State v. Davis

26 So. 3d 802, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 1957, 2009 WL 3838794
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided November 18, 2009·No. 44,656-KA·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

CARAWAY, J.

I , Richard L. Davis was indicted and subsequently convicted by a unanimous 12-person jury of one count of aggravated rape (victim under age 13) and one count of indecent behavior with juveniles, violations of La. R.S. 14:42(A)(4) and La. R.S. 14:81, respectively. The case was originally tried as a death penalty case, and Davis was given the death penalty for the aggravated rape. The Louisiana Supreme Court remanded the case to the First Judicial District Court for resentencing Davis to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension *805 of sentence. State v. Davis, 08-1378 (La.12/12/08), 995 So.2d 1211. 1

Davis initially received a concurrent seven-year hard labor sentence on the indecent behavior conviction. However, upon remand, the trial court amended this sentence to run consecutively to the aggravated rape sentence. Motions for post-verdict judgment of acquittal and new trial were denied. After resentencing, a motion to reconsider sentence regarding the amendment of the indecent behavior with juveniles sentence was also denied. This appeal followed. We affirm the convictions and aggravated rape sentence. We reinstate the original sentence on the indecent behavior with juveniles conviction.

Facts

An amended indictment charged Davis with the aggravated rape of K.F. based upon allegations that Davis had vaginal, anal, and oral sexual | ¿intercourse with the five-year-old. 2 The indictment also charged that between October of 1996 and September 16, 1997, Davis committed the offense of indecent behavior with juveniles upon J.B.

The direct evidence of the two crimes is not now challenged on sufficiency grounds but is relevant for consideration of the assignment of error regarding the admissibility of other crimes evidence used by the prosecution. Regarding the crime against J.B., the state presented the testimony of J.B. to show that she and Davis had a sexual relationship shortly after J.B.’s 16th birthday when he was 24 years old and married. Regarding the aggravated rape of K.F., the state presented evidence through the testimony of K.F., who was five years old at the time of the sexual assault. The state also presented the testimony of Davis’s girlfriend and a codefen-dant, Melissa Ticer, who was charged with Davis for the crime. The evidence showed that Davis had performed various sexual acts including oral sex, fondling, and vaginal and anal penetration upon K.F. on multiple occasions. Evidence also showed that Davis inserted a marker into the child’s vagina on one occasion. On a number of occasions, Davis had drugged the child with Trazadone to make her sleep during the acts. Tieer’s testimony implicated Davis. Ticer testified that Davis drugged the child and that Davis exposed the child to Internet pornography. Ticer’s testimony also included her eyewitness accounts of Davis’s various (approximately 20) sexual acts with the child during a four-month period. She also | ^admitted to her own participation in the acts, although she claimed her actions were at the direction of Davis.

The state introduced other crimes evidence against Davis. These bad acts consisted of evidence regarding Davis’s indictment for aggravated oral sexual battery of Davis’s child, A.D., and his subsequent guilty plea to second degree battery for the offense. The state also introduced J.B.’s testimony that she had viewed images of nude or partially undressed children between the ages of 10 and 13 on Davis’s computer in 1999. There was also other crimes evidence pertaining to Davis’s promotion of prostitution activity and sexual encounters in 1998 with one 16 and two 14-year-old girls.

Through the testimonies of Ticer’s roommate and cellmate, the defense sought to establish that it was Ticer who *806 committed the offenses upon K.F. and that she was seeking to put the blame on Davis.

After considering the evidence, a unanimous jury convicted Davis on the two counts as charged. The trial court denied both motions for new trial and post-verdict judgment of acquittal. Davis received the death penalty on the aggravated rape conviction and a concurrent seven-year hard labor sentence on the conviction for indecent behavior with juveniles. Upon resen-tencing, the trial court stated that the decision to run the indecent behavior with juveniles sentence concurrently “was conditioned in part on the fact that the sentence of death was the outcome by the jury on count one.” On those grounds, the court ordered the seven years to run consecutively with the life sentence. This appeal followed.

\4Piscussion

I.

On appeal, Davis first argues that the trial court erred in admitting various other crimes evidence which “provided a sordid story about the man on trial, founded on hearsay and other inadmissible evidence.” Davis argues that this evidence unconstitutionally violated his right to due process of law and denied him a fair trial.

The state filed two notices of its intent to introduce evidence of similar crimes, wrongs, or acts in sex offense cases pursuant to La. C.E. arts. 404(B) and 412.2. At an initial hearing on June 2, 2008, the court considered defendant’s motion in li-mine which contested the state’s first notice. Therein, the state listed four incidents which included Davis’s April 26, 2004 guilty plea to second degree battery upon his son, A.D., Davis’s May 2, 1998 guilty plea to promotion of prostitution, the events giving rise to the aggravated rape of K.F. between October 2004 and January 2005, and the events supporting the indecent behavior with juveniles offense relating to J.B. In argument, the defense contended that second degree battery was not a sexual offense, that the promotion of prostitution did not show lustful disposition and that the admission of the offenses would unduly prejudice Davis.

The court rejected Davis’s argument under La. C.E. art. 412.2 on the grounds that the evidence showed Davis’s lustful disposition toward children and that the probative value of the evidence outweighed any prejudicial effect. Defense counsel noted an objection.

|bA second hearing concerned the state’s notification of its intent to use evidence relating to the above-mentioned computer images, which the state characterized as “child pornography.” The state also proposed to introduce evidence of Davis’s sexual activities with four girls ranging in age from 14-16 years old and the testimony of the two girls whom Davis incited to prostitution. The state sought to utilize “narrative detail” evidence relating to the incidents.

After a hearing in which J.B. and four other girls testified, the court found the other crimes evidence relating to promotion of prostitution and Davis’s sexual acts with minor girls admissible to show Davis’s intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, absence of mistake or accident. The court also found that the evidence showed a lustful disposition toward children. Defense counsel once again noted an objection. Additionally, before trial, the court ruled that the testimony concerning the computer images was relevant and probative to show Davis’s lustful disposition toward children. Defense counsel objected to all rulings.

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State v. Davis, 26 So. 3d 802, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 1957, 2009 WL 3838794 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

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