State v. Campbell

461 So. 2d 644
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 28, 1984
Docket84 KA 0650
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 461 So. 2d 644 (State v. Campbell) 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. Campbell, 461 So. 2d 644 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

461 So.2d 644 (1984)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Dixon W. CAMPBELL.

No. 84 KA 0650.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 28, 1984.

*645 Ossie Brown, Dist. Atty. by Donald Wingerter, Asst. Dist. Atty., Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee.

Gail Ray, Asst. Public Defender, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.

Before COLE, CARTER and LANIER, JJ.

*646 CARTER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction of attempted forcible rape.

FACTS

During the late evening hours of September 15, 1982, the victim arrived in Baton Rouge from Richmond, Virginia on a business trip for her employer. She checked into the Bellemont Hotel and had a drink in her room. She then went over to the coffee shop to get something to eat. Upon finding it closed, the victim went to the piano bar.

From this point on, the testimony as to the circumstances surrounding the sexual intercourse is conflicting. The victim's version is as follows: While at the piano bar, the defendant approached her and asked her to dance. They danced and had a few drinks together. When she decided to leave the piano bar, the defendant asked and was permitted to escort her to her room. Upon arriving at the room, the victim removed the room key from her pocketbook, whereupon the defendant took it out of her hand and opened the door. The defendant then entered the room and turned on the light and the television set. The victim then asked the defendant to leave, telling him that she had a meeting in the morning. She continued to ask the defendant to leave; however, he refused. Suddenly the defendant threw the victim on the bed, put his hand around her throat, and started choking her. He also told her if she made any noise, he would kill her. The victim began screaming, but the defendant put his hand over her mouth. The defendant pinned her down, took her pants off, ripped her blouse and underwear, and engaged in vaginal intercourse with her. When the defendant began to perform anal intercourse with her, the victim was finally able to push him away. When faced with this resistance, defendant started beating the victim with his fists around her face and head. In the process of leaving the scene of the attack, defendant threatened the victim telling her not to report the incident or he would kill her. He said he had a gun and showed her what appeared to be a sheriff's deputy card. At this time, he ripped the telephone wire out of the wall and left. The victim was unable to rouse the occupants of the adjacent rooms, so she went to the hotel reception desk and reported the attack to security. The police then arrived, and she was taken to Doctors Memorial Hospital for examination.

The defendant gave a totally different version of the events which led up to the sexual encounter. Defendant testified that at approximately 9:30 p.m. on the night in question, he left the front bar at the Bellemont Hotel and proceeded to the piano bar. Upon entering the piano bar, he got a drink and sat down. After he was there approximately fifteen or twenty minutes, the victim approached the defendant and asked if she could join him. The two then had a few drinks and danced several dances together. The couple danced closely, which aroused defendant. Sometime between 11:00 p.m. and midnight, the victim asked defendant to walk her to her room. After he opened the door and handed the victim the keys, she began kissing him. The couple then engaged in intercourse. Afterwards, defendant dressed and told the victim good night. The defendant denied hitting the victim or forcing the sexual intercourse in any matter. He further denied attempting anal intercourse or pulling the phone wire out of the wall, although he remembered the phone falling to the floor.

Several days after the incident, the victim identified the defendant from a photographic line-up. With this information, Detective Charles Mondrick, an investigator with the Sex Crimes Unit of the Baton Rouge Police Department, located defendant's place of employment, Allied Builder's Supply (Allied) in Baker, Louisiana. Detective Mondrick proceeded to this place of business to talk with the proprietors, John and George Kennedy, to gather information on the defendant. Upon being advised of the purpose of Mondrick's visit, John Kennedy, an attorney, was hesitant to supply the information because not only was *647 Campbell his employee, but he was a friend and possibly a client. Kennedy said he would allow the police officer to question defendant on company time, but that he would advise the defendant not to make a statement.

Since Detective Mondrick was outside the corporate limits of the City of Baton Rouge, he called the Baker Police Department for assistance. Sergeant Charles Smith of the Baker Police Department arrived and the two were standing outside Allied when they detained defendant as he exited the building. Defendant was advised that he was under investigation for rape, and the officers advised defendant of his Miranda rights. Defendant then volunteered that he had been at the Bellemont Hotel that night. Detective Mondrick interrupted him and again advised him that he had the right to have an attorney present and that he did not have to make a statement. Defendant then continued that while at the Bellemont that night, he had met a female. At this point, Detective Mondrick stopped defendant and asked him to accompany him to the office in Baton Rouge, which defendant agreed to do. When Detective Mondrick went inside the building to advise Kennedy of the situation, the defendant told Sergeant Smith that he did not understand what was happening to him. Defendant admitted having consensual sexual intercourse with the victim, but was afraid she was trying to make trouble for him.

Defendant, Dixon W. Campbell, was charged by indictment with forcible rape, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:42.1. A jury convicted defendant of attempted forcible rape, and he was sentenced to serve ten years at hard labor, two of which are to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. Defendant appeals, alleging the following four assignments of error:

1. The trial court erred in admitting Mr. Jerry Miller as an expert in the field of serology;
2. The trial court failed to suppress a statement made by defendant;
3. The evidence was insufficient to support the conviction; and,
4. The trial court imposed an excessive sentence.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1[1]

In this assignment of error, defendant contends the trial judge erred when he admitted Jerry Miller as an expert in the field of serology. We first note that since both the defendant and the victim testified that sexual intercourse occurred, the testimony of the serologist was of little or no evidentiary value in the case sub judice.

Furthermore, competency of an expert witness normally is a question of fact to be resolved by the trial judge, and his ruling thereon will not be overturned on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Knighton, 436 So.2d 1141 (La. 1983); State v. Coleman, 406 So.2d 563 (La.1981). The expert in the instant case testified that he had six years experience as a forensic scientist in the area of serology, while employed at the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory. Mr. Miller had completed a two-week forensic course at Southeastern Missouri State University and a hair and fiber analysis course at the FBI academy.

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Bluebook (online)
461 So. 2d 644, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-campbell-lactapp-1984.