Opinion

People v. Rodriguez

  • 122 Cal. Rptr. 2d 348
  • 28 Cal. 4th 543
  • 2002 Daily Journal DAR 8139
  • 49 P.3d 1085
  • 2002 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6541
Court
California Supreme Court
Filed
Jul 22, 2002
Status
Published
Author
Wergegar
On the bench
Chin, Moreno
Cited by
28 cases

The opinion

*551 WERGEGAR, J., Concurring.

I write separately to clarify my position with respect to a point of disagreement between the majority and our concurring and dissenting colleague. I disagree with the concurring and dissenting opinion’s implication that the statutory term “recurring access” would be reasonably understood by jurors to denote such intermittent “access” as is necessarily implied by discrete instances of actual contact. (See cone. & dis. opn., post, at p. 554.) I join the majority, rather, in its determination that the term’s commonly understood meaning is “an ongoing ability to approach and contact someone time after time.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 547, italics added.) As the majority correctly points out, “not every person who manages to molest a child three times during the requisite period necessarily would have an ongoing ability to approach and contact the child time after time.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 550.) Accordingly, not every person who manages to molest a child three times during the requisite period necessarily would be guilty of violating Penal Code section 288.5, and the concurring and dissenting opinion errs to the extent it suggests that a reasonable juror could conclude otherwise. (See cone. & dis. opn., post, at pp. 554-555.)

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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