P. v. Castrejon
It is undisputed that defendant Crisanto Murillo Castrejon sodomized John Doe, who was then 13 years old. John Doe testified that the sodomy was forcible and not consensual. Defendant testified that it was consensual and, moreover, that he was very drunk at the time.
A jury found defendant guilty on one count of aggravated sexual assault on a child by means of forcible sodomy (Pen. Code, 269, subd. (a)(3)) and one count of a forcible lewd and lascivious act on a child (Pen. Code, 288, subd. (b)(1)). He was sentenced to a total of 23 years to life in prison. Defendants sole appellate contention pertains to the forcible lewd act conviction, which was based on evidence that, in addition to forcibly sodomizing John Doe, defendant engaged in forcible oral copulation with him. Defendant notes that there was evidence of two distinct acts of forcible oral copulation and contends that the trial court erred by failing to give a unanimity instruction in connection with this count. We will conclude that the trial court did err; however, because there was overwhelming evidence including defendants own testimony at trial that both acts occurred, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Hence, we will affirm.
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