State ex rel. C.W.

541 So. 2d 419, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 527, 1989 WL 29125
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided March 30, 1989·No. No. 88-CA-1797·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

BECKER, Judge.

A petition was filed against C.W., a juvenile, charging him with sexual battery, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:43.1. After an adjudicatory hearing, the court found the defendant did commit a sexual battery and ajudged him a delinquent. He was committed to two years in the custody of the Director of Department of Corrections, the sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation until his eighteenth birthday, subject to certain conditions of probation. The defendant appeals that finding relying on three assignments of error:

(1) The trial court erred in admitting hearsay evidence.

(2) The court erred in ruling that consent is not a defense to sexual battery.

(3) The state failed to prove all elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt and failed to prove that the juvenile was a delinquent.

FACTS

The victim is a twelve year old, hearing and sight impaired female. The defendant is three years and one month older than the victim. On May 30,1988 the victim left her home at approximately 10:00 a.m. and went to a park in the neighborhood. She then left the park and went to her young friends home, adjacent to the park, where she encountered the defendant. Although the evidence is in conflict as to how the defendant and the victim met, it is abundantly clear they both ended up in a shed in the rear of the defendant’s home where they both voluntarily removed their lower clothing, sexually explored each other and the defendant penetrated the victim’s vagina with his finger, ejaculating at the same time. Fearing they would be discovered by the defendant’s brother they both dressed and left the shed. The victim wandered in the neighborhood awhile and then returned to her home where she immediately prepared a bath to wash the semen from her body. Her mother sensing something was wrong, as it was uncommon for the child to bathe without being prompted to do so, questioned her, and was told what had happened. The police were immediately notified and they investigated the incident. Dr. James Touchey examined the victim at Charity Hospital at approximately 6:00 p.m. that evening and observed a small hemato-ma, no more than four to six hours old, in the vicinity of the hymen, which could have been caused by the insertion of a finger, of a penis or some other like object. When Officer Sherman DeFillo received the report from Charity Hospital that the victim had been penetrated, he arrested the defendant. In the presence of his mother and after having been advised of his constitutional rights, C.W. admitted that he and the victim had removed their clothing and the victim had “rubbed up against him”.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER 1

The defense contends it was error for the court to allow into evidence the testimony of the victim’s mother as to what the victim told her.

These courts have long held that first reports of rape victim’s to third parties are admissible in trial under the res gestae exception to the hearsay rule. LSA-R.S. 15:447, 15:448; State v. Elzie, 351 So.2d 1174 (La.1977) State v. Prestridge, 399 So. 2d 564 (La.1981). These courts have also recognized that in the prosecution of sex offences, the better rule is that the original complaint of a young child is admissible when the particular facts and circumstances of the case indicate that the complaint was a product of a shocking episode and not a fabrication. State v. Prestridge, supra, State v. Adams, 394 So.2d 1204 (La.1981) State v. Noble, 342 So.2d 170 (La.1977). In State v. Noble, supra, the four year old victim made statements identifying her perpetrator to her grandmother some two days after the occurrence. The statements were ruled admissible because the circumstances indicated that the statements were made at the first opportunity the child had to speak to a close family member. Likewise the statement of a child rape victim that “daddy did it” made some eight to ten hours after the offense, was [421] found admissible since the circumstances reflected that the victim’s response was merely a truthful answer to an adult’s concerned inquiry. State v. Adams, supra. In the instant case, the response of the victim, a hearing and sight impaired twelve year old, was made one to two hours after the episode, when her mother became suspicious and questioned her. The questions resulted in a spontaneous reaction which related to the circumstances of the occasion and was therefore properly admitted. State v. Taplette, 519 So.2d 854 (La.App. 4th Cir.1988).

We therefore find this assignment to be without merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER 2

In this assignment of error it is alleged that the trial court erred in finding that consent is not a defense to a sexual battery.

“Sexual battery is the intentionally engaging in any of the following acts with another person, who is not the spouse of the offender, where the offender either compels the other person to submit by placing the person in fear of receiving bodily harm, or where the other person has not yet attained fifteen years of age and is at least three years younger than the offender:
(1) the touching of the anus or genitals of the victim by the offender using any instrumentality or any part of the body of the offender; or
(2) the touching of the anus or genitals of the offender by the victim using any instrumentality or any part of the body of the victim.
(B) Lack of knowledge of the victims age shall not be a defense. However, where the victim is under seventeen, normal medical treatment or normal sanitary care of an infant shall not be construed as an offense under the provisions of this section. R.S. 14:43.1 (emphasis added).

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State ex rel. C.W., 541 So. 2d 419, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 527, 1989 WL 29125 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

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