State High Court Expands Definition of Child Molestation

Any touching of a child under 14 with lewd intent is a felony, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The unanimous decision overturned seven recent state appeals court rulings that said only a touch that was inherently sexual, or was a “lewd or lascivious act” by the nature of the act or the area touched, was covered by the molestation law.

The law, Section 288 of the Penal Code, carries severe penalties, including a potential life sentence for forcible acts against more than one victim.

“We adhere to the longstanding rule that Section 288 is violated by any touching of an underage child accomplished with the intent of arousing the sexual desires of either the perpetrator or the child,” said the opinion by Justice Marvin Baxter.

He said the law was intended “to provide children with special protection from sexual exploitation,” a goal that cannot be met “unless the kinds of sexual misconduct that result in criminal liability are greatly expanded where children are concerned.”

The ruling restored the final six years of the 12-year prison sentence of Pablo Cruz Martinez, who was convicted of attacks on two 13-year-old girls in Newhall in June, 1992.