BRIEF ON BEHALF OF THE PROSECUTION

ITZEL SANCHEZ, Esq. 392860

I.

Statement of the Issue

When a young woman is being sexually assaulted and a person is

standing a few feet in front of the action, turning around looking at

the sexual assault a few times, seeing the victim does not have a
buddy to help them, watching the fatigued victim, and not contacting
law enforcement right away, have they failed to report a felony?
II.

Statement of Facts
In San Diego, California a case of assault was discovered by a

police officer named Lee Terry Jackson, a very experienced police

officer with 12 years on the force, 10 with the SDPD. He was
investigating another case about a shooting near the sexual assault.
He discovered it while looking at a cell phone video. The footage
alarmed him when he saw four men sexually assaulting an unconscious
girl in broad daylight. It was the most disturbing video hes ever
seen in hes ten years.The sexual assault was surrounded by many
people, a very crowded place. Later, the video revealed two more men
sexual assaulting the petite girl. Officer Jackson brought up the
graphic videos to the District Attorneys office. She ordered to
prosecute the people who witnessed the sexual assault and didnt
report it. Officer Jackson decided to prosecute the six people near
the sexual assault. He used the media to try and identify the six.
The officer was able to identify three of the six, Riley Jacobs being
one of them. Officer Lee Terry Jackson then charged Riley J. with
failure to report a felony.(Trial Exh. #2-P1). Riley Jacobs is a 19
year old sophomore attending SDSU and studies biochemistry and living

in the sorority housing Delta Gamma(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.1). On April

12th, 2015 Riley Jacobs was with her sorority friends, and men she
had met nights before, at Pacific Beach behind Papas & Beer, where
the incident happened(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.2). Jacobs and her group were
only standing a few steps in front of the sexual assault. Riley could
see the assault by just moving her head a little. She didnt even
have to move her legs. It was literally happening right there in the
back of her(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.3). The small victim was sleepy, as Riley
recalled, on the floor with men performing sexual activity on her
without her consent(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.3). Riley didnt call the police
even though, they were two minutes away from their location(Trial
Exh.#2-Pg.3). Riley and her friends knew Riley was under age
drinking, but that is not an excuse for not contacting authority to
report a felony(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.1). Underage drinking punishment is
up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. Failure to report felony
is up to a $5,000 fine and two years in jail(CA Pe. Code sec.
38.171(b)). Riley didnt help another living human being or she was
just thinking about yourself because shes a narcissistic person. I
guess Riley Jacobs isnt really the thoughtful person like her friend
Spencer Green described her to be.
III. Legal Analysis
(A). The court must decide that Riley Jacobs is guilty of failure to
report felony.
The California rule for failure to report felony supports this
statement:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:(1)observes the
commission of a felony under circumstances in which a reasonable
person would believe that an offense had been committed in which
serious bodily injury or death may have resulted; and (2)fails to
immediately report the commission of the offense to a peace officer
or law enforcement agency under the circumstances in which: (A) a

reasonable person would believe that the commission of the offense

had not been reported;and(B) the person could immediately report the
commission of the offense without placing him or herself in danger of
suffering serious bodily injury or death.(b) An offense under this
section is a Class A felony with punishment of fines up to $5,000 and
up to two years imprisonment.
This states that when a person witnesses a felony, that causes injury
to another person or death, and another person hasnt reported the
crime yet,and fails to report it immediately, they are guilty of this
charge. Riley Jacobs was a few steps away from the scene(Trial
Exh.#4-Pg.3). Riley claims that she didnt help because nobody else
was doing anything(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.3). Riley kicked back and expected
others to help the victim. As seen on the map of the beach, Rileys
group is the nearest one to the victim(Trial Exh.#1-Pg.1). Riley was
her only hope. Riley expected others, who were further away from the
victim, to help her. Riley also stated that the men around the victim
were very large and she couldnt go up to them because she was too
tiny compared to them(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.3). Couldnt Riley ask one of
her very cute,fun boy toys to help the victim. The underage drinker
identified the girl looked very sleepy while the men were sexual
assaulting her(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.3). When somebody is engaged in sexual
intercourse, wouldnt they be moving and making noises. Riley should
know since shes had a lot of experience with the men she has brought
back to the hotel(Trial Exh.#7-Pg.1). Sleepy sex does not equal good
sex.The victim was sleepy. Jacobs would probably assume she was
sleepy from the alcohol because everybody was drinking, including her
underaage self. Jacobs said that she saw others probably calling the
police, but she wasnt sure because she couldnt hear them(Trial
Exh.#4-Pg.4). If they did call the police, they would be there in
less that three minutes. Thats what Riley didnt observe. She didnt
see police at all. She,again, assumed police were very busy at the
time, even though police were literally two minutes away(Trial
Exh.#2-Pg.3). Riley and her friend, Spencer Green, kept mentioning

how important it is to have a buddy, yes its true the victim didnt
have a buddy, but are Spencer and Riley blaming the victim and saying
it was her fault she was sexually assaulted? Thats impossible
because the victim was most likely knocked out by the date-rape drug.
The victim didnt even remember the assault happening to her. How can
she be blamed of not having a buddy? This evidence all shows how
unthoughtful and guilty Riley Jacobs is.
(B). Riley Jacobs didnt report the felony because she depended on
the people around her.
The court must decide if Riley is guilty of not reporting the sexual
assault immediately(Trial Exh.#4). This applies to California code
that states, ...fails to immediately report the commission of the
offense to a peace officer or law enforcement agency(CA Pe. Code
sec. 38.171(a)(2)) which Riley did. The police were only two minutes
away(Trial Exh.#2-Pg.3). Riley had mention that she saw others call
the police(Trial Exh.#4-Pg.4), but if they really were the police
would have shown up while Riley and her group were there. Officer
Jackson, and other officers, rely on people because they cant keep
watch everywhere. Theyre only so many of them and if nobody reports
anything, they cant do anything. Theyre there for a reason! Theyre
there to help others and make sure everybody is safe. Riley depended
on others and is not being a thoughtful person like her
friend,Spencer Green, claims she is. This concludes that Riley didnt
report the assault immediately, therefore is guilty of this charge.
(C). Riley Jacobs was only steps away from the sexual assault.
California law has stated that if someone, ..observes the commission
of a felony.. they are guilty of the offense. Riley has said it
herself, She was a few steps behind us i think. I had to kind of
look over my friends shoulder to see her, but she was really
close.(Trial Exh.#4-P.3)Video has also shown how close Rileys group
is to the sexual assault(Trial Exh.#3-P.1 and 2)Now, when somebody is

engaged in sexual intercourse, they would be making sounds of

pleasure(lets be mature). Lets be real here, if somebody isnt
making these sounds they are either, a. not really into the sex, or
b. knocked out with date rape drugs or other things. Riley has stated
that she looked sleepy(Trial Exh.#4-P.3). When somebody is sleepy
do you think they are able to do anything? To Riley, I guess slightly
moving your hand means youre A-OK and you dont need any help(Trial
Exh.#4-P.3). Sleepy sex does not equal good sex. Jacobs should know
this since shes brought a lot of men back to her hotel room,
according to her friend, Spencer Green(Trial Exh.#7-P.1). Riley
Jacobs was aware that the victim was sleepy like and didnt suspect
anything out of the ordinary(Trial Exh.#4-P.3). Riley saw the whole
incident happen and saw people taking pictures of the poor girl, when
people start taking pictures that isnt good(Trial Exh.#4-P.4). That
is why Jacobs committed the crime of failing to report felony.
(D). Riley Jacobs could have reported the crime without inflicting
physical damage or death to herself. This applies to the California
law of failure to report felony, which states, (CA Pe. Code Sec.
38.171(B))..the person could immediately report the commission of
the offense without placing himself of herself in danger of suffering
serious bodily injury or death. Riley could have easily contact the
police without getting hurt. She assumed her phone died and if it
really did,she could have asked one of her good friends to use their
phone(Trial Exh.#4-P.3). This was an emergency yet Riley didnt act
like it was one. Jacobs relied on others to call the police. Riley
could have also intervene with the attackers, remember everybody is
watching, and if they would try to hurt her, she could have screamed
or do something the victim couldnt because she was sleepy. Riley
had so many chances to help the victim, yet she didnt take it.Making
her guilty of this charge.

(E). Riley Jacobs didnt report the felony because she depended on
others to report it, making her very irresponsible and not taking
important matters into her hands.
The California law regarding failure to report a felony states that a
person has committed the crime if they observe a felony under
circumstances where .. a reasonable person would believe that the
commission of the offense had not been reported.(CA
Pe.Sec.38.171(a)(2)(A)) The reason the police werent there is
because nobody reported it. They could have been there in less than
two minutes(Trial Exh.#2-P.3). Riley saw people taking pictures of
the girl, but she made the unconscious decision of not thinking
anything was wrong with the peoples actions(Trial Exh.#4-P.4).Riley
Jacobs was afraid that if she told the police the incident, she would
get caught underage drinking. She would only be paying up to a $1,000
fine and six months in jail while helping someone instead shes going
to be pay up to a $5,000 fine with two years in jail(CA Pe.Sec.(b)).
Well, either why she wouldnt be able to finish college at SDSU
because of her unthoughtful decisions. These are reasons why Riley
Jacobs is responsible for this felony.
(F). Riley Jacobs wasnt a reasonable person at the time because she
was intoxicated with alcohol fluids. This applies to California
Statutes, ...observes the commission of a felony under circumstances
in which a reasonable person would believe that an offense had been
committed ...a reasonable person would believe that the commission of
the offense had not been reported(CA Pe.Sec.38.171(a)(1)&(a)(2)(A))
I think the defense is going to use this because she was intoxicated
with alcohol fluids and wasnt in the right state of mind. Theyre
going to use this a lot because it plays a really big role in their
trial. To backfire on this To counter argue this I would like to say
that her actions do not depend on if she was drinking or not. She
saw, she knew, if she remembers the whole scene then she was
completely aware of what she was doing(Trial Exh.#4). When somebody

is completely intoxicated theyll never remember what happened

yesterday, yet alone three days ago and an exact scene(Trial Exh.#4).
Riley is completely responsible for herself and knew she couldnt
drink, yet she did. If Jacobs was a responsible adult and college
student she wouldnt be drinking underage and risk her chances in
getting caught. This shows how aware Riley Jacobs was during the
sexual assault and she knew what she was doing.
(G). Riley didnt see any damage inflicted to the victim. This
follows the California law, ...observes the commission of the felony
under circumstances in which a reasonable person would believe that
an offense had been committed in which serious bodily injury or death
may have resulted..(CA Pe.Code Sec.38.171(a)(1)) Riley Jacobs didnt
see any damage done to the victims body, this is the reason why
Riley Jacobs didnt report it, because she didnt witness any
physical damage to the victims body,yet she saw that the victim was
knocked out cold and wasnt aware of what others were doing to her.
People took advantage of the victim. Riley Jacobs should have helped
her, especially if the victim didnt have a buddy(Trial Exh.#4-P.3).
Riley Jacobs was completely aware that the victim didnt have a
buddy, since she kept repeating it during the questioning. Buddy or
not the victim was being sexually assaulted and Riley Jacobs was
being a bystander and not doing anything. Also, physical harms or not
the victim was being forced to do something she didnt want to do.
Jacobs should have reported the crime because the victim was in
danger even though she wasnt aware of it at the time.
IV.

Conclusion
Riley Jacobs is guilty because she failed to report felony.