People v. Sparks

28 Cal. 4th 71 (2002)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Twenty-two-year-old Ana I. answered D's knock at the door of her single-family home. D attempted to sell Ana some magazines, but she was not interested. D asked for a glass of water, which she provided. D eventually asked Ana whether he could enter the house, and he did so. D sat at the dining room table, and Ana stood in the area where the door to the kitchen was. Ana eventually sat at the table and D persisted in his attempt to sell a magazine subscription. D then asked Ana whether she had a boyfriend. Ana revealed that she had broken up with her boyfriend. Ana felt nervous because she did not speak English well. Ana asked D to leave, telling him that she had to depart to pick up her niece. She had to repeat the request again as D did not leave. Ana got up, walked to the living room to turn off the stereo, and again told D that she had to depart to pick up her niece. D followed Ana to the living room, and she walked down the hall to her bedroom to find outdoor shoes to wear upon leaving the house. D followed her into that room. Ana realized that D was in the bedroom with her, standing just inside the bedroom doorway. D blocked Ana's exit, diverted her attention by telling her to look out a window, and then shoved her face down onto the bed, pressing a pillow on top of her head as she began to scream. Ana began to see white spots and had difficulty breathing. D raped her and then walked into the bathroom. Ana closed her bedroom door and locked it. Ana left the house through her bedroom window and walked to a school to meet her niece, who noticed that Ana had red splotches on her face. A later medical examination revealed the presence of defendant's semen in Ana's vagina. Ana also showed signs of petechiae (pinpoint hemorrhaging) on her face, a condition consistent with asphyxia. The jury convicted D of first-degree burglary and forcible rape. The Court of Appeal upheld D's conviction for forcible rape but reversed the burglary conviction. It held that an unsecured bedroom in a single-family dwelling was insufficient to satisfy the entry-with-felonious-intent requirement for burglary. P appealed.