State v. Baskin

129 So. 3d 614, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 351, 2013 WL 5856851, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2209
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 30, 2013
DocketNo. 13-KA-351
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 129 So. 3d 614 (State v. Baskin) 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. Baskin, 129 So. 3d 614, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 351, 2013 WL 5856851, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2209 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

JUDE G. GRAVOIS, Judge.

|2After being convicted of aggravated incest, defendant, Frankie Baskin, was adjudicated a fourth felony offender and was sentenced to 75 years imprisonment at hard labor. He has appealed both his underlying conviction and his habitual offender adjudication. For the reasons that follow, we affirm defendant’s conviction and habitual offender adjudication, amend his sentence, affirm the sentence as amended, and remand with instructions.

FACTS

At trial, the 16-year-old victim, C.C.,1 testified that she first met defendant, who is her biological father, when she was seven years old. When C.C. was eight years old, she lived with defendant in Westwego. She went back to live with her mother in LaPlace when she was nine years old. Her family then lived in | aTennessee until shortly after C.C.’s twelfth birthday. When the family returned to Louisiana in January, 2008, they lived "with C.C.’s ma[616]*616ternal aunt. However, in February of 2008, since her aunt did not have enough room to accommodate the entire family, C.C. went to live with defendant and his sister in LaPlace. In May of 2008, C.C. moved back with her mother. C.C. testified that after living in LaPlace, defendant moved to a hotel in Metairie, in Jefferson Parish, where she visited him and spent the night “a couple of times.” When C.C. was in eighth grade, defendant was living in Waggaman, also in Jefferson Parish. While she was in eighth grade, defendant moved to New Orleans, where C.C. stayed with him on occasion.

C.C. testified that in February of 2008, defendant began to “touch” her. The first time this happened, she awoke and defendant was on top of her, putting his penis inside her vagina. After this act, he went to sleep, and she cried herself to sleep. Defendant warned C.C. that if she told anyone about this incident, he would go to jail. C.C. testified that defendant raped her repeatedly over the next two years at the hotel in Metairie, at the home in Wag-gaman, and in New Orleans. Defendant made C.C. watch pornographic movies when the rapes took place.

In June of 2010, C.C. had difficulty walking due to pain in her leg and pelvic area. Her mother took her to a pediatrician, and after an ultrasound was performed, it was discovered that she was pregnant. C.C. explained that before the pregnancy was discovered, she had never told anyone that defendant was having sex with her.

After the pregnancy was discovered, an obstetrician was consulted, and C.C. was advised to immediately go to the hospital, where she had an emergency Caesarian section to deliver the infant. When she woke up in her room after the section, she was told that her baby boy had died shortly after birth.

K.C., C.C.’s mother, testified that defendant is the biological father of C.C. K.C. and defendant had a purely sexual relationship, which resulted in C.C.’s ^conception; however, defendant did not learn about C.C. until C.C. was two years old. Defendant saw C.C. sporadically until C.C. was approximately nine years old, at which time she went to live with him for several months. Thereafter, K.C. and C.C. moved to Tennessee, returning to Louisiana on January 12, 2008. C.C. lived with defendant and his sister in LaPlace from approximately February to May of 2008, while C.C. was in the sixth grade. After that time, defendant moved to a motel in Metairie, where K.C. would bring C.C. to visit defendant. When defendant moved in with his sister in Waggaman, K.C. brought C.C. to visit defendant there as well. K.C. explained that she never suspected any type of abuse was taking place, and felt it was important that C.C. had the opportunity to get to know her father’s family.

In 2009, C.C. turned 14 years old and K.C. continued bringing her to visit defendant, who was living in New Orleans at that time. The last time K.C. took C.C. to visit defendant was in February of 2010, while he was living in New Orleans.

K.C. said that she learned of C.C.’s pregnancy in June 2010 after taking her to a pediatrician following a complaint of pelvic area pain. C.C. did not want to identify the father of her baby. K.C. convinced C.C. to write the father’s name down and C.C. wrote “My D-A-D.” C.C. was put into the hospital where the infant died shortly after an emergency Caesarian section was performed. K.C. identified defendant in open court.

Dr. Ann Chau was accepted by the court as an expert in the field of maternal/fetal medicine. Dr. Chau was consulted to treat [617]*617C.C. in June of 2010, after 14-year-old C.C. was found to be pregnant. Dr. Chau testified that C.C. appeared to be scared, quiet, and frightened. Because of C.C.’s young age, | ¡¡Dr. Chau asked her questions about her sexual activity. At that time, C.C. disclosed to Dr. Chau that she was pregnant after being raped by her father.

Based on the medical condition of the baby and the health of the mother, an immediate Cesarean section was recommended, and the infant was delivered on June 15, 2010. According to Dr. Chau, the baby boy was born alive, but passed away shortly thereafter due to a lack of lung development.2

Detective Cynthia Durham, who is employed by the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office in the Personal Violence Section, testified that she was assigned to investigate this case after K.C. filed a police report. She began her investigation by obtaining background information on C.C., K.C., and defendant. She also interviewed C.C. and K.C. and contacted law enforcement agencies in Orleans and St. John the Baptist Parishes regarding ongoing investigations of defendant. Detective Durham recounted that when she interviewed C.C., she was “withdrawn, sad” and “had a difficult time articulating ... what had occurred.” In the course of her investigation, Detective Durham confirmed that allegations of abuse against defendant stemmed in part from incidents alleged to have occurred in Waggaman on Jasmine Street and in a motel on Airline Highway, locations within Jefferson Parish. Detective Durham was present for the interview that C.C. had at the Jefferson Parish Child Advocacy Center.

After obtaining information about the allegations against defendant, Detective Durham sought to obtain buccal swabs to verify that defendant was the biological father of the infant. Swabs were obtained from C.C., the deceased infant, defendant, and K.C.

IfiDetective Christie Chauvin of the St. John the Baptist Sheriffs Office, Criminal Investigations Division, began an investigation in June of 2010 into allegations of sexual abuse made against defendant. The case came to the attention of the Sheriffs Office through notification by the Office of Community Services, after C.C. gave birth. Detective Chauvin learned from interviewing C.C. that she was orally and vaginally raped by defendant in St. John the Baptist Parish from February to May of 2008. An arrest warrant was issued for defendant; he was arrested and Detective Chauvin interviewed him. During this interview, which was not recorded, defendant denied raping C.C. He “mainly wanted to discuss” his music career and his travels.

Bonnie Dubourg, a forensic DNA analyst for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, was accepted by the court as an expert in the field of forensic DNA analysis. After analyzing buccal swabs from the deceased infant, C.C., defendant, and K.C., Ms. Dubourg compiled a report dated July 10, 2012. Based upon the genetic profiles of all four swabs, Ms.

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Related

State v. Baskin
169 So. 3d 667 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
State v. Mendez
140 So. 3d 284 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State v. Young
140 So. 3d 136 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
129 So. 3d 614, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 351, 2013 WL 5856851, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-baskin-lactapp-2013.