NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION No. 121,712 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. FRANCISCO EDUARDO NOCHES-PADILLA, Appellant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Appeal from Crawford District Court; KURTIS I. LOY, judge. Opinion filed August 6, 2021. Affirmed. Kasper Schirer, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant. Kurtis Wiard, assistant solicitor general, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee. Before POWELL, P.J., BRUNS, J., and STEVE LEBEN, Court of Appeals Judge Retired, assigned. POWELL, J.: Francisco Eduardo Noches-Padilla was convicted by a jury of his peers of 15 Jessica's Law offenses and 3 other child sex offenses. The district court imposed 15 consecutive hard 25 life sentences plus 177 months in prison. Noches-Padilla now appeals claiming numerous trial errors. He also argues the district court abused its discretion by imposing so many consecutive life sentences as to make his sentence one equaling life without the opportunity of parole. After a careful review of the record, we find only one error by the district court—its admission of one translated letter written by Noches-Padilla because the translator of that letter was not available to lay a foundation 1 for the translation. But we find this error harmless as it would not have altered the outcome of the trial. As Noches-Padilla's other contentions of error lack merit, we affirm his convictions and sentences. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The State charged Noches-Padilla with 13 counts of rape of a child under the age of 14, 4 counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and 1 count of criminal sodomy, for crimes occurring between January 2012 and August 2017. At trial, the victim, A.H., testified how Noches-Padilla, a man in his 30s she called her stepfather— though he was not married to her mother—sexually abused her from ages 10 to 15. When A.H. was in the fifth grade, Noches-Padilla began touching her breasts, legs, and vagina at least twice a week. When A.H. turned 11 or 12, Noches-Padilla began forcing her to have sex with him. One night, A.H. woke up to Noches-Padilla touching her vagina, and he then inserted his penis inside her. Noches-Padilla began forcing A.H. to have sex once a week and then progressed to multiple times per week. By the time A.H. reached her sophomore year, Noches-Padilla was forcing her to have sex with him at least four times per week. When A.H. was 13, Noches-Padilla—then age 34— took her to 13 weekly physical therapy appointments from February 2015 to April 2015 to receive treatment for a sprained ankle. Noches-Padilla would remove A.H. from school early to take her to her appointments. Before each appointment, he would take her to a lake near their home and force her to have sex with him in his car. Noches-Padilla would instruct A.H. to get in the back of the vehicle in a certain position, touch her vagina and his penis, and insert his penis inside her. He would wipe up his ejaculate with a towel and throw it …
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