State v. Bordelon

929 So. 2d 244, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 941, 2006 WL 1063822
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 19, 2006
DocketNo. 05-1507
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 929 So. 2d 244 (State v. Bordelon) 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. Bordelon, 929 So. 2d 244, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 941, 2006 WL 1063822 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

GENOVESE, Judge.

11After having been indicted by a grand jury in Evangeline Parish on the charge of forcible rape, Defendant, Toby Shaun Bor-delon, was convicted of the responsive verdict of attempted forcible rape by a jury on June 15, 2005. On September 15, 2005, Defendant was sentenced to serve twenty years at hard labor. After his motion for reconsideration of the sentence was denied, Defendant appealed, alleging three assignments of error: (1) insufficiency of the evidence; (2) admission of inadmissible hearsay evidence; and (3) excessiveness of sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm Defendant’s conviction and sentence, and remand the matter back to the trial court to correct the sentencing minutes.

FACTS

A review of the record indicates that on November 2, 2004, Detective Joseph De-mourelle of the Evangeline Parish Sheriff Department was advised of a possible [246]*246rape. The next day, the victim1 (A.G.) went to the Evangeline Parish Sheriffs Department and was interviewed by Detective Demourelle. She related that while she was working at the Dollar General Store in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, Defendant came into the store looking for ant poison. A.G. attempted to assist Defendant by showing him where the poison was located. When A.G. noticed that there was no ant poison on the shelf, she told Defendant that she would check the storeroom for some. When she entered the storeroom, she noticed that Defendant had followed her. She advised him that he could not be in that area. A.G. stated that Defendant then grabbed her and forced her into the bathroom.

At trial, Detective Demourelle identified photos taken by him of A.G. which showed a bruise below her eye on her left cheek. A.G. advised him that this bruise | occurred when Defendant forced her between the lavatory and toilet where she struck her face on the toilet.

The detective conducted an interview with Defendant prior to taking a recorded or video statement from him. Defendant told Detective Demourelle that he knew A.G., and that he had asked her as they were walking to the, back of the store, “when are we going to get together,” or something to that effect. A.G. told him that her father would not like that, and Defendant responded that he “liked to stick to [his] own race anyway.”

Detective Demourelle testified that during the interview Defendant inquired about the crime for which he was charged and that he advised Defendant that the charge had been upgraded to rape. At that point, Defendant said he did not wish to talk anymore. He also stated that he wanted to speak to an attorney. The interview ceased.

Detective Demourelle also testified that a standard sexual assault kit completed during the medical examination of A.G. was submitted to the crime lab, along with her clothing and the suspect’s clothing. The lab was unable to detect the presence of semen.

Sergeant Zelda Deshotel, who also works for the Evangeline Parish Sheriffs Department as the parish juvenile investigator, was asked by Detective Demourelle to interview A.G., who related the following to her about the attack:

She told me that a white male subject by the name of Toby, I believe Bordelon is the last name, went into the store where she was working and asked for some ant poison that cost a $1.00 [sic] and she went and looked on the shelf and there was nothing on the shelf so she went to the stock room to see if there was any in there and when she turned around he was right behind her, he had closed the door and she told him he couldn’t be in there, he had to get out, he couldn’t be in there, and she then told me that he caught her by the shirt, dragged her to the restroom which was located in the stock room and that’s when she started telling me she tried to get to her, her box cutter to defend herself and she told | shim no, don’t do this and she had a, a bruise under her left eye, I think it was her left eye and I asked her how she got that and she said it was when he pushed her against the wall in between the toilet and the sink in the bathroom, her face hit against it and she said he held both of her hands in one of his, undid her pants, his was undone, I asked her if she [247]*247noticed any scars or anything unusual about his private area and she told me, only that it was hairy and she said well, I said well did he commit full penetration and did he go in, and she said about an inch and a half and something spooked him and, he stopped. So I asked her what do you think spooked him, she said she later found out, when he left her, when he got spooked, she said he just left me there laying on the ground and she said she was really nauseated and scared and crying, she went out of the stock room and she told one of the elderly women that was working there, I forget her name but it’s on the interview what had happened and she then found out at that time that a young man by the name of, I believe Stacy went in looking for Toby in the store and the other two women saw Toby in the store but now at that time that Stacy was looking for him, they couldn’t find him anywhere, so he left and so when she told me that I found that very interesting, that you know that was probably the time frame that she was being raped, that this guy went in to look for Toby and they couldn’t find him.

Amy Renee Henry, a close friend of A.G., testified that she stopped at the Dollar Store on November 1, 2004, at approximately 6:15 p.m., and saw A.G. sitting on the concrete in front of the store. Mrs. Henry recognized that something was wrong. After asking A.G. what was wrong, A.G. related basically the same story given to the detective.

A.G. stated that she had told her boss about the incident, but that her boss took no action. Mrs. Henry then saw a passing law enforcement unit, and she and A.G. followed the unit and reported the crime. A.G. also showed her where her shirt had been ripped in the incident.

Lawanna Deshotel, a co-employee of A.G., testified that when she got off work about 4:00 p.m., she observed A.G., and “her hair was messed up and she looked aggravated like, stunned or something. ...” She asked her what was wrong, and A.G. related that Defendant had attacked her in the warehouse and “tried to stick it in her.... ” Ms. Deshotel also said that she had seen the Defendant come into the|4store earlier.

Leisha Deville, the manager of the Pine Prairie Dollar Store, testified that she was advised by Lawanna Deshotel about what had happened, but that she never discussed the incident with A.G.

Dr. Charles Edward Fontenot, a family practitioner and Evangeline Parish Coroner, testified that he reviewed medical records of an examination of A.G. and that the report disclosed no objective signs of a sexual assault.

Stacy Guillory, a long time friend of Defendant, testified that on November 1, 2004, he observed Defendant’s truck parked at the Dollar Store. He stated that he entered the store and asked the cashier if she had seen Defendant and then walked throughout the store, with the exception of the bathroom and storage room area, calling out Defendant’s name. Mr. Guillory then went outside, observed Defendant’s truck still there, and walked back into the store. He was in the store twice, for a period of six or seven minutes, and did not find Defendant on either occasion.

A.G. testified that she was a high school graduate and a recent graduate of Louisiana Technical Institute, with a degree in accounting. In November, 2004, she was not sexually active.

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929 So. 2d 244, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 941, 2006 WL 1063822, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bordelon-lactapp-2006.