P. v. Long
On retrial after this court reversed a previous conviction, defendant Khoa Khac Long was again found guilty by a jury of two robberies and one rape perpetrated against the same victim on two separate occasions. The sole question on appeal is whether the record contains substantial evidence that the hotel room in which the victim was plying her trade as a prostitute at the time on the earlier of these occasions was “inhabited,†such that the jury could find the robbery to be one of the first degree. (See Pen. Code, § 212.5, subd. (a).)[1] In the first appeal we held the evidence sufficient to sustain such a finding. Here, although the evidence was weaker in some respects, it was stronger in one critical respect: the victim’s testimony that she occasionally slept in the room in question. Based primarily on that testimony we will conclude once again that the evidence was sufficient to sustain a finding that the room was an “inhabited portion†of a building as contemplated by the statute. (§ 212.5, subd. (a).) Accordingly, we will affirm the judgment.
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