State v. Frank

159 So. 3d 1131, 14 La.App. 3 Cir. 969, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 422, 2015 WL 895492
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 4, 2015
DocketNo. 14-969
StatusPublished

This text of 159 So. 3d 1131 (State v. Frank) 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. Frank, 159 So. 3d 1131, 14 La.App. 3 Cir. 969, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 422, 2015 WL 895492 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

KEATY, Judge.

|, Defendant, Jonathan Jacito Frank, appeals his conviction and sentence for aggravated rape. For the following reasons, we affirm.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At approximately 2:00 a.m. on September 10, 1994, the victim, A.W.,1 was sleeping at her apartment when she awoke to a knife pressing against her neck. As she attempted to fight the perpetrator, he struck her face and eye and fractured her nose. He also cut her hand as she tried to push him away. Despite her efforts, he forced the victim to have sex with him. After he left her apartment, the victim reported the rape to the police.

Defendant, Jonathan Jacito Frank, was subsequently indicted on September 17, 2009, for aggravated rape, a violation of La.R.S. 14:42. At trial, A.W. could not positively identify Defendant as the rapist although she described the rapist as a dark-skinned, black male. On May 15, 2014, following a jury trial, he was convicted as charged. Defendant then filed a motion for a new trial which was subsequently denied at a May 22, 2014 hearing. The trial court thereafter sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

Defendant appeals his conviction, assigning the following two errors:

(1) When viewed under the standard enunciated in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781 [61 L.Ed.2d 560] (1979), the evidence in the instant case was insufficient to prove all of the elements required for aggravated rape; and
(2) The trial court erred in denying Defendant’s motion for a new trial.

[1133]*1133| ¡.DISCUSSION

I. Errors Patent

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed for errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find that there is one error patent.

Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 831 provides in pertinent part:

A. Except as may be provided by local rules of court in accordance with Articles 522 and 551, a defendant charged with a felony shall be present:
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(5) In trials by jury, at all proceedings when the jury is present, .and in trials without a jury, at all times when evidence is being adduced!.]

In this case, the record shows that the jury viewed the State’s exhibits without Defendant being present. As a result, defense counsel objected and moved for a mistrial, arguing that Defendant was prejudiced. Defendant’s counsel alleged that since' Defendant re-entered the courtroom from the back and in the presence of the jury, he could be prejudiced if the jury realized that he was incarcerated. Defense counsel stated that they did their best to minimize any prejudice by walking Defendant into the courtroom ahead of uniformed security.

The trial court denied the mistrial based in part on the bailiffs testimony at the hearing that Defendant never re-entered the courtroom in front of the jury. The trial court further stated:

I don’t see any prejudice whatsoever. The jury has had an opportunity to see how we’ve conducted ourselves throughout this proceeding and we’ve made a particular effort not to have them be made aware that your client was incarcerated. He walked out of the courtroom on several occasions when we interviewed jurors, assisted by you, and in my explanation to them I explained that he was outside visiting -with his attorney.

In State v. Medious, 98-419, p. 5 (La.App. 5 Cir. 11/25/98), 722 So.2d 1086, 1089-90, writ denied, 98-3201 (La.4/23/99), 742 So.2d 876, the defendant argued that the trial court violated La.Code Crim.P. art. 831(4) when it determined, “out of the presence of the defendant and his attorney, that the jury, which had already retired to deliberate, could view State Exhibit nos. 4 and 5[.]” The fifth circuit noted that the defendant and his counsel were “present during all rulings concerning the admissibility of the state’s evidence.” Id. at 1090. It further noted that “the defendant’s trial attorney verbally stated that the defense had no objections with regards to the admission of any of the state’s eight exhibits into evidence.” Id. The fifth circuit stated:

In State v. Overton, 337 So.2d 1058, 1066 (La.1976) on rehearing, the Supreme Court discussed whether LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 831 required the presence of a defendant and his attorney when a trial judge ruled on whether a deliberating jury would be allowed to view two photographs that the state had entered into evidence, and stated as follows:
... If the trial judge in Louisiana communicates with the jury, he should do so in open court. The defendant and his attorney should be present. Even when the request is [a] simple request to review documents in evidence, that request should not be granted in the absence of defendant and counsel.
However, the court went on to explain that because there was no violation of a specific statute, nor of a constitutional right, the appropriate inquiry was [1134]*1134whether the defendant had suffered any prejudice. Id.

Id. (alteration in original).

The Medious co.urt held that the defendant failed to complain or show that he was prejudiced when the trial court ruled in the absence of him and his attorney regarding the jury’s request to view two state exhibits. Id. Accordingly, the fifth circuit found that the trial court was without error. Id.

14Just like in Medious, Defendant and his attorney in the instant case were present when the exhibits were admitted into evidence, and Defendant failed to allege or prove that he was prejudiced. The record also fails to support Defendant’s allegation that the jury saw him enter the courtroom from the rear, implicating that he was incarcerated at the time of trial. Therefore, we find that this error is harmless.

II. First Assignment of Error

In his first assignment of error, Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove all of the elements required for aggravated rape. He alleges that since the State’s case relied mostly upon circumstantial evidence, as there was no eyewitness identification, the State was required to negate any reasonable probability of misidentification which it failed to do. He further argues that the State failed to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.

Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:42 provides that:

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:
(1) When the victim resists the act to the utmost, but whose resistance is overcome by force.
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(8) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the offender is armed with a dangerous weapon.

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
State v. Richardson
425 So. 2d 1228 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Medious
722 So. 2d 1086 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)
State Ex Rel. Graffagnino v. King
436 So. 2d 559 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Duncan
420 So. 2d 1105 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
State v. Miller
746 So. 2d 118 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
State v. Moody
393 So. 2d 1212 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
State v. Porretto
468 So. 2d 1142 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1985)
State v. Overton
337 So. 2d 1058 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
State v. Ortiz
701 So. 2d 922 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1997)
State v. Guillory
45 So. 3d 612 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2010)
Kilgore v. Bowersox
524 U.S. 942 (Supreme Court, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
159 So. 3d 1131, 14 La.App. 3 Cir. 969, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 422, 2015 WL 895492, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-frank-lactapp-2015.