State v. Alverez

158 So. 3d 142, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 3047, 2014 WL 7331588
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 23, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-KA-1652
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 158 So. 3d 142 (State v. Alverez) 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. Alverez, 158 So. 3d 142, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 3047, 2014 WL 7331588 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

JOY COSSICH LOBRANO, JUDGE.

| iThe State charged defendant, Randy T. Alverez, Sr., with one count of aggravated incest1 upon a thirteen year old female (victim), who had a familial relationship with the defendant. Following a trial, the jury found defendant guilty of attempted aggravated incest, and the trial court sentenced him to six years at hard labor with credit for time served. Defendant appealed. For the reasons that follow, we affirm defendant’s conviction and sentence.

[146]*146On October 14, 2008, New Orleans Police Department Detective Jounay Ross (Det. Ross) arrived at the victim’s school after being contacted by Mr. Burton, a social worker with the Department of Family and Children Services who was assigned to the school. Det. Ross met with Ms. Allen, who informed him of the allegation made by the victim. Det. Ross also spoke with Ms. Kimberly Ballance, the school’s operations data manager and a friend of the victim’s mother. Shortly thereafter, the victim’s mother arrived at the school, and Det. Ross advised |2her that the victim needed to go to Children’s Hospital for a physical examination and forensic interview. Ms. Joan Verrett, a forensic interviewer with the Children’s Advocacy Center, interviewed the victim, while Det. Ross monitored the interview from a separate viewing area.

After the interview, Det. Ross relocated to the victim’s family home, where she encountered the defendant outside the residence smoking a cigarette. Det. Ross explained her presence, and the defendant gave her permission to enter the residence to take photographs. Det. Ross recalled that the residence had three bedrooms in the rear of the house and a den containing a sofa, computer, baby bed and television. On October 16, 2008, the defendant was arrested and charged with aggravated incest. Det. Ross identified the cassette tape, DVD, VHS tape and drawings from the victim’s forensic interview conducted at the Children’s Advocacy Center.

Ms. Verrett testified that she interviewed the victim at the Children’s Advocacy Center in October of 2008, and that none of the victim’s family members or attorneys was present during the video and audio recorded interview.2

Ms. Ballance testified that in October 2008 she encountered the victim crying at school. When Ms. Ballance asked the victim what was wrong, she responded that something inappropriate had happened between her and the defendant. Ms. Bal-lance contacted Mr. Burton, who assumed control of the situation.

DThe victim testified that on October 14, 2008, she was thirteen years old, in the eighth grade at Edward Hynes Charter School, and was living with her family, including the defendant.

On the evening of October 14, 2008, the victim said she had fallen asleep on the sofa in front of the television in the den. On past occasions, the defendant would wake her up and send her,to bed. However, on this particular night, she awoke to see and feel the defendant removing his penis from her mouth. He had a T-shirt on and basketball shorts from which his penis was protruding. She began to cry. She got up, brushed her teeth, and then went to bed. The defendant followed her into her bedroom and pleaded with her not to tell anyone about the incident. If she did, he told her, her younger sister and brother would grow up without a father. She decided not tell anyone what had happened.

The next morning, as the defendant drove the victim to school, he told her not to tell anyone about the previous night. He also told her he would have her phone repaired. At school, she kept thinking about what had happened the night before and was extremely upset. Ms. Ballance noticed that she was crying and asked what was wrong. The victim told Ms. Ballance that the defendant had inappropriate contact with her the night before. Ms. Ballance had the victim speak to the school social worker, who called Child Pro[147]*147tective Services. When the defendant arrived at school to pick up the victim, the school authorities would not release her to him. The victim’s mother came to school, and brought the victim to Children’s Hospital. The victim underwent a medical exam, spoke to doctors and met with Ms. Verrett.

During the interview, the victim told Ms. Verrett that although her mother was home the night of the incident, she did not tell her what the defendant had |4done. The victim said that the defendant had warned her not to tell her mother because he would get in trouble, and her brother and sister would no longer have a father. The defendant also told her that if her mother and biological father learned of the incident, their relationship would deteriorate.

The State introduced the victim’s medical reports from Children’s Hospital, and documentation proving the required familiar relationship between the victim and defendant.

The defendant testified that in October 2008, he, his wife, their two children and the victim lived together. The defendant explained that on the night of October 13, 2008, he discovered some inappropriate and sexually suggestive text messages on the victim’s cell phone. He did not know who had sent the victim the messages and was concerned that some stranger was arranging to meet the victim at her school. The defendant woke the victim, who had fallen asleep on the sofa, to discuss the text messages. She would not respond to his questions, so he threatened to take her cell phone from her and prevent her from seeing her father on the weekend. The victim became enraged and threatened the defendant that if he did not allow her to see her father, she would tell someone that he (the defendant) had touched her inappropriately. After that, the defendant sent- the victim to bed, and he retired shortly afterwards. The defendant did not tell his wife about the e-mails or the discussion he and the victim had had about them. The next morning, the defendant drove the victim to school. The two did not converse during the trip, but when the victim asked the defendant for her cell phone, he refused to give it to her. The defendant denied putting his penis in the victim’s mouth.

IsDuring cross-examination, the defendant stated that he did not tell his wife or the victim’s father about the text messages he saw on the victim’s phone. However, when the school would not release the victim to him, he mentioned to his wife the discussion he and the victim had the night before and the threat she had made against him. The defendant said he assumed the text messages were somehow connected to a person across the river in the vicinity of the victim’s father’s house. The defendant further denied that the text messages could have been received in error by the victim. He did admit, however, that he did not know whether the messages came from a male, nor did he know the number the messages were sent from. The defendant complained that every time the victim returned from a visit with her father, she was disrespectful and refused to perform her chores.

Mr. Edward Gai testified that he was a private investigator and worked on this case on behalf of the defense. On October 24, 2008, Gai photographed the defendant’s residence, and he retrieved a pair of blue shorts belonging to the defendant. Under cross-examination, Mr. Gai noted that neither the defendant nor his wife turned over a cell phone to him. Gai also admitted that he did not obtain records pertaining to the victim’s cell phone.

A review for errors patent on the face of the record reveals none.

[148]

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Bluebook (online)
158 So. 3d 142, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 3047, 2014 WL 7331588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-alverez-lactapp-2014.