When will a court overturn a finding of not guilty of aggravated sexual assault?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Cruz, D059307 (Cal. App. 2012):

When we consider a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support a verdict, we view the evidence most favorably to the verdict. We draw all reasonable inferences in support of the verdict, but do not make credibility judgments or reweigh the evidence. The question we must decide is whether there is sufficient, substantial evidence from which a reasonable jury could find the charge proved beyond a reasonable doubt. (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 576.)

" ' "Although it is the duty of the jury to acquit a defendant if it finds that [the] evidence is susceptible of two interpretations, one of which suggests guilt and the other innocence [citations], it is the jury, not the appellate court[,] which must be convinced of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt(People v. Rodriguez (1999) 20 Cal.4th 1, 11), and we may neither reweigh the evidence nor reevaluate a witness's credibility. (People v. Guerra (2006) 37 Cal.4th 1067, 1129, disapproved on other grounds in People v. Rundle (2008) 43 Cal.4th 76, 151.) Where the circumstances reasonably justify the trier of fact's findings, the reviewing court's opinion that the circumstances might also reasonably be reconciled with a contrary finding does not warrant a reversal of the judgment. (People v. Stanley (1995) 10 Cal.4th 764, 793.)

Page 5

The aggravated sexual assault charge under section 269, subdivision (a), was based on the alleged rape of C.2 To prove rape, the prosecution must show (1) an "act of sexual intercourse" (2) accomplished by "force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another." ( 261, subd. (a)(2).) "Any sexual penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the crime [of rape]" ( 263), and any penetration of the external genital organs qualifies as an unlawful sexual penetration even if the rapist does not succeed in penetrating into the vagina. (People v. Quintana (2001) 89 Cal.App.4th 1362, 1366.)

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