P. v. Torres
A jury convicted defendant Joseph Gary Torres of a series of sex offenses against two minor girls, C.S. and R.S.[1] The trial court sentenced him to 32 years 4 months in state prison. He appeals, contending: (1) the trial court abused its discretion by forc[ing] unwanted retained counsel on [him] without good cause or informing [him] of his absolute right to fire retained counsel if he wanted to represent himself; (2) the courts ruling also deprived him of his federal constitutional right to counsel of his choice and to self-representation, and his state constitutional right to counsel of his choice; (3) the conviction of continuous sexual abuse of C. (count 1) must be reversed for insufficiency of the evidence and because the court failed to instruct on lesser included offenses; and (4) the conviction of forcible sodomy of R. (count 9) must be reversed for several alleged instructional errors and because the evidence was insufficient. Court conclude that the trial court properly denied defendants request to discharge his retained counsel. However, Court find the evidence insufficient to support the conviction of continuous sexual abuse of C. We further conclude that none of defendants challenges to his conviction of forcible sodomy of R. has merit. Court therefore reverse the conviction on count 1, but otherwise affirm the judgment, and remand for resentencing in light of the reversal of count 1.
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