Tuesday, December 18, 2012

People v. Lujan (Cal. Ct. App. - Dec. 17, 2012)

After reading what James Lujan did to multiple children -- including abusing one of them to death -- I'm not inclined to stretch out to assist him as he seeks to avoid the consequences of his acts.  Neither is the Court of Appeal.  Which holds that a trial court has the inherent power to permit a child witness to testify by closed-circuit television even when the relevant statute doesn't expressly authorize such a procedure because the child witness isn't a victim of a particular offense (e.g., a sex crime).

So Lujan gets to be in prison for 64 years to life.  Plus 11 years.

P.S. - Justice Hoffstadt does need to change one portion of the opinion, which clearly lost something in the editing process.  It reads:  "The trial court allowed Vanessa, age seven at time of trial, to testify over a two-way, closed-circuit TV. Vanessa sat in a separate room from which Lujan, his attorney, the district attorney. The jury could see her on a video monitor."