California v. Calhoun
Annotate this CaseJohn Calhoun recruited 13-year-old D.T. into prostitution, acted as her pimp, treated her violently, and engaged in sex acts with her. A jury convicted him of human trafficking of a minor, pimping a minor under the age of 16, pandering a minor under the age of 16, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14, unlawful sexual intercourse, and oral copulation of a child under the age of 14. The trial court sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison with a consecutive term of six years for one count of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child under the age of 14 and a consecutive term of two years for another count of the same offense. In affirming Calhoun's convictions, the Court of Appeal concluded: (1) the trial court did not err by excluding evidence of D.T.’s acts of prostitution occurring after Calhoun was placed in custody; (2) the evidence at the preliminary hearing imparted notice to Calhoun of the factual basis for counts 6 and 7 sufficient to satisfy due process; (3) venue in Orange County was proper; (4) the trial court did not err by admitting evidence of certain text messages; (5) expert testimony on statements made by D.T. during a police interview and on the content of text messages was admissible and any error was harmless; and (6) the trial court did stay execution of sentence on counts 2, 3, and 5 pursuant to Penal Code section 654.
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