State v. Bertrand

891 So. 2d 752, 2004 La.App. 4 Cir. 1496, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 3241, 2004 WL 3030198
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 15, 2004·No. No. 2004-KA-1496·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

[ 1 Chief Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG.

The defendant-appellant, John F. Bertrand, appeals his resentencing pursuant to a remand from this Court. We affirm.

John F. Bertrand was convicted of attempted sexual battery in violation of La. R.S. 14:43.1 (sexual battery) and La. R.S. 14:27 (attempt) at a jury trial on July 23, 2003. He was sentenced to serve nine months in the Louisiana Department of Corrections with a suspended sentence of two years and three months and three years of active probation. He appealed, and this Court affirmed his conviction but vacated his sentence and remanded the case for resentencing. State v. Bertrand, 2003-2069 (La.App. 4 Cir. 4/28/04), 874 So.2d 905. He was resentenced on May 25, 2004, to serve three years at hard labor. He was released on a $25,000 recognizance bond.

The facts of the case as reported in the first appeal are as follows:

At trial Detective Donald Berryhill of the Child Abuse Section of NOPD testified that on January 27, 2003, he investigated a report of sexual battery. After meeting with the six-year-old victim and his mother, the detective determined that there was probable cause to arrest the defendant.
C.C., the victim’s mother, testified that she and her four children were at home on the evening of January 27th. She and her three older children were sleeping in a room 12in which her youngest child and the defendant were watching television. She awoke when the telephone rang and she saw the defendant “was taking his hand out of my baby’s behind and my baby was playing with his self.” C.C. told the defendant to leave and called a relative who suggested that C.C. call the police. She asked her son what happened, and he said the defendant “had his finger in my bootie.” C.C. said she had known Mr. Bertrand for more than twenty years and trusted him. They had a long lasting sexual relationship although Mr. Bertrand is not the father of any of C.C.’s four children. C.C. was not working at the time of this incident, and the defendant regularly gave her money. She went to Mr. Bertrand’s place of work occasionally to ask for money or to help him out. C.C. admitted using marijuana and drinking; she also acknowledged that she had a conviction for selling crack cocaine. Although her conviction was for possession of cocaine, she stated that she had two rocks that she was trying to sell.
Joan Williams, a forensic interviewer for the Child Advocacy Center, testified that she interviewed the victim on February 5th. The videotape of the interview was shown to the jury. When questioned by the defense attorney, Ms. Williams said that the child told her that the abuse occurred twice: once when he was five and again when he was six.
T.C., the six-year-old victim, testified that he lived with his mother and stepfather. When asked if he knew John Bertrand, he responded that John was his “old daddy.” When asked to describe the last time he watched television with John, the child said that his mother, brothers and sister were asleep in the same room. Only he and John were awake. At that time, John “put his hand in my butt.” T.C. stated that the [755] same thing had happened when he lived in a different house. He said he told his mother about the first time, but she did not see it. When asked if anyone had told him what to say in court, T.C. answered that his mother had told him what to say. However, when asked if he was telling the truth, he answered that he was.
Eight character witnesses took the stand and declared that they were aware of the defendant’s reputation in the community. They reported that he was known for his good character.
|3Mr. John Bertrand, the fifty-nine year old defendant, testified that he graduated from high school in New Orleans and served in the U.S. Army in Viet Nam. He has worked in construction for years. He met C.C. in 1989 and has had a relationship with her since that time. C.C. told him that T.C. was his child, but he was not named on the birth certificate as the child’s father. During their entire relationship, he has provided C.C. with money for her rent, clothing, and child expenses. He served as baby-sitter for her children frequently. He occasionally took T.C. to work with him when C.C. did not return home before Mr. Bertrand had to leave for his job. He stated that before the incident he had stopped giving C.C. money because she would never tell him what she did with the money. About 9 p.m. on January 27, 2003, he and C.C. and her four children were watching a movie on television when the telephone rang. C.C. asked him when he was leaving, and he said he could leave then, and he did. He was living around the corner from C.C., and he was at home in bed when the police arrived and arrested him. He denied every [sic] touching T.C. in a sexual manner.

State v. Bertrand, 2003-2069, pp. 1-3, 874 So.2d at 906-907.

The defendant makes three assignments of error concerning his sentence: (1) the trial court erred in sentencing him without mentioning the sentencing guidelines outlined in La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1, especially in light of the fact that the new sentence was substantially more onerous than the original sentence; (2) the sentence is excessive; and (3) his counsel was ineffective in not filing a motion for reconsideration of sentence.

Before considering the first and second assignments, we note that no motion for reconsideration of sentence was filed. The article concerning such a motion, La.C.Cr.P. art. 881.1, provides in pertinent part:

A. (1) Within thirty days following the imposition of sentence or within such longer period as the trial court may set at sentence, the state or the defendant may make or file a motion to reconsider sentence.
(2) The motion shall be oral at the time of sentencing |4or in writing thereafter and shall set forth the specific grounds on which the motion is based. * * *
D. Failure to make or file a motion to reconsider sentence or to include a specific ground upon which a motion to reconsider sentence may be based, including a claim of excessiveness, shall preclude the state or the defendant from raising an objection to the sentence or from urging any ground not raised in the motion on appeal or review.

Furthermore, La.C.Cr.P. art. -881.2 provides in pertinent part:

A. (1) The defendant may appeal or seek review of a sentence based on any ground asserted in a motion to reconsider sentence. The defendant also may [756] seek review of a sentence which exceeds the maximum sentence authorized by the statute under which the defendant was convicted and any applicable statutory enhancement provisions. -

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State v. Bertrand, 891 So. 2d 752, 2004 La.App. 4 Cir. 1496, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 3241, 2004 WL 3030198 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

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