PEOPLE v. MASSIE — Fear Not Law

PEOPLE v. MASSIE <h1>Filed 8/29/06</h1> CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Butte) ---- <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="394" valign="top"> THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. RICHARD ANDREW MASSIE, Defendant and Appellant. </td> <td width="230" valign="top"> C050124 (Super. Ct. No. CM022055) </td> </tr> </table> APPEAL from a judgment of the <a href="http://www.mcmillanlaw.us/">Superior Court of Butte County</a>, James F. Reilley, Judge. Affirmed. Candace Hale, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Bill Lockyer, <a href="http://www.mcmillanlaw.us/">Attorney</a> General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Mary Jo Graves, Senior Assistant Attorney General and John G. McLean, Deputy <a href="http://www.mcmillanlaw.us/">Attorney</a> General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. Defendant Richard Andrew Massie was sentenced to consecutive life terms in state prison after a jury found him <a href="http://www.sandiegohealthdirectory.com/">guilty of torture and sexual penetration by a foreign object</a>, committed with <a href="http://www.fearnotlaw.com/">use of a deadly weapon during a first degree burglary</a>. The sole issue that defendant raises on appeal is whether the evidence is sufficient to support his <a href="http://www.mcmillanlaw.us/">conviction for torture</a>. We conclude there is ample, indeed overwhelming, evidence to satisfy the elements of torture. Thus, we shall affirm the judgment. We publish this opinion solely to address an argument that has begun to appear in criminal appeals in the Third Appellate District based on language in People v. Acevedo (2003) 105 Cal.App.4th 195 (hereafter Acevedo) and People v. Brown (1989) 216 Cal.App.3d 596 (hereafter Brown). In defendant's view, the evidence in this case is susceptible to a reasonable inference that his brutal and repeated assaults on the victim â€