State v. Alberto

665 So. 2d 614, 1995 WL 697988
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 28, 1995
Docket95-KA-540
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 665 So. 2d 614 (State v. Alberto) 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 v. Alberto, 665 So. 2d 614, 1995 WL 697988 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

665 So.2d 614 (1995)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Luis Anibal ALBERTO alias Alberto L. Anibal a/k/a Louis Alberto.

No. 95-KA-540.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

November 28, 1995.
Writs Denied March 22 and March 29, 1996.

*617 John M. Mamoulides, Terry M. Boudreaux, District Attorney's Office, Gretna, for State.

Linda Davis-Short, Indigent Defender Board, Gretna, for Luis Anibal Alberto.

Before BOWES, GRISBAUM and GOTHARD, JJ.

BOWES, Judge.

Defendant, Luis Anibal Alberto, alias Alberto L. Anibal,[1] was convicted of forcible rape and aggravated burglary and sentenced as follows: for forcible rape, twenty years at hard labor, two years to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence; and for aggravated burglary, fifteen years at hard labor, the two sentences to be served consecutively.

In his appeal to this Court, defendant's appointed appellate counsel requested only an error patent review. A panel of this Court found no errors patent, and ruled to affirm defendant's conviction and sentence. See State v. Alberto, 537 So.2d 871 (La.App. 5 Cir.1989), writ denied, 546 So.2d 1209 (La. 1989).

Defendant filed an application for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, which was denied after hearing by the trial court. Defendant sought review with this court which also denied his application. On review, the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered that an out-of-time appeal be granted. See State v. Alberto, 93-2626 (La. 7/1/94), 639 So.2d 1180. This appeal ensued. For the following reasons, we affirm the defendant's convictions and sentences.

FACTS

L.S., the victim in this matter, is a woman in her late 40's, and a native of El Salvador. On the night of May 14, 1987, she shopped with a friend at Clearview Shopping Center until 9:30, then returned to her apartment on Houma Boulevard in Metairie, where she lived alone. She watched television, then went to sleep sometime between midnight and 12:30 a.m. on May 15. Before retiring, she locked the front door to the apartment and put the chain in place. The only other door in the apartment was a sliding glass door that led to a patio. L.S. testified that the glass door was barred.

At about 3:30 a.m., L.S. awakened to see a Hispanic male standing in her bedroom. She asked how he had gotten into the apartment, and he replied that he had come in through the door. When she asked the man who he was, he told her he was Patricio. He told her he needed money to pay his rent, and that he wanted her money and jewelry. He *618 also told her he had a knife in his pocket and that he would use it to hurt her if she did not cooperate. Although he continued to threaten her, she never actually saw the knife.[2] The man forced her to walk with him around the apartment so he could check for other occupants. Finding none, he returned with L.S. to the bedroom, where he searched for valuables.

The spotlight from the apartment's swimming pool shone in through an open bedroom window, and L.S. was able to see the intruder. He put her money and jewelry in his pocket. He took a perfume bottle from a glass shelf, then put it down after she told him what it was.

Defendant then hit L.S. several times and forced her to lie on the bed by gripping her arms tightly. He told her to take off her nightgown which she refused to do. The intruder then penetrated her with his penis but L.S. testified that he did not ejaculate.

L.S. testified that she screamed, cried and struggled with her attacker. At one point she was able to grab the receiver of her princess style telephone from the bedside table and hide it under a pillow on the bed. She dialed 911, and when the intruder heard a voice over the line, he disconnected the telephone cord. The victim then got up from the bed and ran to the stairs in an attempt to escape her attacker. She tripped and fell down the steps, sustaining some cuts and abrasions. The man unlocked the front door and escaped.

L.S. gave a description of her assailant to one of the investigating officers, Detective Steve Buras, on the night of the offense, and she also told him that the perpetrator had called himself "Patricio." Subsequently, L.S. paid a brief visit to El Salvador, and upon her return, contacted Detective Ferd Hebert, another investigating officer, with additional information. She recalled that she was acquainted with a man named Patricio Sepulveda, but that the man who had raped her was not the same person. The intruder did not look like the Patricio she knew, nor was his accent the same. She said Patricio was Chilean, and the intruder had spoken with a Honduran or Salvadoran accent. Upon further investigation, Detective Hebert learned that defendant, Luis Anibal Alberto, was Patricio Sepulveda's roommate at the time of the rape.

Approximately two weeks later, Hebert prepared a photographic lineup, and presented it to L.S. at which time she identified defendant as the man who had raped her.[3]

Defendant was arrested on May 28, 1987. On May 29, 1987, defendant contacted Detective Hebert and said he wished to make a statement. Defendant was advised of his rights and subsequently waived them. In a tape recorded statement, he told Hebert that Patricio Sepulveda had approached him with the idea of robbing L.S.'s apartment to obtain money for rent. Defendant went on to say that, although he and Patricio, at one point, had gone to the apartment and looked through a window, he (defendant) had never been inside the place. According to defendant, Patricio eventually appeared at their shared apartment with some pieces of jewelry, which he asked defendant to sell for rent money. Defendant stated that he did in fact sell two pieces of jewelry.

At trial, L.S. testified that defendant was the man who had raped her. She stated that she recognized him although he had grown a beard since the attack. Joseph Warren, a forensic biologist with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Crime Lab, testified that pubic hairs found on the victim's bed sheet were compatible with pubic hair samples taken from defendant.

Merril Boling, a latent fingerprint examiner with the sheriff's office, testified that defendant's left thumbprint was matched to a thumbprint lifted from the victim's perfume bottle.

Defendant's testimony at trial was very similar to that he had given in his statement to police. In addition, he presented two *619 character witnesses, who both testified as to defendant's non-violent nature. Nevertheless, defendant was convicted by the jury of forcible rape and aggravated burglary.

ANALYSIS

In this appeal, defendant alleges eight assignments of error.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1 FAILURE TO RULE ON THE MOTION TO SUPPRESS

In his first assignment of error, defendant alleges that the trial court committed reversible error in failing to hold a hearing on his motion to suppress identification prior to trial.

The record in this matter reflects that defendant filed a motion to suppress identification. However, the minute entries present in the record fail to show that there was ever a hearing on that motion prior to the trial of this case. The record does not contain a transcript of any such hearing. However, in the following excerpt from the trial transcript, the prosecutor expresses his belief that a hearing had been held on the motion to suppress:

Your Honor, my response is, Number One, we're in the middle of the trial.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
665 So. 2d 614, 1995 WL 697988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-alberto-lactapp-1995.