People v. Young

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JOSEPH AARON YOUNG, Defendant and Appellant.

A147929

COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION FOUR

July 19, 2018

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

(Del Norte County Super. Ct. No. CRF159278)

Defendant Joseph Aaron Young (Young) was convicted on two counts of meeting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense and one count each of child molestation and violating a court order. Young challenges two probation conditions imposed at his sentencing: one, prohibiting Young from leaving Del Norte County for any purpose without prior permission from his probation officer; and two, forbidding Young from associating with persons designated to him by his probation officer. We find Young's challenges to these conditions lack merit, and affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

An information filed on October 15, 2015, charged Young with three counts of meeting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense (Pen. Code, § 288.4, subd. (b)), which were alleged to have occurred on April 6, 2015, April 7, 2015, and July 12, 2015; child molestation (Pen. Code, § 647.6), on or about October 1, 2014, through September 1, 2015; and disobeying a court order (Pen. Code, § 166, subd. (a)(1)(4)) on or about July 12, 2015.

After a three-day trial, on February 11, 2016, the jury returned guilty verdicts on each count except the July 12, 2015 instance of meeting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense.

On March 10, 2016, the trial court suspended imposition of sentence and granted Young formal probation for three years, conditioned upon serving a term of 365 days in the county jail, lifetime registration as a sex offender pursuant to section 290 of the Penal Code, and other terms and probation conditions, including the two discussed below.

Young timely appealed.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Young was a human resources manager and risk manager for the County of Del Norte and also coached the cheer teams at Del Norte High School and the Tsunami All Starz Gym. Young coached both teams during the 2014-2015 school year. During this time, Young was married and had two children, ages 8 and 12.

Young met J.R.¹ in April 2014, when J.R.—then 16 years old—was trying out for the Del Norte High School cheer team. J.R. participated in both cheer teams during his senior year of high school, from the fall of 2014 to June of 2015.

Young testified that, at first, J.R. was just "a number"—one of scores of teenagers who were trying out for the high school cheer team. Once Young began coaching J.R., however, the relationship evolved into a coach/athlete relationship and, then, a friendship. As J.R.'s family was unable to provide transportation for J.R., Young gave him rides. Young drove J.R. to cheer competitions in Humboldt, Santa Clara, and Orange Counties, as well as in the State of Oregon. Some of these competitions required overnight stays.

At one of these cheer competitions, J.R. and Young shared a hotel room, alone. Young testified that they did not yet have "strong" feelings for each other at that time, and nothing of a sexual nature occurred.

Their relationship developed further as J.R. sought to confide in Young about personal issues, including his sexuality and performance issues. By December 2014, ithad evolved into feelings of romance. Although both Young and J.R. denied acting on their feelings until J.R. turned 18 in September 2015, a friend of J.R.'s testified that around December 2014, J.R. said he had sex with Young multiple times. That month, Young and J.R. exchanged text messages wherein J.R. complained about performance issues and Young advised him to think about oral sex in order to climax, then joked about eating J.R.'s ejaculate, and suggested they "hang out."² Young denied he was suggesting that J.R. perform a sex act on him or that Young was trying to arouse himself, sexually; rather, he testified that he was providing advice and support that J.R. did not receive from his own parents.

In February 2015, the high school athletic director received an anonymous email alleging an improper relationship between Young and J.R. School officials held a meeting with Young and J.R.'s mother, D.R. Young did not respond to the accusations during the meeting. After the meeting, Young finished the cheer season and continued providing transportation for J.R., almost daily, which D.R. allowed.

In mid-March 2015, D.R. found a card on J.R.'s nightstand and some chocolates, in a red wrapper, on the other side of the room. The card, which was unsigned, said, among other things, "[Y]ou're much more to me than words could possibly say. . . . Every day . . . I can't wait to see you. I can't wait to see what our future holds. I love you."³ D.R. took a picture of the card and sent it to her sister-in-law, S.R., who was a correctional officer, and asked what she thought about it. S.R. was concerned and sent the picture of the card to a friend in the district attorney's office. At trial, D.R. tried to downplay her concern about the card; however, on cross-examination she admitted that the card suggested a relationship that was more than platonic.

Texts between Young and a friend indicate that, by March 31, 2015, Young was aware that law enforcement had been investigating his relationship with J.R., and that Young had consulted an attorney. On April 8, search warrants were executed for J.R.'s and Young's phones. The police recovered an exchange of 502 text messages between Young and J.R. over the course of two days, April 6-7, 2015. These texts, which were introduced at trial, show the following:

On the morning of April 6, Young asked J.R. if he wanted to spend the night with him. Throughout the day, Young sent romantic messages, such as "I love you," "I miss you," "You're adorable," and he referred to J.R. as a "stay-at-home-wife," his "moon and stars," and "sugar butt." When J.R. texted that a friend was flirting with him, Young asked if he should be jealous; J.R. reassured him that he loved Young and only Young. More affectionate messages were exchanged. Young again asked J.R. to come stay the night, and J.R. agreed. At approximately 9:40 p.m., Young texted that he had arrived to pick up J.R.

The next morning, April 7, they exchanged texts thanking each other; Young said he enjoyed lying and talking to each other before falling asleep. J.R. complained of stomach pain, and Young said he wished he could rub J.R.'s stomach for him. They reminisced some more about the prior night, fantasized about a future together, and discussed whether to spend the night together again on April 7.

Subsequent text messages indicate that Young picked J.R. up just before 10:00 p.m. on April 7. No further messages were exchanged until 5:32 a.m. the next morning, April 8, at which point Young wrote, "You're amazing."

During the court proceedings related to this case, when J.R. was still 17 years old, Young was served with a criminal protective order (CPO) barring him from contact with J.R. J.R. was present in court at the hearing on the CPO and objected to the issuance of the order. The CPO was issued on June 30, 2015. Late on the night of July 12, less than two weeks after the CPO was issued and while it was still in effect, the police caught Young and J.R. together on a beach in Crescent City.

At trial, both Young and J.R. testified that they did not arrange to meet that night, nor did they intend to violate the CPO. Young testified that on the night of July 12, he had been unable to sleep due to stress. He went to South Beach, walked and sat awhile, went on a drive through town, and stopped at the beach "at the end of 5th Street" and parked. He testified that although he had not exchanged messages with J.R. that day or arranged a meeting with J.R. that night, J.R. showed up at the same beach only five or 10 minutes later. He testified that after he told J.R. to leave, J.R. walked toward the steps going back up to the parking area. Young started to walk toward a big rock on the beach ("because I just wanted [J.R.] to go") but, at that point, the police arrived. Although the arresting officer testified that she saw no one on the staircase, and observed Young running toward the rock, Young denied running and claimed he did not know that the police were trying to locate him.

J.R. testified that on the night of July 12, he chose to drive home from work along Highway 101 south in order to avoid police traffic, as he was driving without a license. Along the way, J.R. happened to see Young's van parked at a beach; he stopped, parked, and went down to the beach, looking for Young, whom he found sitting by a campfire. He testified that the police arrived before he had a chance to talk with Young. He also testified that Young ran, not walked, away when the police arrived.⁴

Eventually, J.R. was cited for being out past curfew and starting an illegal bonfire; Young was arrested for violating the CPO.⁵

At trial, J.R. repeatedly denied that he and Young had engaged in any sexually intimate acts before he turned 18 (in early September 2015). Young testified that the relationship did not turn physical until October 2015, on a trip to Disneyland; he also testified that it did not work out well because they were physically incompatible. J.R.testified that, by the time of trial, they remained close but were not intimate, and he did not foresee that they would have an intimate relationship in the future.

However, by the time of Young's sentencing less than one month later, Young and J.R. admitted they were in a relationship. J.R. testified that they were in a "safe and stable relationship" that had formed since his 18th...