State v. Broussard

224 So. 3d 23, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 974, 2017 WL 2558813, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1080
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 13, 2017
Docket16-974
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 224 So. 3d 23 (State v. Broussard) 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. Broussard, 224 So. 3d 23, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 974, 2017 WL 2558813, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1080 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

PICKETT, Judge.

FACTS

| between July 1, 1986, and September 6, 1988, the defendant, Mark Anthony Broussard, who was a priest in Lake Charles, Louisiana, had anal sexual intercourse with one of the altar boys in the church. The victim, J.A., was between eleven and twelve years old when the offenses occurred.1

Between September 6, 1988, and July 1, 1991, the defendant fondled the genitals of L.N., who was an altar boy. The defendant performed oral sexual acts on the victim and caused the victim to perform oral sexual acts. The defendant also had anal inter[26]*26course with L.N. The victim was between ten and thirteen years old when the offenses were committed.

The defendant was indicted on August 9, 2012, with two counts of aggravated rape, violations of La.R.S. 14:42, molestation of a juvenile, a violation of La.R.S. 14:81.2, aggravated oral sexual battery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:43.4, and oral sexual battery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:43,3.2

On January 8, 2013, the defendant filed a “Motion to Suppress Statement.” A hearing on the motion was held on April 24, 2013. The trial court took the motion under advisement. On May 1, 2013, the trial court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress in open court with reasons.

|2On March 7, 2013, the state filed a “Notice of Intent to Introduce Evidence of Similar Crimes, Wrongs, or Acts.” On September 16, 2015, the state filed a “Supplement Notice of Intent to Introduce Evidence of Similar Crimes, Wrongs, or Acts.” On September 13,2013, the defendant filed a “Motion in Limine” in response to the state’s filing of the notice of intent to introduce similar crimes, wrongs, or acts at trial, seeking to include that evidence. In response to the the defendant’s motion in limine, the state filed “State’s Response to the Defendant’s Motion for Pretrial Disclosure of Evidence of Independent and Separate Offenses, Wrongs, or Acts and Pretrial Hearing,” and “State’s Response to the Defendant’s Motion in Limine.” On June 25, 2016, the trial court denied the defendant’s motion in limine in open court.

On September 13, 2013, the defendant also filed a “Motion to Redact Videotaped Statement and to Prohibit Introduction of or Reference to Crime not Subject to Indictment.” The state filed “State’s Response to Defense Redactions to Statement of the Accused.” On January 25, 2016, the morning trial commenced, the defendant, the state, and the trial court addressed the defendant’s motion to redact. During the proceeding, the defendant objected to several of the trial court’s refusals to redact certain portions of the defendant’s videotaped statement to the police.

Trial commenced on January 25, 2016, and on February 5, 2016, the defendant was found guilty as charged. The defendant was sentenced on March 11, 2016, to two life sentences at hard labor, without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on the convictions for aggravated rape; fifteen years at hard labor on the conviction for molestation of a juvenile; fifteen years at hard labor on the conviction for oral sexual battery; and twenty-five years on the | sconviction of aggravated oral sexual battery. All the sentences were ordered to be served consecutively, with credit for time served.

The defendant filed a “Motion to Reconsider Sentence” on April 8, 2016. The motion to reconsider the sentence was denied without a hearing.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

The defendant has perfected a timely appeal, wherein he alleges four assignments of error:

1. The court erred when it denied a challenge for cause of a prospective juror.
2. The court erred when it denied the motion to suppress based on Defendant’s invocation of right to counsel.
[27]*273. The court erred when it denied Defendant’s motion in limine to exclude other crimes evidence under La.Code Evid. art. 404(B) in purview of La.Code Evid. art. 412.2, more particularly, evidence of the previously quashed counts.
4. The court erred when it denied, in part, Defendant’s motion to redact the transcription of the videotaped statement and to prohibit the introduction of or reference to crimes not subject to indictment.

ERRORS PATENT

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed by this court for errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find there are no errors patent.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

The defendant asserts that the trial court erred when it denied his challenge for cause of a potential juror who had revealed that she was raped as a child by two uncles. The defendant argues that although the prospective juror indicated that she could remain impartial, her responses during voir dire showed bias, prejudice, or inability to render a judgment according to the law.

In State v. Lewis, 12-1021, pp. 9-11 (La. 3/19/13), 112 So.3d 796, 801-02 (footnote omitted), the supreme court stated:

The peremptory challenge occupies an important role in the jury selection process. By enabling each side to exclude those jurors it perceives as harboring subtle biases with regard to the case which were not elicited on voir dire or which do - not establish legal cause for a challenge, peremptory challenges are a means of “ ‘eliminat[ing] extremes of partiality on both sides,’,.. thereby ‘assuring the selection of a qualified and unbiased jury.’ ” Holland v. Illinois, 493 U.S. 474, 484, 110 S.Ct. 803, 107 L.Ed.2d 905 (1990), quoting Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 219, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965) and Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 91, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). While peremptory challenges are one means of assuring the selection of a qualified and unbiased jury, the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that an erroneous ruling denying a peremptory challenge is not, as a matter of federal constitutional law, a structural error requiring automatic reversal of a defendant’s conviction. Rivera v. Illinois, 556 U.S. 148, 160-61, 129 S.Ct. 1446, 173 L.Ed.2d 320 (2009). Rather, state law determines the consequences when a peremptory challenge is erroneously denied. Id. at 161-62, 129 S.Ct. 1446. As the Court explained in Rivera, “[i]f a defendant is tried before a qualified jury composed of individuals not challengeable for cause, the loss of a peremptory challenge due to a state court’s good-faith error is not a matter of federal constitutional concern ... [but] a matter for the State to address under its own laws.” Id.
In Louisiana, the peremptory challenge is protected by and preserved in the constitution. La. Const, art. I, § 17 (“The accused shall have a right to full voir dire examination of prospective jurors and to challenge jurors peremptorily. The number of challenges shall be fixed by law”). While the exercise of a peremptory challenge is provided through legislation, La.C.Cr.P. arts. 795, 799, and 799.1, it is not merely a statutory right.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Louisiana v. Matt Mason, Jr.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2025
State v. Malveaux
245 So. 3d 81 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State of Louisiana v. Jeffrey Malveaux, Jr.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018
State v. Anderson
258 So. 3d 44 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
224 So. 3d 23, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 974, 2017 WL 2558813, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1080, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-broussard-lactapp-2017.