State v. Bruce

577 So. 2d 209, 1991 WL 35079
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 5, 1991
DocketKA 90 0562
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 577 So. 2d 209 (State v. Bruce) 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. Bruce, 577 So. 2d 209, 1991 WL 35079 (La. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

577 So.2d 209 (1991)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Brian BRUCE.

No. KA 90 0562.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 5, 1991.
Writ Denied May 24, 1991.

Bryan Bush, Dist. Atty., by Jessie Bankston, Asst. Dist. Atty., Office of Dist. Atty., Baton Rouge, for plaintiff, appellee.

Robert Klenipeter, Baton Rouge, for defendant, appellant.

*210 Before EDWARDS, WATKINS and LeBLANC, JJ.

EDWARDS, Judge.

Defendant, Brian Bruce, was charged in a two-count indictment with the commission of molestation of a juvenile over whom he had control or supervision against a four-year-old boy (count 1) and against a five-year-old boy (count 2), violations of LSA-R.S. 14:81.2. Defendant was tried by a jury which convicted him as charged on count 1 and acquitted him on count 2. The trial court sentenced him to imprisonment at hard labor for a term of fifteen years. The sentence was suspended and defendant was placed on active supervised probation for five years, subject to general and specific conditions. Defendant's motion for post verdict judgment of acquittal and/or new trial was denied. Defendant now appeals his conviction on count one.

FACTS

The testimony elicited at trial reflects the following sequence of events:

In the spring of 1987, the victim's parents began sending him to the Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation where he was given individual speech therapy, once a week, for a speech impediment. The child then attended a special summer school program at the Foundation and was subsequently enrolled in the 1987 fall semester of daily instruction at the Foundation in September. During the fall semester, every morning until noon, the child attended a class taught by Charlotte Sartain Provensa, while the defendant taught another class in a classroom across the hall. Each day at 12:30, after lunch, the child went to the defendant's classroom where the defendant supervised him and the other preschool and kindergarten children who stayed at school in the afternoon until 2:00 or 2:15 p.m. Because the child's mother worked, the child's maternal grandmother transported him to and from school on a regular basis.

The child's parents and grandmother testified that in September, 1987, the child began to display certain behavorial changes which caused them concern. Specifically, they recounted that the child initially loved school and frequently came home with papers to show and stories to tell. Suddenly, the child began to display an unusual dislike for school, an unwillingness to get out of bed in the mornings, and a reluctance to talk with them about school. The child, who had been toilet trained, also began soiling his pants.

The child's ten-year-old brother testified that he and the child had frequently bathed together and that one day, the child grabbed his penis, and tried to put it in his mouth. The brother informed his mother of the child's behavior, and she instructed the two to stop bathing together.

One day, on or about October 6, 1987, the child's grandmother was about five or ten minutes late in arriving at the Foundation to pick up the child after school. When she arrived at the school, she went to defendant's classroom where she ordinarily picked up the child. Finding no one in the classroom, she went outside to look for him in the playground. She reentered the school building and encountered Marguerite "Boots" Baronne, a teacher's aide, who helped her look for the child. They went back to defendant's classroom, calling out the child's name. Once they were inside the classroom, a door to the supply closet, located adjacent to the classroom, opened and the defendant and the child exited the closet. The grandmother testified that she and the child then left the school.

In early November, the child's mother and the grandmother conferred with one another about the various behavioral changes in the child. The grandmother related the October 6 closet incident to the mother, and together they concluded that there was "something going on." They next talked to a friend who was affiliated with the police, and on approximately November 9, 1987, they reported the matter to the police. The victim's father testified that he first learned of the incident when his wife and her mother telephoned him from the police station and informed him of their actions. He later had a conversation with the child, after which he went to the *211 police station and signed a sworn affidavit for defendant's arrest.

At the recommendation of the police, the child was examined by a doctor. The examination, performed by Dr. B.F. Thompson, failed to show any evidence that the child had been sexually abused.

The child's parents then removed him from school at the Foundation and placed him in another school.

The parents testified that they took the child to the District Attorney's office on several occasions. On these occasions, the child would be taken into a separate room with a District Attorney's office representative. No one else was present at these meetings, and there was no testimony at the trial regarding the content of these sessions.

At the recommendation of the District Attorney's office, the parents took the child to a clinical psychologist, Dr. Allen Taylor. Dr. Taylor conducted an initial series of six sessions with the child on February 1, 3, 17, and 23, 1988, and March 9 and 17, 1988. Dr. Taylor testified that the child was extremely reluctant to talk, and shook his head vigorously in response to questions or statements regarding the alleged abuse. In order to aid the child's communication, Dr. Taylor employed the use of anatomically correct dolls. He testified that the use of these dolls to determine the occurrence of sexual abuse in children is highly controversial, however, he utilizes them when working with developmentally handicapped children. He used them in this case based on the child's unwillingness to communicate and in light of the child's speech and language delay. Dr. Taylor concluded these sessions in March since he felt it unlikely that the child would be or could be cooperative with further prodding and that the child had given all the information that he was capable of giving at the time.

Approximately eight months later,[1] Dr. Taylor saw the child again. This time, Dr. Taylor noted that the child was much more verbal and much more interested in and able to communicate. The child did continue to display some reluctance to talk; the reluctance was "much more confined to the doll play and the accounts of what had happened." He again employed the use of the anatomically correct dolls in his sessions with the child. Dr. Taylor testified that, based upon his observations of the child engaged in doll play and of the child's accompanying verbalizations, in his expert opinion, the child had been abused.

Approximately nine months after the second set of sessions with Dr. Taylor, the trial in the matter was held. The child testified at trial as follows:

Q. Do you remember a man named Mr. B.B.?[2]
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. And how do you know Mr. B.B.?
A. Where I go to school.
Q. Where you go to school?
A. Yes, Ma'am.
Q. Do you like Mr. B.B.?
A. No.
Q. No.
Mr. Kleinpeter: I object now, may it please the court. I haven't heard the child say anything.
The court: He nodded his head.
By Ms. Bernie.
Q.

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953 So. 2d 146 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2007)
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922 So. 2d 1195 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
State v. Davis
664 So. 2d 821 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1995)
State v. Bruce
580 So. 2d 667 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
577 So. 2d 209, 1991 WL 35079, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bruce-lactapp-1991.