People v. Wutzke

Opinion

BAXTER, J.

James Bert Wutzke (defendant) was convicted of sexually molesting the young granddaughters of the woman with whom he lived for many years. Though he claims a grandfatherly bond with the victims, he has no blood, legal, or residential connection with them. The issue is whether, under pertinent Penal Code 1 provisions, defendant qualifies as a “relative” of the victims, and may thus avoid the mandatory 15-year-to-life prison sentence otherwise applicable to his crimes. Our answer is “no.”

By a complicated intersection of the “One Strike” law (§ 667.61) and the statute…