THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JAMES TIMOTHY McCARTHY, Defendant and Appellant.
No. A141144
First Dist., Div. Five.
Feb. 11, 2016.
244 Cal. App. 4th 1096
JONES, P. J.; Needham, J., and Bruiniers, J., concurred.
[CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION*]
*Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rules 8.1105(b) and 8.1110, this opinion is certified for publication with the exception of parts IV. and V.
Counsel
Linda M. Leavitt, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, René A. Chacón and David M. Baskind, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Opinion
JONES, P. J.—
McCarthy has appealed from the restitution order and argues the plain language of
In the published portion of our opinion, we address the scope of
Factual and Procedural Background
Although this appeal concerns only the trial court‘s restitution order, a full understanding of the issues before us requires some explanation of the proceedings leading to McCarthy‘s conviction. We briefly summarize those proceedings before turning to the restitution hearing.2
Charges, Trial, and Conviction
On November 26, 2012, the Alameda County District Attorney filed an information charging McCarthy with 14 offenses: count 1 alleged continuous sexual abuse of a child (
On February 5, 2013, trial proceedings began. During trial, the court granted the prosecutor‘s motion to dismiss count 2 of the information. On February 14, 2013, the parties made closing arguments, and the jury began deliberations. The following day the jury found McCarthy guilty of all the remaining counts.
On March 19, 2013, the trial court sentenced appellant to an aggregate term of 32 years plus 150 years to life. On May 16, 2013, McCarthy filed a notice of appeal in case No. A138682. On April 16, 2015, we issued an opinion affirming McCarthy‘s convictions. (See fn. 2, ante.)
The Restitution Hearing
On December 9, 2013, the trial court held a restitution hearing. It awarded $7,366.50 to the Victim Compensation Board and $4,980 to the victim‘s
The prosecutor argued the court should award noneconomic restitution to Jane Doe in the manner discussed in People v. Smith (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 415 (Smith). Like this case, Smith involved acts of child molestation spanning many years. (Id. at p. 419.) The trial court in Smith based its award of restitution, in part, on awards for molestations in civil trials. (Id. at p. 432.) Following the lead of Smith, the prosecutor in this case submitted into evidence civil jury awards in a number of California cases arising from child molestation and sexual abuse. He discussed two cases from Alameda County and one from Contra Costa County. The prosecutor asked the trial court to award Jane $50,000 per year for 10 years for a total of $500,000.
Defense counsel argued that the only basis for awarding Jane noneconomic damages was
The trial court observed “that the main argument by [defense] counsel is that there‘s no jurisdiction to order any kind of non-economic loss simply because of the way the statute is written.” It continued the hearing until January 10, 2014, but it does not appear that hearing took place. Instead, the trial court issued a written order on February 14, 2014. In that order, the trial court stated, “The legal issue in this hearing is whether the victim is entitled to ‘non-economic losses’ under Penal Code Section 1202.4(f)(3)(F)?” “In applying the California Supreme Court‘s principles, including but [not] limited to, reading the words and giving them a common sense meaning, and in view of promoting rather that defeating the general purpose of the statute to avoid absurd consequences, this court feels that defendant is interpreting
On February 26, 2014, McCarthy filed a notice of appeal from the restitution judgment.
Discussion
Reprising the argument made by defense counsel below, McCarthy contends the trial court‘s award of restitution for noneconomic loss was statutorily unauthorized because he was not convicted of violating section 288. We will address this issuе before turning to his other claims of error.
I. The Statutory Scheme and the Parties’ Contentions
“In 1982, California voters passed Proposition 8, also known as The Victims’ Bill of Rights.” (People v. Giordano (2007) 42 Cal.4th 644, 652 (Giordano).) The initiative added
McCarthy argues the trial court erred in imposing restitution under
The People respond by pointing out that
II. Principles of Statutory Construction
In construing the statute, “our principal task is to ascertain the intent of the Legislature.” (In re M.W., supra, 169 Cal.App.4th at p. 5 [construing restitution statute applicable to juvenile wardship cases].) The process of statutory interpretation may involve up to three steps. (Jurcoane v. Superior Court (2001) 93 Cal.App.4th 886, 892.) First, because the statutory language is generally the most reliable indicator of legislative intent, we look to the words themselvеs, giving them their ordinary meanings and construing them in context. (People v. Robles (2000) 23 Cal.4th 1106, 1111.) We do not consider statutory language in isolation “but rather examine the entire substance of the statute in order to determine the scope and purpose of the provision.” (Alford v. Superior Court (2003) 29 Cal.4th 1033, 1040.) Although we must follow the statute‘s plain meaning if such meaning can be discerned, we will not do so if adherence to plain meaning “would lead to absurd results the Legislature could not have intended.” (Vigilant Ins. Co. v. Chiu (2009) 175 Cal.App.4th 438, 444.) “In such circumstances, ‘[t]he intent prevails over the letter, and the letter will, if possible, be so read as to conform to the spirit of the act.‘” (People v. Broussard (1993) 5 Cal.4th 1067, 1071, quoting Lungren v. Deukmejian (1988) 45 Cal.3d 727, 735.)
“If the plain language of the statute doеs not resolve the inquiry, as a second step we may turn to maxims of construction, ‘which serve as aids in the sense that they express familiar insights about conventional language usage.’ [Citations.]” (People v. Verduzco (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 1406, 1414.) We may also consider other extrinsic aids to statutory construction, including the statute‘s legislative history and the historical circumstances of its enactment. (Ibid.; see People v. Robles, supra, 23 Cal.4th at p. 1111 [“If . . . the statutory language is susceptible of more than one reasonable construction, we can look to legislative history in aid of ascertaining legislative intent.“].) In addition, since we here construe a restitution statute, “we are guided by the broad constitutional mandate of California Constitution, article I, section 28, subdivision (b).” (Giordano, supra, 42
a child under the age of 14 years at the time of the commission of the offense, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1203.066, or three or more acts of lewd or lascivious conduct, as defined in Section 288, with a child under the age of 14 years at the time of the commission of the offense is guilty of the offense of continuous sexual abuse of a child and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of 6, 12, or 16 years.”
Finally, “[t]o the extent that uncertainty remains in interpreting statutory language, ‘consideration should be given to the consequences that will flow from a particular interpretation’ [citation] . . . .” (People v. Cruz (1996) 13 Cal.4th 764, 782–783.) In this final step, we “‘apply reason, practicality, and common sense to the language at hand. If possible, the words should be interpreted to make them workable and reasonable [citations].‘” (Jurcoane v. Superior Court, supra, 93 Cal.App.4th at p. 893.)
III. Section 1202.4(f)(3)(F) Permits Victims to Receive Restitution for Noneconomic Losses Where the Defendant‘s Conduct Violates Section 288, Even if the Defendant Is Convicted Under Section 288.5.
To resolve the parties’ conflicting interpretations of
A. The Statute‘s Plain Language Does Not Resolve the Interpretive Question.
In the first step, we must determine whether the plain language of
B. Analysis of the Statute‘s Text and History Indicate the Legislature Intended to Make Restitution for Noneconomic Losses More Widely Available to Victims of Child Sexual Abuse.
In seeking a broader construction of the statute, the People make two basic arguments, one based on the text of the statute and the other on its history. As to the text, they observe that in
Turning to the history of the statute, the People note that in 1994, the Legislature amended
The amendment on which the People rely was part of Senate Bill No. 1685 (1995–1996 Reg. Sess.). As initially proposed, the relevant section of
We have found no explanation for this specific change in the committee reports and analyses of Senate Bill No. 1685 (1995–1996 Reg. Sess.). Nevertheless, several rules of statutory construction lead us to conclude it had the effect the People ascribe to it. First, in interpreting the statute we must ordinarily presume the Legislature made a conscious choice to remove the word “conviction” from this subdivision of
Furthermorе, as the People point out, the overall history of the amendments to
everything said in the court‘s opinion but only “for the points actually involved and actually decided.” [Citation.]” (People v. Knoller (2007) 41 Cal.4th 139, 155.)
C. McCarthy‘s Proposed Construction Would Lead to an Absurd Result.
We also agree with the People that McCarthy‘s proposed construction of the statute would lead to an absurd result. McCarthy argued below that the prosecution had made a choice between charging him under
McCarthy offers no rationale for why the Legislature would have wanted prosecutors to choose between restitution and greater punishment. Perhaps more significantly, McCarthy fails to explain why the Legislature would have chosen to grant restitution to victims of lewd and lascivious acts (
In construing the statute, we must consider the consequences flowing from a given interpretation. (People v. Cruz, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 782.) Having considered those consequences, we refuse to adopt a construction that would grant restitution for noneconomic loss to victims of lewd and lascivious аcts but not to victims of what McCarthy agrees are “much more serious” violations of the Penal Code. “We can think of no explanation why the
We therefore hold that where, as here, a defendant is convicted of acts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under
D. McCarthy‘s Conduct Violated Section 288.
The remaining question is whеther McCarthy‘s conduct violated
E. People v. Valenti
On January 21, 2016, the Attorney General informed us of the recent opinion by Division Three of the Second District in People v. Valenti (2016) 243 Cal.App.4th 1140 (Valenti). (See
The defendant in Valenti was convicted of continuous sexual abuse, lewd acts on a child, child molestation, and other offenses, all relating to his sexual abuse of 15 different children over a period of 30 years. (Valenti, supra, 243 Cal.App.4th at p. 1149section 288.5 of continuous sexual abuse of five minors. (Id. at p. 1150section 288.5 offenses “involved substantial sexual conduct with a child younger than 14 (§ 1203.066, subd. (a)(8)).” (Id. at p. 1151.) After the jury convicted the defendant on all counts, the trial court awarded restitution for noneconomic damages in the amount of $450,000. (Ibid.) The award included restitution to the five minors who wеre victims of the defendant‘s continuous sexual abuse (§ 288.5, subd. (a)). (Id. at pp. 1180–1181.)
Valenti is distinguishable from the рresent case on both legal and factual grounds. Perhaps most importantly, in Valenti the People conceded the trial court had erred in awarding noneconomic restitution to the victims of continuous sexual abuse under
Moreover, the facts of the underlying cases are significantly different. Unlike the defendant in Valenti, McCarthy was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child based not on “three or more acts of substantial sexual conduct . . . as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1203.066,” but rather based on “three or more acts of lewd or lascivious conduct, as defined in Section 288.” (
In short, Valenti did not address the question of statutory construction the People have raised here, because in that case the People conceded noneconomic restitution was not authorized by statute. Valenti is also distinguishable on its facts. For these reasons, it does not alter our conclusion regarding the proper interpretation of
IV., V.*
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Disposition
The judgment is affirmed.
Needham, J., and Bruiniers, J., concurred.
Appellant‘s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied May 25, 2016, S233221.
* See footnote, ante, page 1096.
