P. v. Brown

Filed 5/25/06 P. v. Brown CA1/1

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

Defendant James Doyle Brown pleaded no contest to one count of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 14 years of age (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a)). Despite recommendations for probation from the probation department and a psychologist, the trial court sentenced defendant to the middle term of six years in prison--the maximum available term under the plea bargain. Defendant contends the prison term is an abuse of sentencing discretion. We disagree because the trial court was within its discretion given the nature of the offense and defendant's prior record of incidents involving inappropriate behavior with children and the harm he caused the present victim and her family. Accordingly, we affirm.

I. FACTS

Because of the no contest plea, we take the facts of the offense from the probation report.

On the night of September 22, 2004, the victim, six-year-old I.S., was fishing with her father at Beldon's Landing on Grizzly Island Road. An elderly man, later determined to be defendant, approached them while they were fishing. The victim's father recognized defendant as â€