State in Interest of Handy

559 So. 2d 795, 1990 WL 15805
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 21, 1990
DocketKJ 89 1045
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 559 So. 2d 795 (State in Interest of Handy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State in Interest of Handy, 559 So. 2d 795, 1990 WL 15805 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

559 So.2d 795 (1990)

STATE of Louisiana in the Interest of Ellis Ray HANDY.

No. KJ 89 1045.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

February 21, 1990.

Wiley Dial, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee State of La.

James Best, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant Ellie Ray Handy.

Before EDWARDS, LANIER and FOIL, JJ.

EDWARDS, Judge.

Ellis Ray Handy was charged by juvenile petition as delinquent on the basis of commission of attempted aggravated rape, a violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and 42. After an adjudicatory hearing, the juvenile was found to be delinquent based upon the commission of attempted aggravated sexual battery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and 43.2. Subsequently, a dispositional hearing was held, after which the juvenile was committed to the custody of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections for one year.

The juvenile has appealed, alleging as his only assigned error that the evidence is not sufficient to support the adjudication. However, due to error patent on the face of the record,[1] we pretermit discussion of that argument.

*796 The petition herein charged that the juvenile committed attempted aggravated rape. The juvenile was adjudicated delinquent based upon a finding that he had committed attempted aggravated sexual battery, which is not the conduct charged in the petition. See La.C.J.P. art. 73. Nor is it a lesser included offense of attempted aggravated rape. See La.R.S. 14:5, State in the Interest of Batiste, 367 So.2d 784 (La.1979).[2]

The juvenile is clearly entitled under the due process and adequate notice guarantees of our state constitution to timely written notice, in advance of the adjudication hearing, of the specific charge or factual allegations against which he must defend himself. La. Const. Art. I, §§ 2 and 13; Batiste at 787. Compare State in the Interest of Gibson, 382 So.2d 1060 (La.App. 2nd Cir.), writ denied, 385 So.2d 275 (La. 1980). Since the adjudicated offense is not the conduct charged in the petition nor a lesser included offense thereof, we note the defect as error patent.[3] The adjudication is invalid and is hereby vacated, along with the resulting disposition.

Since the charged offense was attempted aggravated rape, an adjudication of delinquency based upon attempted aggravated sexual battery operates as an acquittal and bar of a second prosecution on the charge of attempted aggravated rape. Compare State in Interest of Rodrigues, 532 So.2d 481, 484 (La.App. 1st Cir.1988). However, since this reversal does not result from evidentiary insufficiency or constitute a decision that the state failed to prove its case, the double jeopardy clause does not bar further prosecution of the juvenile in connection with the alleged criminal activity. The only bar is as to a prosecution based upon attempted aggravated rape, the original charge herein. The juvenile, therefore, is ordered released. See Rodrigues at 484.

ADJUDICATION AND DISPOSITION VACATED; JUVENILE ORDERED RELEASED.

LANIER, J., dissents and assigns reasons.

LANIER, Judge, dissenting.

I dissent from the majority opinion because (1) it fails to follow the clear and unambiguous language of the Code of Juvenile Procedure, (2) it fails to follow the clear and unambiguous language of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and (3) it improperly considers technical constitutional questions when these issues were not raised, or ruled upon, in the trial court, and were not assigned as error in this court.

FACTS

On July 19, 1988, the 10 year old female victim of the alleged offense was walking under an interstate overpass in East Baton Rouge Parish. She was going to the home of a friend of her mother to use the telephone. *797 A young man came up from behind her and asked what her name was. She did not respond. He asked the question again and she still did not respond. He then grabbed her by an arm and pulled her against one of the overpass support columns. The 10 year old victim started screaming. The following excerpt from her trial testimony describes what happened next:

Q. I'm having a hard time hearing you, now. You've got to speak up just a little bit.

A. He say, "Shut up before I slap the piss out of you."

Q. Okay, now, was [sic] touching you at that time in anyway?
A. No.
Q. He wasn't holding you or touching your clothes or anything?
A. He was trying to pull my clothes down.
Q. All right. What kind of clothes did you have on?
A. I had on my blue shirt and my red shorts.
Q. Okay, and what clothes was he trying to pull down?
A. My shorts.
Q. Now, did you try to keep that from happening?
A. Yeah.
Q. What did you do?

A. I was trying to hold them and I told him I was too little and he said it wouldn't hurt.

Q. What was he talking about? Do you know? Or, did he say what he was talking about? Can you tell us?

A. He had say he wanted to put the deep to me one time.

Q. I'm sorry, would you say that one more time?
Q. Okay. Did he try to do anything like that? Or do you know what he meant by that?
A. I know he meant but he ain't try to do it.
Q. What did you think he meant by that? Huh? What did you think he was talking about? Can you tell me? Okay, don't be embarassed [sic]. Don't be shy.
A. It means getting on top of somebody.
Q. And do what? Do you know? Okay, you've got to say it. Go ahead.
A. And put his thing up..
Q. Say it a little bit louder (unclear)
A. And put his thing up to it.
Q. Okay. Now, what did you do when he said that?
A. I told him I was too little.
Q. Okay, did he do anything else to you? What did he do?
A. Yeah.
Q. What?
A. Hit me.
Q. Where did he hit you?
A. In my face.

The child positively identified the defendant juvenile in court as the young man who attacked her. She also identified him at his home after the incident, but indicated he must have changed clothes because the clothes he had on at the house were different from those he had on at the site of the incident.

Daniel Saygo heard the screams and went to the site of the incident. He observed a young man leave on a bicycle. He was unable to identify the defendant juvenile as the young man whom he saw. Saygo escorted the child to the nearby home of a family friend. The child's mother and the police were notified of the incident. Saygo could not identify a bicycle found at the defendant juvenile's home as the bicycle he had previously seen.

The child's mother testified that the child was born on April 5, 1978, and she recited the "fresh complaint" of the incident given to her by the child.

The 14 year old defendant juvenile testified he was under the interstate bridge on July 19, 1988 with his cousin, Bryant *798 Handy, and a friend, Gary Faley. It was raining and he was fixing his bike.

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Bluebook (online)
559 So. 2d 795, 1990 WL 15805, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-in-interest-of-handy-lactapp-1990.