State v. Harge

730 So. 2d 983, 1999 WL 111304
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 17, 1999
Docket98-KA-1321
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 730 So. 2d 983 (State v. Harge) 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. Harge, 730 So. 2d 983, 1999 WL 111304 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

730 So.2d 983 (1999)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Willie HARGE.

No. 98-KA-1321.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

February 17, 1999.

*984 George A. Blair, New Orleans, Louisiana, Attorney for Defendant/Appellant Willie Harge.

Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Charles E.F. Heuer, Assistant District Attorney of Orleans Parish, New Orleans, Louisiana, Attorneys for the State of Louisiana/Appellee.

Court composed of Chief Judge ROBERT J. KLEES, Judge MOON LANDRIEU and Judge PATRICIA RIVET MURRAY.

MURRAY, Judge.

Defendant, Willie Harge, was charged by bill of information with indecent behavior with a juvenile, a violation of La.Rev.Stat. 14:81. He pled not guilty. A jury found him guilty of attempted indecent behavior with a juvenile, and he was sentenced to serve three years at hard labor with credit for time served. The sentence was suspended and Mr. Harge was placed on five years active probation with special conditions. Because we find that improperly admitted evidence contributed to the verdict, Mr. Harge must be afforded a new trial.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS:

Edwin Coleman testified that he lives on one side of a double house and Willie Harge lives on the other side. He has known Mr. *985 Harge for five or six years. His granddaughter, C.C.[1], who was eight years old at the time of trial, lives with him. He stated that Mr. Harge often took C.C. for a ride or to get a hamburger.

On March 27, 1997, sometime before noon, C.C. went with Mr. Harge to buy breakfast. Later that afternoon, between 2:00 and 3:00, C.C. ran into the house upset and nervous. She told Mr. Coleman that Mr. Harge had tried to pull her skirt down and that he exposed his penis to her. She said that as this was happening, Traig, Mr. Harge's stepson, walked into the room and she ran. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Coleman went next door to speak to Mr. Harge, but Traig advised that his stepfather was asleep. Mr. Coleman then called the police. Before they arrived, Willie Harge came to Mr. Coleman's house to ask if he needed anything from the grocery. When C.C. saw him she ran into the washroom. Mr. Coleman testified that Mr. Harge appeared glassy-eyed at that time.

On cross-examination, Mr. Coleman admitted that C.C.'s older sister had been removed from his care because of allegations his daughter had made. He denied that Mr. Harge told him he caught C.C. going through his wife's jewelry box, and that he ran her out of the house. He testified that he had never known C.C. to be a liar.

Clayton Stanton testified that he has known Willie Harge for two or three years. On March 27, 1997, he was visiting Edwin Coleman when C.C. ran into the house scared. She told her grandfather that Mr. Harge pushed her onto the bed, tried to pull her dress down, pulled down his pants and exposed his private parts. Mr. Stanton also testified that C.C. hid in another room later that afternoon when Mr. Harge came to the Coleman house.

On cross-examination, Mr. Stanton testified that C.C. came into the house around 3:00 p.m. He heard C.C. tell her grandfather that "[s]omebody was coming on the porch to the door. And she said when he—she ran out the house."

Detective Darrell Smith, who is assigned to the New Orleans Police Department Child Abuse Section, testified that he was called out on an "indecent behavior, molestation of a juvenile case." He interviewed the victim, C.C.. During that interview she told him that Mr. Harge tried to fondle her and touch her in her genital area. She also told him that Mr. Harge exposed his private parts. Det. Smith testified he also interviewed C.C.'s grandfather and another witness who was at her grandfather's house on the day of the incident. Mr. Harge subsequently was arrested.

On cross-examination, Det. Smith testified that C.C.'s grandfather told him the incident occurred "about, maybe 2:30, 3:00. Something like that." He stated that C.C. told him she went to Mr. Harge's house to find her barrette. She did not tell him that she had been put out of Mr. Harge's house earlier that day. Det. Smith admitted that the initial report said nothing about Mr. Harge trying to pull C.C.'s panties down. He testified that C.C. told him that Mr. Harge held her with one hand and tried to pull her pants down with his other. Then he pulled out his penis. At that point he had let go of C.C. and was next to the bed, not exactly in it. Det. Smith admitted that no one on the scene told him that an adult had come into the Harge house and found C.C. there. When he spoke to Brenda Harge, the defendant's wife, the day after the incident she told him about her son, Traig. When Det. Smith interviewed Traig by telephone, he did not mention any of what C.C. had related about the incident.

C.C. was the last witness called by the State. She testified that she often went places with Mr. Harge. On March 27, 1997 she accompanied him to Burger King to purchase breakfast, which she ate at his house. After eating she played on the porch for a while, then went into her own house. She realized that her bow was missing, and asked her grandfather if she could go look for it. She found the bow in Mr. Harge's bedroom. She heard Mr. Harge approach, then he pushed her onto the bed and tried to pull her skirt down. He pulled his pants down and *986 took out his private parts. She stated that he had something on his finger, and she was trying to pull away from him. She was able to get away when Traig, Mr. Harge's stepson, came into the house. She then ran home and told her grandfather and her Uncle Clayton what had happened. Sometime later Mr. Harge came over to her grandfather's house, and she ran into the dryer room because she was scared.

On cross-examination she said it would be wrong to steal, and denied stealing anything. She testified that she told the police that Mr. Harge had pulled his pants and underwear down to mid-thigh. C.C. explained that Mr. Harge could not get her clothes off because she kept kicking him, but she admitted that she did not relate this to either the police or the doctor who examined her. She said that she told the police that Traig came in the house as she was pulling away from Mr. Harge. C.C. acknowledged that she knew that Mrs. Harge had told her grandfather that, unless Mrs. Harge was at home, she was not to be in the Harge house. Although C.C. admitted talking to the district attorney several times and going over her testimony many times prior to trial, she denied that anyone told her what to say.

Chronicles Edwards, Willie Harge's nephew, testified for the defense. He has lived with Mr. Harge for eight years. Mr. Edwards arrived home at approximately 1:45 p.m. on March 27, 1997. He saw nothing unusual at that time. C.C. was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch playing. When he went inside he found that Mr. Harge was in the bedroom, sleeping on his stomach; he did not wake up. Mr. Edwards explained that Mr. Harge takes medication and sleeps very hard. He described Mr. Harge's home as a shotgun double, and testified that one can stand on the porch and look straight through the house, especially into the bedroom. It was the family's practice not to lock the screen door or the wooden main entrance door; anyone could just walk in and out. Mr. Edwards was at the house approximately ten to fifteen minutes, and then left. Mr. Harge was still asleep, and C.C. was in the same spot on the porch.

On cross-examination, Mr. Edwards testified that he believed his uncle and Edwin Coleman were good friends.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
730 So. 2d 983, 1999 WL 111304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-harge-lactapp-1999.