The first defendant convicted in Orange County for human trafficking of a minor under terms of Proposition 35 lost her appeal, according to court records obtained Thursday
Cierra Melissa Robinson, 29, sought to have her conviction thrown out based on jurisdictional issues.
“Her primary argument on appeal is that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over her crimes because they occurred exclusively in Arizona,” according to Tuesday’s ruling from the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
“Although the offenses were completed in Arizona for purposes of establishing appellant’s culpability, they continued after (the victim) was transported to California. Therefore, jurisdiction in this state was proper,” the justices wrote in the opinion.
Robinson also argued that Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly erred when instructing jurors. The panel of justices rejected that argument as well.
The defendant’s appellate attorney argued that the charges she faced in this case — pandering and human trafficking — were essentially the same and jurors should have just considered the lesser offense. The justices, however, noted the victim in this case was a minor, which covered the human trafficking allegations, and pandering could apply to adults as well.
Robinson was the first to be charged and convicted in Orange County under a law approved by voters in November 2012. She was sentenced to five years in prison.
Robinson, who worked as a prostitute for co-defendant pimp Chuncey Tarae Garcia, recruited other women for the pimp.
The victim was a 14-year-old girl who ran away from home in Arizona and started stripping before she was befriended by Robinson.
Garcia, 35, forced the girl into working as a prostitute for him and brought her and a third woman to Orange County. The teen was put to work in Buena Park and Garcia raped her on her first day on the job as a hooker, according to prosecutors.
Garcia was convicted in March of last year of human trafficking and pimping a minor younger than 16 and received the maximum punishment of 17 years to life in prison.
— City News Service