State v. Clifton

248 So. 3d 691
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 23, 2018
DocketNO. 17–KA–538
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 248 So. 3d 691 (State v. Clifton) 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. Clifton, 248 So. 3d 691 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

WICKER, J.

Defendant, Trevor Clifton, appeals his convictions for sexual battery of a juvenile in violation of La. R.S. 14:43.1 and his subsequent adjudication and sentence as a multiple offender. For the following reasons, we affirm defendant's convictions but vacate his enhanced sentence as a multiple offender under La. R.S. 15:529.1, and remand this matter to the trial court for resentencing.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On February 4, 2016, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant, Trevor Clifton, with one count of sexual battery of a juvenile under the age of thirteen, in violation of La. R.S. 14:43.1 (count one), and one count of sexual battery of a juvenile under the age of fifteen, in violation of La. R.S. 14:43.1 (count two). Defendant pled not guilty at his arraignment.

The matter proceeded to trial and, on January 26, 2017, a twelve-person jury found defendant guilty as charged. On February 9, 2017, the trial court sentenced defendant to sixty years imprisonment at hard labor, with the first twenty-five years of the sentence to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on count one and ten years imprisonment at hard labor to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on count two. The trial court ordered defendant's sentences to be served concurrently, recommended defendant for participation in any self-help programs available to him, and ordered that, upon completion of his term of imprisonment, defendant be monitored by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections through the use of electronic monitoring equipment for the remainder of his natural life. The trial court further ordered that defendant register as a sex offender pursuant to La. R.S. 15:543.1 and provided defendant with a written copy of the sex offender notification requirements. On *695February 23, 2017, defendant filed a motion to reconsider sentence.

The State filed a multiple offender bill of information on count one, alleging defendant to be a second felony offender, to which defendant pled not guilty. On April 13, 2017, the trial court conducted a hearing and adjudicated defendant a second felony offender. The trial court vacated defendant's sentence on count one and resentenced him, pursuant to La. R.S. 15:529.1, to sixty years imprisonment at hard labor to be served without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence.1 After imposition of his enhanced sentence, defendant orally "converted" his previously filed motion to reconsider sentence to argue that the imposition of his sixty-year enhanced sentence was excessive. The trial court denied defendant's motion to reconsider. This timely appeal follows.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The victim, C.C.,2 testified that in the early morning hours of October 2, 2015, she was in her bedroom getting ready for school. Upon exiting her room, C.C.'s "step-father,"3 defendant, was standing in the hallway waiting for her. C.C. recalled that defendant instructed her to come over to him and to pull down her pants. He then ordered her to get down on the ground on all fours at which time he got down on his knees, pulled down his pants, and put his penis inside her vagina. C.C. testified that her mother, D.C., came out of her bedroom, saw defendant with her, and began hitting him. C.C. recalled that defendant promised her mother that he would go to church with her if she agreed not to call the police and that he then attempted to hide the phone before grabbing a knife and fleeing the house.

C.C. testified at trial that her encounter with defendant on October 2, 2015, was not the first instance of sexual abuse committed by defendant. She recalled other occasions, when her mother was not at home, in which defendant would retrieve her from her bedroom and instruct her to go out into the hallway, pull down her pants, and "get on all fours" on the floor. She testified that he would then pull down his pants and put his penis in her "booty between [her] legs." She further testified that at night, while her mother was asleep, she would lock her bedroom door and barricade it with toys but that defendant would find a way in and would tell her to do "the same thing" in the hallway. She recalled that when he would "finish" he would "clean up" with a white towel.4

C.C. also told the jury that there were instances "a long time ago" when defendant would pick her up from Bible study and take her to an isolated location where *696he would instruct her to pull down her pants at which time he would get in front of her and "lay" his penis "in front of-in between [her] legs and he would, like, do it."5 C.C. recalled an earlier incident when she and defendant were at home and he touched her legs, which she stated made her feel "scared, nervous, and disgusting." There were also times, according to C.C., when defendant would instruct her to perform oral sex on him and request that she "make noises." C.C. stated that although she would not make the "noises" requested of her, defendant would moan during the sexual acts. C.C. testified defendant instructed her not to tell her mother and that she was "scared and nervous" to tell her mother or anyone else.

Anne Troy, an expert family nurse practitioner with Children's Hospital specializing in forensic nursing, including child sexual abuse and delayed disclosure, testified at trial. Nurse Troy explained for the jury that delayed disclosures in sexual abuse cases involving children are very common due to the often close relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. She further explained it was common in sexual abuse cases for children to present with "normal bodies" upon examination. Nurse Troy testified that a sexual abuse victim may disclose information gradually as the child begins to feel more supported and that the details of the victim's reports can vary depending on who the victim is speaking to and the victim's level of comfort. Nurse Troy further explained that it is not unusual for a child to acquiesce to the sexual abuse because of his or her love for the abuser and/or shock or fear at the time of the abuse.

Nurse Troy testified that she conducted a forensic examination on C.C., who was fourteen years old at the time of the examination on October 2, 2015. C.C.'s explanation of the events to Nurse Troy corroborated C.C.'s trial testimony. During her evaluation, C.C. told Nurse Troy that her "stepdaddy" put his "private part in me." She explained she was getting ready for school on October 2, 2015, when defendant knocked on her bedroom door. C.C. told him "no leave me alone," but defendant waited in the hallway and proceeded to warn her that if she did not come with him he was going to hurt her. C.C. followed defendant's command, pulled down her pants, and got down on her knees. She told Nurse Troy that defendant then pulled down his pants and put "his private part" in her "private part." C.C. further told Nurse Troy that D.C. walked into the bathroom, saw what was going on, and began crying and hitting defendant. She recalled that D.C. told defendant she was going to call the police, and that defendant told D.C. he was not going to "do it again" and would start going to church.

During the interview with Nurse Troy, C.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 So. 3d 691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-clifton-lactapp-2018.