State v. Harris

83 So. 3d 269, 11 La.App. 5 Cir. 253, 2011 WL 6821380, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1609
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 28, 2011·No. No. 11-KA-253·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

FREDERICKA HOMBERG WICKER, Judge.

lain this criminal proceeding, defendant/appellant, Terry Harris, appeals his forcible rape conviction (La.R.S. 14:42.1) and his second-felony-offender, enhanced 76-year-hard-labor sentence. Mr. Harris assigns counseled errors arguing the trial judge erred in failing to quash the indictment because of the untimely commencement of trial; by allowing other crimes evidence that resulted in an acquittal; and, by failing to instruct the jury on the meaning of such an acquittal. He assigns the following pro se errors: insufficiency of the evidence to convict, and violation of his due process and confrontation rights at the Prieur1 hearing. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the conviction, vacate the sentence, and remand for resentencing.

Procedural History

Mr. Harris was indicted on September 9, 2004 with the aggravated rape of a juvenile male, M.B.,2 D.O.B. 8/21/95, a violation of La.R.S. 14:42. These incidents allegedly occurred between March 1st and May 10th, 2004.

On January 6, 2005, Mr. Harris filed various omnibus motions including motions to suppress confession, identification, and physical evidence, for a bill of | .¡particulars, for discovery, and for a preliminary examination. After that, the trial judge invoked a sanity hearing as requested by Mr. Harris and found Mr. Harris competent to stand trial. The following day, November 9, 2007, the trial court held a hearing and [272]*272denied Mr. Harris’ motion to suppress the statement.3

Two years later, on September 2, 2009, the trial court conducted a Prieur hearing regarding the state’s notice of intent to use evidence of similar crimes in sex offense cases involving minors, under La.C.E. art. 412.2, or in the alternative, pursuant to La.C.E. 404(B). The trial court later issued a written judgment finding the evidence admissible. Shortly thereafter, on September 14, 2009, Mr. Harris filed a motion to quash the indictment for failure to commence trial timely.

On October 2, 2009, the trial court heard and denied the motion to quash. A few months later, a 12-person jury returned the responsive and lesser verdict of forcible rape.

Mr. Harris filed new trial and arrest of judgment motions, which were denied. Thereafter, the trial judge sentenced Mr. Harris to 38 years at hard labor, but later vacated that sentence and imposed an enhanced second felony offender sentence after conducting a hearing. The trial judge imposed a 76 year hard labor sentence. At the original sentencing, the trial judge correctly advised Mr. Harris in writing of the sex offender and child predator registration requirements.4 When imposing the enhanced sentence, the trial judge informed Mr. Harris that these notices of the sex offender and child predator registration requirements remained in effect. This timely appeal followed.

|fiFacts

Instant Offense

The victim’s aunt, M.J., testified that she began dating Mr. Harris in 2002. At that time, Mr. Harris was about 21 or 22 years of age. Mr. Harris began living with her and her family in 2003 at 1804 Dogwood Drive in Harvey. M.J. and her brother, A.J., testified that in addition to the aunt, the household consisted of M.J.’s parents, M.J.’s brother, the brother’s two children and his stepson, the victim.

According to M.J., Mr. Harris slept in the aunt’s rear-room bedroom with her while the victim and his siblings, along with A.J., slept in a bedroom that was connected to the aunt’s room by a bathroom. There was an outside entrance in M.J.’s room that was left unlocked for Mr. Harris to enter the house. The victim’s grandparent’s room was on another side of the house. There were times when neither the victim’s aunt nor the victim’s father were home at night. M.J. and A.J. testified that they trusted Mr. Harris alone with the children.

M.J. stated that she broke up with Mr. Harris in May 2004, a few weeks before the incident. Although Mr. Harris moved out, he occasionally returned to the residence. Even so, M.J. did not resume the [273]*273sexual relationship after the break-up although they still spoke to each other.

According to M.J., Mr. Harris no longer lived with her on May 10, 2004 when another incident occurred across the street from her. That incident resulted in Mr. Harris’ arrest on May 10, 2004.

M.J. and A.J. testified that it was not until after Mr. Harris was arrested after being accused of doing something to a young girl across the street that the victim in this case came forward with allegations about Mr. Harris. A.J. explained that when A.J. learned Mr. Harris was accused of sexually assaulting a ten-year-old girl across the street, he asked his children if Mr. Harris ever “molested” them. At that | (¡time, the victim revealed to his stepfather that Mr. Harris had sexually abused him. The victim told him that he did not come forward before then because Mr. Harris threatened to kill his stepfather.

M.J. and A.J. reported the allegations to the police.

The responding officer, Deputy Douglas Graffeo, a patrol deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office, testified that, on May 25, 2004, he responded to 1804 Dogwood, in Harvey, in reference to the victim’s child sexual abuse complaint. Deputy Graffeo interviewed the victim, who informed him that the sexual abuse happened more than once over a couple of months but he did not report it earlier because the suspect threatened his family. In particular, the victim reported to Deputy Graffeo that, on the day before Mr. Harris was arrested for raping a girl at 1805 Dogwood, Mr. Harris brought him in the back room and told him “suck my d* * to which the victim responded in the negative. Mr. Harris then grabbed the victim’s head, put his thumb in the victim’s mouth, pried the victim’s mouth open, placed his penis in the victim’s mouth, and forced the victim to perform fellatio on him.

The victim was referred to Children’s Hospital and Detective Michael Cummings, who was assigned to the personal violence section of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office at the time of the incident, conducted a second interview with the eight-year-old victim at Children’s Hospital. Detective Cummings’ testimony was substantially similar to that of Deputy Graffeo. The victim stated that Mr. Harris removed him from his bedroom in the middle of the night, took him in a room by himself, and asked him to perform oral sex. When the victim refused, Mr. Harris placed his thumb into the victim’s mouth to simulate oral sex; he then withdrew his thumb and inserted his penis into the victim’s mouth. However, the |7victim conveyed to Detective Cummings that he did not report the abuse because he was embarrassed.

M.B., the victim, who was 14 years old at the time of trial, testified that one night in April of 2004 when he was eight years old, while he was sleeping with his siblings, Mr. Harris came in the room, pried the victim’s mouth open (the victim was “gritting his teeth”), Mr. Harris placed his thumb inside of the victim’s mouth, removed his thumb, and inserted his “private part” in the victim’s mouth. The victim testified that Mr. Harris lived with him at the time of the incident and he treated Mr. Harris like an uncle.

On the next night, Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State v. Harris, 83 So. 3d 269, 11 La.App. 5 Cir. 253, 2011 WL 6821380, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1609 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

83 So. 3d 269 (State v. Harris) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State of Louisiana Versus Cody Breaux
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
State of Louisiana v. William Gary Ryder
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State Of Louisiana v. Terance Roshell Dawson
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2020
State of Louisiana Versus Delcome David Evans
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2020
State v. Huy The Dao
222 So. 3d 992 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017)
State v. Chavez
228 So. 3d 1259 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State v. Rodgers
202 So. 3d 1187 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State ex rel. Harris v. State
193 So. 3d 133 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2016)
State of Louisiana v. G.D.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012
State v. Hernandez
93 So. 3d 615 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)