State v. Falgout

198 So. 3d 1232, 2015 La.App. 4 Cir. 0953, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1592, 2016 WL 4485089
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 24, 2016
DocketNo. 2015-KA-0953
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 198 So. 3d 1232 (State v. Falgout) 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. Falgout, 198 So. 3d 1232, 2015 La.App. 4 Cir. 0953, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1592, 2016 WL 4485089 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

SANDRA CABRINA JENKINS, Judge.

hThe defendant, David Falgout, appeals his convictions and sentences for two counts of attempted forcible rape. Finding no merit to the assignments of error raised by his counsel and by the defendant pro se, defendant’s convictions and sentences are affirmed.

STATEMENT OF CASE

By grand jury indictment returned on January 16, 2014, the State charged the defendant with two counts of the aggravated rape of K.W. and one count of the armed robbery of the same victim. The defendant entered pleas of not guilty to both counts. On February 24, 2014, the State filed a notice of intent to introduce evidence of other crimes at defendant’s trial. After a contradictory hearing, the trial court granted the State’s motion to introduce evidence- of. defendant’s prior rape conviction. Additionally, defendant’s motion to suppress -evidence was denied. At the close of a three-day trial, a twelve-person jury found the defendant guilty of two counts of attempted forcible rape and not guilty of armed robbery. Sentencing was reset several times, and on April 16, 2015, the trial court denied defendant’s motions for. new -trial and post-verdict judgment of acquittal. After the defendant waived delays, the trial court sen[1234]*1234tenced him to serve twenty years at 12hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on each count. The State filed a multiple bill, alleging that the defendant was a third felony offender as to both counts. The trial court held a hearing on the multiple bill and found defendant to be a third felony offender. The trial court vacated the defendant’s original twenty-year sentences, and sentenced defendant to concurrent .sentences of life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence as to each count. The .trial- court denied defendant’s motion to reconsider sentence and granted his motion for appeal. Defendant’s motion to reduce his sentences below the statutory minimum was taken under advisement and, subsequently, denied.

Defendant now appeals his convictions and sentences.

FACTS

The jury convicted the defendant of two counts of attempted forcible rape that.occurred on September 2, 2013. The defendant had previously been convicted of a 1988 rape, and the State presented evidence of this rape at his trial on the present charges. With respect to the earlier rape, the State played the authenticated 911 call in connection with that rape, and then the State called former Officer William Remaudin, who investigated the rape. Remaudin stated that on June 10,1988, he responded to a call of a rape that was in progress in the 1300 block of Esplanade Avenue. He arrived at the location, and as he walked down the block, he saw the defendant raping the victim across the street from where the officer was standing. When the defendant saw the officer, he jumped up, pulled up his pants, and ran toward N. Claiborne Avenue. The defendant was captured by the officer in the same block, and the victim identified him. The officer informed the jury that Rhe testified at defendant’s subsequent trial, at which the jury convicted the defendant of rape,

V.H., testified that she was the victim of the June 10, 1988 rape. She had been waiting for the Esplanade bus, but when it did not come, she began walking down Esplanade Avenue at approximately 10:00 pm. She stated that she saw someone walk across the street, and then the defendant grabbed her, put a knife to her neck, and pushed her into a setback area of a building. He demanded her money and then demanded sex. She stated that she struggled with him until he touched her with the knife, and then she submitted. He made her lie on the ground, removed her -pantyhose, and raped her. She testified that when a police car arrived, the defendant got up, said he had to go, and then ran. She stated that the police captured the defendant, and she identified him at the scene. V.H. testified that the defendant kept putting the knife to her chest during the rape. She stated that she testified at defendant’s trial, at which he was convicted of rape.

With respect to the present charges, the State authenticated and played the 911 call that was made by KW.’s uncle on the morning of September 2, 2013. In the call, the-uncle explained that K.W. was on her way to work when a man tried to-rape her. K.W. then got on the phone and told the 911 operator that she was waiting for a bus at a stop that was located next to a construction area when a man came up to her and began speaking with' her. He then got up, put a knife to her leg, and forced her go under a “bridge,” where he took her bus fare and raped her. She stated that the rape occurred at Broad and New Orleans Streets,

. KW.’s testimony

K.W. testified that on the morning of September 2, 2013, she walked to the bus stop, while it was still dark, to catch the [1235]*1235bus for her 7:00 a.m. shift. While ^waiting for the bus, K.W. was texting her friend when she saw a shadow walk past her. She stood up, and a man, standing near her apologized for searing her. She had never seen the man before that day. She stated that they made small talk, and he told her that he did construction work. She then looked back down at her phone, and he came up behind her, grabbed her around the neck, and placed a pocket knife to her neck. He told her not to make a sound and to follow him.

K.W. .testified that the man took her under the bridge (overpass) at New Orleans and Benefit Streets. She stated that he pulled down her pants, put his finger in her vagina and anus, anid touched her genital area. He then made her get on her knees, and he unsuccessfully tried to penetrate her with his penis several times. She testified that he then ordered her to lie down on a piece of wood that was lying on the ground, and he fondled her breasts and put his mouth on her buttocks. He told her that he would not stab her if-she did not panic. She stated that he also made her lick his penis before he left her. K.W. testified that he instructed her to stay on the scene until he left. Once the man left, she went to a nearby halfway house, where she believed she would find a policeman, and she- asked the people there if they had seen a -man dressed in the same manner as the man who had assaulted her. They-had not seen anyone meeting that description, and she then returned home, where her family called the police.

K.W. described the area of the assault as a construction area, but no construction activity was occurring at the time of the assault, and -no workers were present because it was Labor Day. She stated that the man took her behind a fence under the overpass. She stated that the phone that he took from her was never recovered. She admitted that the man was never able to penetrate her with his penis. She stated that she met with the police on the day of the assault, took them |Bto the area where the rape occurred, and then went to the hospital to be examined. She reiterated that the man threatened to- stab her if she panicked.

During cross-examination, K.W. testified that she arrived at the bus stop at around 5:30 a.m., Which was earlier than she normally arrived. She stated that she told Det. Henry that the perpetrator sweated a lot during the assault, and this led her to believe that’ he was under the influence of drugs. She stated that she believed he may have needed money to get drugs because he took her $2.50 bus fare. She explained that she had dated someone who used drugs, although she did not use them.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
198 So. 3d 1232, 2015 La.App. 4 Cir. 0953, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1592, 2016 WL 4485089, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-falgout-lactapp-2016.