State v. Flowers

204 So. 3d 271, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0130, 2016 La. App. Unpub. LEXIS 338
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 19, 2016
DocketNUMBER 2016 KA 0130
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 204 So. 3d 271 (State v. Flowers) 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. Flowers, 204 So. 3d 271, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0130, 2016 La. App. Unpub. LEXIS 338 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

WELCH, J.

|gThe defendant, Robert Cardell Flowers, was charged by grand jury indictment with two counts of aggravated rape, violations of La. R.S. 14:42A(4) (counts one and two) and three counts of sexual battery (victim under the age of thirteen), violations of La. R.S. 14:43.1 (counts three, four, and five). He entered pleas of not guilty to all charges and filed a motion to suppress his confession, which was denied. Following a jury trial, the defendant was unanimously found guilty as charged on all five counts. He filed motions for new trial and postverdict judgment of acquittal, both of which were denied. On counts one and two, on each count, the defendant was sentenced to terms of life imprisonment at hard labor without the. benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. On counts three, four, and five,, on each count, the defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for forty years at hard labor, with twenty-five years to be served without benefit of probation or parole. The district court ordered that the sentences run concurrently, The defendant moved to reconsider the. sentence, which the district court denied. He now appeals, alleging five assignments of error. For the following reasons, we affirm the defendant’s convictions and sentences.

FACTS

On April 24, 2013, the victim, J.R.,1 reported to her teacher that her mother, [275]*275S.G., and the defendant (her mother’s boyfriend) had been sexually abusing her since she- was five years old. The victim’s teacher reported the information to the school principal, who contacted the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office and the Department of Children and Family Services. Detective Hugh Davis reported to the victim’s school and met with the victim’s mother. The following day, the detective received a telephone call from the defendant wherein the defendant asked if he could come into the. sheriffs office to speak with the detective. After [.¡speaking with the detective and being advised of his Miranda2 rights, the defendant admitted to the sexual abuse of the victim beginning at the time that she was five years old. He was subsequently arrested, along with the victim’s mother.

SUFFICIENCY

In cases where a defendant has raised issues on appeal both as to the sufficiency of the evidence and as to one or more trial errors, the reviewing court should preliminarily determine the sufficiency of the evidence before discussing the other issues raised on appeal. When the entirety of the evidence, both admissible and inadmissible, is sufficient to support the conviction, the accused is not entitled to an acquittal, and the reviewing court must review the assignments of error to determine whether the accused is entitled to a new trial. State v. Hearold, 603 So.2d 731, 734 (La.1992). Accordingly, we will first address the defendant’s second assignment of error, which challenges the sufficiency of the State’s evidence and the district court’s denial of his motion for postverdiet judgment of acquittal. According to the defendant, the only evidence offered to establish that the victim had been the subject of sexual abuse was her own testimony and the “coerced, non-voluntary statement” of the defendant. The defendant claims that had his statement not been admissible at trial, the 'only remaining evidence would have been the “self-serving testimony” of the victim, which he argues was “called into serious doubt.” He further argues that the medical examiner found no signs that the victim was sexually abused. The defendant also points out that although the victim testified that the defendant and her mother video-recorded their encounters, no videos were found on the defendant’s cellular telephone.

A conviction based on insufficient evidence cannot stand as it violates Due Process. See U.S. Const. Amend. XIV; La. Const. Art. I, § 2. The standard of review for the sufficiency of the evidence to uphold a conviction is whether, | ¿viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any.-rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); see La. C.Cr.P. art. 821B; State v. Ordodi, 2006-0207 (La. 11/29/06), 946 So.2d 654, 660, State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305, 1308-09 (La.1988). The Jackson standard of review, incorporated into La. C.Cr.P. art. 821, is an objective standard for testing the overall evidence, both direct and circumstantial, for reasonable doubt. "When analyzing circumstantial evidence, La. R.S. 15:438 provides that the factfinder must be satisfied that the overall evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. See State v. Patorno, 2001-2585 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/21/02), 822 So.2d 141,144.

[276]*276During the applicable time period regarding the allegations against the defendant, 2005 through 2012, La. R.S. 14:42 (prior to amendment by 2015 La. Acts, Nos. 184, § 1 and 256, § 1) provided, in pertinent part:

A. Aggravated rape is a rape committed upon a person sixty-five years of age or older or where the anal, oral, 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:
* ⅜ *
(4) When the victim is under the age of thirteen years. Lack of knowledge of the victim’s age shall not be a defense.

Pursuant to La. R.S. 14:43.1 (prior to amendment by 2015 La. Acts No. 256, § 1), sexual battery is the “intentional touching of the anus or genitals of the victim by the offender using any instrumentality or any part of the body of the offender, or the touching of the anus or genitals of the offender by the victim using any instrumentality or any part of the victim, when any of the following occur:”

(1) The offender acts without the consent of the victim.
(2) The act is consensual but the other person, who is not the spouse of the offender, has not yet attained fifteen years of age and is at least three years younger than the offender.

IfiThe victim testified at trial. According to her testimony, ■ the defendant began touching her breasts and private areas when she was five or six years old. When she was seven or eight years old, the defendant attempted vaginal intercourse with her while her mother touched her private areas. By the time the victim was eight or nine years old, the defendant forced her to have vaginal intercourse with him and “squirted” “white stuff’ on her back. The victim was forced to touch the private areas of the defendant. She testified that the abuse occurred two or three times per week and continued until her mother and the defendant ended their relationship, with the exception of one incident. The victim described the incident that occurred after her mother and the defendant ended their relationship. According to the victim, while she was standing at her school bus stop, the defendant drove by and asked if she wanted monéy. He gave her money and told her to get into his car. The defendant then drove the victim to the home he lived in with his new girlfriend and “put his private part inside of [her].”

The victim explained that she was scared to report the abuse to her teachers because she was afraid that the defendant and her mother would hit her or fuss at her.

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Bluebook (online)
204 So. 3d 271, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0130, 2016 La. App. Unpub. LEXIS 338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-flowers-lactapp-2016.