State v. Dixon

900 So. 2d 929, 2005 WL 599698
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 15, 2005
Docket04-KA-1019
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 900 So. 2d 929 (State v. Dixon) 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. Dixon, 900 So. 2d 929, 2005 WL 599698 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

900 So.2d 929 (2005)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Aaron J. DIXON.

No. 04-KA-1019.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

March 15, 2005.

*930 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Twenty-Fourth Judicial District, Parish of Jefferson, Terry M. Boudreaux, Shannon H. Huber, Walter Amstutz, Frank Brindisi, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, Louisiana, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

*931 Bruce G. Whittaker, New Orleans, Louisiana, for Defendant/Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges SOL GOTHARD, MARION F. EDWARDS, and SUSAN M. CHEHARDY.

SOL GOTHARD, Judge.

Defendant, Aaron Dixon, appeals his convictions and sentences on three criminal charges. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

Defendant was indicted by a Jefferson Parish grand jury for aggravated rape, second degree kidnapping, and simple robbery, violations of La. R.S. 14:42, 14:44.1, and 14:65. Defendant pled not guilty at arraignment. Defendant filed a motion to appoint a sanity commission. On February 24, 2003, the State and defendant stipulated to the report that defendant was competent to stand trial. On March 19, 2003, the trial judge denied defendant's motions to suppress.

Trial commenced on January 27, 2004 before a twelve-person jury, which found defendant guilty as charged on January 29, 2004. On February 13, 2004, the trial judge denied defendant's motion for a post-verdict judgment of acquittal and for a new trial. After defendant waived sentencing delays, the trial judge sentenced defendant to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for aggravated rape; forty years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for second degree kidnapping; and seven years at hard labor for simple robbery, to be served consecutively with each other.

The State filed a multiple offender bill of information alleging defendant to be a second felony offender based on a prior guilty plea to carnal knowledge of a juvenile in 1994. Defendant denied the allegations therein and moved to quash the bill, which the trial judge denied. After a multiple offender hearing on April 26, 2004, the trial judge found defendant to be a second felony offender, vacated the sentence on the second degree kidnapping, and imposed a sentence of sixty years at hard labor to be served consecutively with the other sentences. This appeal follows.[1]

FACTS

On October 28, 2002, defendant raped T.S.[2], who had just moved to Louisiana from Arizona to attend Tulane University after graduating high school.

T.S. testified that she first met defendant while waiting for the Jackson Avenue ferry that evening at approximately 7:00 p.m. Because T.S. had left her cell phone on a bus two days earlier, she had arranged to meet the bus driver, Willie Valentine, near his residence in Marrero.[3] To that end, T.S. took the street car on St. Charles Avenue to Jackson Avenue and walked to the ferry terminal. While waiting for the ferry, T.S. saw defendant lying on a bench. He approached her, told her his name, and struck up a conversation. She testified that she felt uncomfortable with defendant, since he was a complete stranger and it was dark out. Sensing *932 her discomfort, defendant told T.S. that she evidently did not want to talk to him because he was black. T.S. continued conversing with defendant because she felt guilty, since defendant had essentially called her a racist. After boarding the ferry, defendant followed her upstairs and continued talking to her. T.S. told defendant she was from Arizona and related where she was going. Defendant said that he would show her to the bus stop, since she was unfamiliar with the area. T.S. considered telling defendant that she could find the bus stop herself, but felt that defendant would not have accepted her answer. Further, she felt that telling defendant to leave her alone would have been rude, especially after his earlier comment about the reason she did not want to talk to him.

After disembarking the ferry, T.S. was ahead of defendant, but he caught up with her on the stairs. He insisted on showing her to the bus stop. Again, not wishing to be rude, T.S. agreed to allow him to lead her to the bus stop. T.S. testified that she did not notice the bus stop at the foot of the stairs at the ferry landing when she disembarked in Gretna. And, defendant did not point out that bus stop to her. Rather, she accompanied defendant on Huey P. Long in the direction of the Westbank Expressway. When they reached Fourth Street, she asked defendant where he was taking her. Defendant replied that he was taking her to the bus stop. When defendant turned on Twelfth Street, T.S. noticed that it was a dead end. At that point, T.S. knew something was wrong. When she hesitated, defendant told her to go down the alleyway beside a house because he had something to show her. T.S. refused to go and began to run. Defendant grabbed her and began to choke her. He dragged her down the street by her neck with such force that her shoes came off. She stumbled and defendant told her to get up. T.S. could not keep up with defendant, and continued to stumble. She could not walk because she could not breathe with defendant choking her.

Defendant continued to drag her until they reached a house. He removed his arm from her neck when they were in the kitchen, but made her enter a bedroom in the house. Defendant made her sit on the bed and told her to take off her clothes. She tried to argue with him, but she was afraid he would try to kill her. T.S. said that she could not flee because defendant was standing right in front of her. After she disrobed, defendant forced her down on the bed and raped her vaginally. Afterwards, he forced her "to have oral sex with him on top of [her]" on the floor. Then, defendant raped her anally. After that, defendant told her to perform oral sex on him. When T.S. began vomiting, defendant handed her a cup and told her to "puke in that."

T.S. repeatedly begged defendant to stop to no avail. According to T.S., defendant asked her why was she protesting, since "this is what [she] wanted." T.S. said that defendant acted as if the encounter was a "date." As a ruse to escape, T.S. attempted to gain his trust by acting less like a victim. She told him that she was hurting and that she was tired and needed to leave. Defendant told her to lie down and sleep if she was tired. T.S. pretended to sleep, wondering whether defendant would kill her as she lay there. At some point, defendant told her she could leave and she began to dress. As defendant dressed, he repeatedly asked her to stay the night. He led her to the bathroom, asked her how she was getting home, and if she had money. She replied that she had a $20 bill and asked defendant if he wanted it. Defendant initially said for her to keep it. However, as he led her outside, defendant said he changed his mind *933 and that he did want the money. T.S. said she felt very intimidated, and thought that he was taking her somewhere to kill her. Defendant asked her how she was getting home, and she replied she would call her mother. He told her he knew she was lying, and T.S. knew she had to get away. When she turned toward the Westbank Expressway, defendant did not follow. T.S. went across the Expressway to a Shell Station where the police were called.

Officers Corey Newby and Bill Johnson of the Gretna Police Department responded to the Shell Station at 1400 Lafayette Street. According to Officer Newby, he was dispatched at approximately 10:20 p.m. T.S.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Louisiana v. Roy James Smith
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2025
State of Louisiana v. Sidney Myers
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2025
State of Louisiana v. Harrison Buckner Doyle
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State of Louisiana v. Quintin M. Smith
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State of Louisiana v. Dillon Mathew James
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State of Louisiana v. Robert Allen McPhearson
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State of Louisiana v. Jamaria Xavier Randle
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State of Louisiana v. Allen Clayton Fulks
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State of Louisiana v. David Anthony Burns
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
State of Louisiana v. Jewel Demon Humphrey
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
State of Louisiana v. Timothy Lee Deason
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
State of Louisiana v. Jason Ray Craft
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
State of Louisiana v. Eddie Ray Jackson, Jr.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State of Louisiana v. David Paul Monceaux
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State of Louisiana v. Michael Andre Thomas
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State of Louisiana v. William Ray Weeks, Jr.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State of Louisiana v. Joseph Michael Elie, III
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2021
State of Louisiana v. Willie R. Sanders, Jr.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2021
State of Louisiana v. Tobias Lamont Williams
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2020

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
900 So. 2d 929, 2005 WL 599698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dixon-lactapp-2005.