put up Christmas decorations.

During the two to three years that J.T. lived at the Old Highway 80 House, Smith touched her at least once a week. On those occasions, Smith would touch J.T.'s vagina or thighs. On the occasions on which Smith would touch J.T.'s thighs, he often approached her while she was sitting on the couch watching television. Smith would put his hand on one of her inner thighs, near her vagina, and “m[ad]e his way up.” On the occasions when Smith would touch J.T.'s vagina, he would touch her both over and under her underwear. Smith used his fingers and moved them. He would touch the outside and the inside of her vagina. Specifically, J.T. testified that Smith touched inside of her vaginal lips. J.T. sometimes felt pain, but she did not tell Smith.

Sometime after Christmas in late December 2014 or early January 2015, J.T. told her mother about Smith touching her. They were at Smith's mother's home when this initial disclosure took place. The disclosure began when J.T. told A.S. that her vagina was hurting. When A.S. asked her whether anyone had touched her, J.T. told A.S. that Smith had been touching her. J.T. believed that her vagina was hurting because Smith had touched her recently. J.T. did not provide her mother with any details about the touching because J.T. did not want to talk about it. A.S. did not ask for details about the touching because she was upset. Despite J.T.'s disclosure that Smith had been touching her, A.S. and J.T. continued to live with Smith for another eight to ten months.

Shortly before October 2015, J.T. called A.S. while A.S. was out shopping. J.T. asked A.S. to “please come home” because she was “ ‘really upset and uncomfortable.' ” A.S. immediately left the store. When A.S. arrived home, J.T. said that Smith was “finding reasons to be close to her and trying to touch her, ” making her “very uncomfortable.” A.S. told J.T. that she would “do something” and “figure it out.” A.S. testified that still did not ask J.T. for details about why she was uncomfortable because she did not want to believe “something so horrific could be happening to [her] daughter.”

In October 2015, J.T. and her mother moved out of the Old Highway 80 House and into a small “granny flat” in Lakeside. J.T. did not want to move, but she did not want to continue living with Smith. When J.T. and A.S. moved, J.T. felt relieved, but Smith continued to contact A.S. and tried to reestablish a relationship with her. A.S. began to believe what Smith told her. She testified that she did not want to believe that Smith had abused J.T. and she loved him. During the few months that J.T. and A.S. lived apart from Smith, they did not discuss the abuse that J.T. had disclosed.

b. Abuse at the Lakeside Condominium^[4]

A.S. and Smith reunited in December 2015. Soon after that, A.S. and J.T. moved into the Lakeside Condominium with Smith. The three of them lived there for about three months.

While the three were living at the Lakeside Condominium, Smith again began his abuse, touching J.T.'s vagina while she sat on the couch in the living room. J.T. testified that Smith touched her either once or twice-she was not sure. Smith touched her in the same manner, by touching one of her inner thighs and moving his hand up, using his fingers to touch her vagina. He touched her thigh at least once and her vagina at least once.

c. Abuse at the Gotta Place House^[5]

In March 2016, J.T., A.S., and Smith moved into the Gotta Place House. J.T. was in seventh grade at this time. She would sometimes attend drama practice at around 1:30 p.m., after she was released from classes. J.T. recalled that, during this time, either Smith or Smith's mother would pick her up from school at around 2:00 p.m. However, according to A.S., because J.T. was uncomfortable being around Smith, J.T. would often get a ride home from a friend, whether or not she had drama practice after school. Nevertheless, A.S. acknowledged at trial that even though Smith would typically not pick up J.T. up from school while they were living at the Gotta Place House, there were “maybe... a couple of occasions” on which Smith picked her up. Further, Smith continued to arrive home from work before A.S. did.

J.T testified that while they were living in the Gotta Place House, Smith continued to touch her thigh and vagina, “always” while she was on the couch in the living room. She explained that generally, he would...