State v. Harris

782 So. 2d 1055, 2001 WL 55920
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 24, 2001
Docket99-KA-1288
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 782 So. 2d 1055 (State v. Harris) 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. Harris, 782 So. 2d 1055, 2001 WL 55920 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

782 So.2d 1055 (2001)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Brad HARRIS.

No. 99-KA-1288.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

January 24, 2001.

*1056 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Alison Wallis, Vincent Paciera, Jr., Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, Attorneys for Appellee.

*1057 James A. Williams, Kevin V. Boshea, Gretna, LA, Attorneys for Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges CANNELLA, DALEY and EDWARDS.

EDWARDS, Judge.

Defendant Brad Harris appeals his conviction on the charge of attempted aggravated rape, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:27:42. We affirm the conviction but vacate the habitual offender finding and sentence, and remand.

Harris was initially charged with the attempted rape and pled not guilty. The court heard and denied defense motions to suppress the identifications made by both a witness and by the victim. The bill of information was later amended to add a second count of attempted simple robbery, to which Harris also pled not guilty. A motion to sever the matters for trial was granted. Harris waived his right to a jury trial and requested a judge trial. At the conclusion of the trial on the attempted rape, Harris was found guilty as charged. Motions for new trial and for a post verdict judgment of acquittal were denied. He was subsequently sentenced to fifty years at hard labor without parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

The State filed multiple offender proceedings alleging that Harris was a fourth felony offender. Harris moved to quash the multiple offender proceedings and also filed a Motion to Reconsider Sentence. A hearing on the multiple offender bill was held, following which the court adjudicated Harris to be a fourth felony offender. The original sentence was vacated and Harris was re-sentenced to life imprisonment. The motion to reconsider sentenced was re-urged and denied. This appeal follows.

On the afternoon of October 21, 1998, 26-year-old Laura Miller left New Orleans, where she had been visiting, and headed toward her home in Baton Rouge. Her friend, Elizabeth Sykes, in whose car the women were traveling, accompanied her. At 5:30 p.m., the two women stopped at an Exxon filling station on Loyola Drive just off Interstate 10, to fuel the car. Miller testified that she went into the convenience store at the station to get a key to the ladies' restroom, while Sykes began pumping gas into her car. Miller testified that the ladies' room was locked, and that she used the key to open it. She closed the door behind her and used the facilities. Sykes testified that she saw a burgundy colored van parked outside the restroom, and that defendant, Brad Harris, was standing near the vehicle.

When Miller unlatched the bathroom door in order to leave, the door swung open. Harris was standing in the doorway, blocking her exit. Miller testified that Harris grabbed her by her arms and threw her to the back of the bathroom. She hit her head and fell to the floor. With the door closed, Harris pulled his shirt out of his pants and got on top of Miller. She screamed as loudly as she could, and said "Oh no. Please."

She struggled to get away, and Harris repeatedly told her to be still. He tried to remove Miller's belt. She began to turn and twist a great deal, and Harris grabbed her neck and began to choke her. Miller testified that Harris was very angry, and that he used foul language.

Sykes became concerned when she heard the sound of screaming coming from inside the bathroom. She went to the restroom door, turned the knob and called Miller's name. This distracted Harris so that Miller was able to scream Ms. Sykes' name. Sykes went into the convenience store to seek help and called 9-1-1 on a cellular telephone. Miller continued to struggle with Harris. She tried to hit him with her shoe, but failed. Miller turned *1058 onto her stomach, and Harris pressed his knee into her back, beating her forcefully about the face and head with his fist. At one point he stomped on her foot and cut her toe, causing it to bleed profusely. Finally, Harris got up and pressed his foot into her back. He then left the restroom. Both the victim and Ms. Sykes saw him get into the burgundy colored van and drive onto the interstate.

Officer Edward Rohde of the Kenner Police Department reported to the scene. Miller and Sykes provided him with a description of Harris and his van. Miller's injuries were treated at the scene by emergency medical technicians. Sykes testified that Miller did not have facial injuries before entering the bathroom, but that she did have various injuries after the incident. At trial, the state produced several photographs depicting injuries to Ms. Miller's face, arm, neck and back. Prosecutors also produced photographs taken of Harris' face following the incident, depicting scratch marks inflicted by Miller.

At trial the parties stipulated to the testimony that state's witness Noble Williams would give if he were to appear at trial. Williams was at the Exxon station following the attack, and heard police officers describe the vehicle in which Harris was traveling. Williams thereafter saw the van while riding on Interstate 10. He returned to the filling station and reported the sighting to officers. The parties further stipulated that Officer Donovan of the Kenner Police Department located Harris at about 6:13 p.m. walking along the interstate near the van, and the officer detained him. An Officer Adams transported Ms. Sykes to where Harris was being held. She identified him as the man from the Exxon station.

Officer Rohde testified that he advised Harris of his Miranda rights. Harris thereafter told Rohde he had not raped anyone and further stated that he had intervened when he saw Ms. Miller's boyfriend beating her, but that he had left the scene when the boyfriend hit him in the face.

Harris testified at trial that he had lied in his statement to Officer Rohde and admitted to having attacked Miller at the filling station, but denied he had attempted to rape her. He testified that it was his intention to surprise the victim when she exited the restroom so that he could rob her of the money he needed to buy crack cocaine.

By his first two assignments of error, Harris complains that the trial court erred in finding that the state proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He raised this issue below in a motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal, the appropriate procedural vehicle for challenging the sufficiency of the evidence in the trial court.[1] A conviction must be based on proof sufficient for any rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, to find the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.[2]

LSA-R.S. 14:42 provides, in pertinent part:

A. Aggravated rape is a rape committed upon a person sixty-five years of age or older or where the anal or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without lawful consent of the victim because *1059 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.
(2) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act by threats of great and immediate bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution.

The attempt statute, LSA-R.S. 14:27, provides, in part:

A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
782 So. 2d 1055, 2001 WL 55920, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-harris-lactapp-2001.