State v. DeRoche

629 So. 2d 1267, 1993 WL 536084
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 15, 1993
Docket93-KA-414
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 629 So. 2d 1267 (State v. DeRoche) 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. DeRoche, 629 So. 2d 1267, 1993 WL 536084 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

629 So.2d 1267 (1993)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Wayne DeROCHE.

No. 93-KA-414.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

December 15, 1993.

*1268 Harry J. Morel, Jr., Dist. Atty., Emile R. St. Pierre, Asst. Dist. Atty., Hahnville, for plaintiff-appellee.

Kirk R. Granier, Luling, Mark A. Marino, Destrehan, for defendant-appellant.

KLIEBERT, GAUDIN and GOTHARD, JJ.

KLIEBERT, Chief Judge.

Defendant, Wayne DeRoche, a coach with the recreation department of St. Charles Parish and a teacher's aid with the St. Charles Parish School System, was accused of sexually abusing five juvenile boys. Defendant was charged in a sixteen-count grand jury indictment with four acts of aggravated rape (in four counts involving two victims), a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:42 and 219 acts of aggravated crime against nature (in 12 counts involving 30 victims, with Count 16 listing 208 separate acts against one victim), a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:89.1. DeRoche was arraigned on October 21, 1992, entering a plea of not guilty. On January 20, 1993, a Prieur hearing was held in response to the state's notice of intent to introduce evidence of other crimes. The evidence was ruled admissible at trial. On February 4, 1993, the state moved to amend the counts involving "J.T." (counts I-VI) changing the dates of the alleged offense four days prior to trial. The defense requested a continuance, which was denied.

Trial was held on February 8-12, 1993. A unanimous jury convicted defendant on all charges. Thereafter, defendant moved for a Post-Verdict Judgment of Acquittal, which was heard on February 14, 1993. The trial court granted the motion as to 206 of the 208 acts listed in Count 16 of the indictment, and denied it as to all other counts.

On February 25, 1993, the trial court sentenced the defendant as follows: life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on each of the four counts of aggravated rape, to run concurrently; 15 years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on each of the three counts of aggravated crime against nature involving J.T., to run concurrently; 15 years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence on each of the three counts of aggravated crime against nature involving K.C., to run concurrently; 15 years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence *1269 on each of the five counts of aggravated crime against nature involving L.F., to run concurrently; and 15 years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on the count of aggravated crime against nature involving J.D., listed as Count 16. The trial court further noted that these four concurrent 15 year sentences for the aggravated crime against nature convictions were to run consecutively as against each other, thus amounting to a total of 60 years.

Thereafter, the defendant orally moved for an appeal. The state filed a notice of intention to appeal the granting in part of defendant's motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal.

On appeal, defendant lists three assignments of error:

1) the trial court erred in failing to wholly grant defendant's motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal or, alternatively, new trial;
2) the trial court erred in allowing the introduction of evidence of other crimes charged in another case in this trial; and
3) the trial court erred in failing to grant the defense's request for continuance after the state was allowed to amend the counts involving J.T. (Counts I-VI), changing the dates of the offense.

The state assigns the following error of the trial court:

The trial court erred in granting in part the defendant's motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal.

For the reasons which follow, we affirm the convictions.

Regarding the first assignment of error, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal or alternatively new trial, in that the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions of aggravated rape. Specifically, the defendant argues that the evidence failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the anal penetration of S.D. and the rapes of J.T. The state argues that the evidence fully supports the convictions.

In evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence, the standard to be used by the appellate court is whether viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of every element of the crime charged. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305 (La. 1988); State v. Richardson, 616 So.2d 225 (5th Cir.1993).

In a motion for new trial, the trial judge can only review the weight of the evidence and as such make a factual review as a "thirteenth juror," rather than under the Jackson standard. State v. Landry, 524 So.2d 1261 (3rd Cir.1988), reversed on other grounds, 531 So.2d 254 (La.1988).

LSA-R.S. 14:41 provides in pertinent part:

Rape; defined
A. Rape is the act of anal or vaginal sexual intercourse with a male or female person who is not the spouse of the offender, committed without the person's lawful consent.
B. Emission is not necessary and any sexual penetration, vaginal or anal, however slight is sufficient to complete the crime.

Additionally, LSA-R.S. 14:42 provides in pertinent part:

Aggravated rape
A. Aggravated rape is a rape committed where the anal or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without lawful consent of the victim because it is committed under any one or more of the following circumstances:
* * * * * *
(4) When the victim is under the age of twelve years. Lack of knowledge of the victim's age shall not be a defense.

At trial, S.D. testified on direct examination that the defendant "ended up.... trying to stick his penis in my butt, and he only got, he didn't get it all the way in, but he got it in far enough to where it hurt." On cross-examination, he testified that he informed *1270 the police and Dr. Coffman, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital in New Orleans, who examined several of the victims, that the defendant only attempted to insert his penis in his anus; however, on redirect examination, S.D. reiterated that "He didn't put it in all the way. He just put it in far enough to hurt." At the time of these acts, S.D. was under the age of twelve.

Under the rape statute, "any sexual penetration, vaginal or anal, however slight, is sufficient to complete the crime." Therefore, the mere fact that full penetration of the anus by the entirety of the penis was not accomplished does not prevent a finding of a completed act of rape.

J.T. testified that the defendant inserted his penis into J.T.'s anus on three separate occasions. J.T. was graphic in his descriptions of all three encounters. The first incident occurred following their return from the Hahnville-Ellender football game played in Houma, La. The second incident occurred at the defendant's residence following a Hahnville-Boutte basketball game.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
629 So. 2d 1267, 1993 WL 536084, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-deroche-lactapp-1993.