State v. Hernandez

177 So. 3d 342, 14 La.App. 5 Cir. 863, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1819, 2015 WL 5613341
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 23, 2015
DocketNo. 14-KA-863
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 177 So. 3d 342 (State v. Hernandez) 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. Hernandez, 177 So. 3d 342, 14 La.App. 5 Cir. 863, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1819, 2015 WL 5613341 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

MARC E. JOHNSON, Judge.

| ¡..Defendant, Francisco Hernandez, appeals his conviction for aggravated rape from the 24th Judicial District Court, Division “H”. For the following reasons, we affirm Defendant’s conviction and sentence.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 11, 2008, a Jefferson Parish Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Defendant with one count of aggravated rape upon a known juvenile, A.C.1, (D.O.B.1/17/2000) on or between November 1, 2005 and October 21, 2006, in violation of La. R.S. 14:42. Defendant was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the charge on September 19, 2008. On June [346]*34610, 2013, Defendant’s trial commenced before a twelve-person jury.

At trial, R.C., the father of the victim, A.C., testified that A.C. was the only child from his marriage to J.C. At the time of trial, A.C. was 13 years old, immediately following Hurricane Katrina, R.C. and J.C. were separated. A.C. lived with J.C. during the week, and R.C. picked A.C. up on weekends. At that time, J.C. was living with her boyfriend and two other males, including Defendant. R.C. testified that in late October of 2006, while he was in his FEMA trailer with A.C., A.C. said “he had something to tell [R.C.] and he confessed to [R.C.] that he was sexually abused.” R.C. testified that A.C. “didn’t say those words,” but he said that “Jimmy and Chico put their penis[es] in his mouth.”2 R.C. testified he was the first person A.C. told, and that A.C. did not tell his mother.

R.C. testified that he called J.C. to discuss what A.C. recounted to him. R.C. testified that A.C. told him that Jimmy “put his penis in his mouth” on more than one occasion and that Defendant also did it, and they “had him in the bedroom and they locked the door and he couldn’t get out the room.” R.C. testified that A.C. was five years old when he told him that information. He denied interrogating his son and denied spending days teaching A.C. what to say happened to him at the hands of Defendant. R.C. testified that AC.’s story remained consistent throughout the years and did not change.

R.C. testified that he waited several days to report the "accusations of abuse because he wanted to get the truth out of A.C. first. R.C. testified he did not notice any mood swings or strange behavior in the month prior to the accusation. A.C. disclosed to R.C. that he was “being raped by two men for at least a month.” R.C. testified that he did not notice A.C. was suffering any physical discomfort, and he did not notice any swelling, bruising, or blood. R.C. testified that he offered A.C. a trip to Disney World if he would tell the truth. R.C. testified that right before his son told him what Defendant did to him, R.C. was eating a banana, and he “guess[ed] it reminded him of what happened to him.” R.C. testified that |4A.C. did not want to go back to his mother’s home, and A.C. said he was scared and was threatened, which is why he never told anyone.

A.C. testified that he was 13 years old at the time of trial. He testified that when he was five years old, someone touched him or sexually abused him. A.C. testified that “[Defendant], he put his penis in my butt when I was five years old and he made me like touch his penis and stuff, and that was pretty much it.” He testified that Defendant made him touch Defendant’s penis with his hands and his mouth. He said one time he told his mom what happened, but “she .didn’t believe [him].” A.C. also told his dad what happened when no one was around and he felt safe. A.C. testified that Defendant and Jimmy threatened him and said they would beat him up if he told anyone. A.C. testified that Defendant made him touch his penis two times and Defendant also put his penis in his “butt” two times. A.C. testified he had no doubts that Defendant was “the man who stuck his penis in [A.C.’s] butt.”

The Child Advocacy Center (“CAC”) video of the interview of A.C. was then played for the jury. During the interview, A.C. said he was in his uncle’s room and “[Defendant] made me suck his weinee one [347]*347time.” He said Jimmy made him do it first. He said both Jimmy and Chico “made him suck his weinee.” A.C. said Chico bit his penis and that Chico put his “pee” in A.C.’s butt. A.C. said Defendant pulled A.C.’s underwear'down, but not his shirt, and then bit AC.’s “pee.” A.C. said all these things happened on “one day” and that Defendant also hit him. He said these things happened in A.C.’s mom’s room, and Defendant had locked the door. A.C. said he first told his dad, R.C., what had happened.

A.C. testified at trial that Defendant also hit him and bit his penis, and that this happened one time. A.C. testified he was telling the truth. A.C. testified he did not remember being bruised, but he knew that he said he was bruised all over |Khis body during the CAC interview. A.C. testified that on August 17, 2012, he told the “DA’s office” that the anal rape happened between three and four times, but on November 21, 2012, he told the “DA’s office” the anal rape only happened one time and oral sexual abuse occurred two to three times. He testified he changed the number of times the acts occurred because he “remembered what really happened.” A.C. testified that, at the time of trial, he remembered what really happened, and that there was one occurrence of anal rape and three occurrences of “oral sexual abuse.” A.C. testified that when Defendant “put his penis in [A.C.’s] butt,” Defendant made A.C. “get on top of it and jump up and down.”

J.C., A.C.’s mother, testified through an interpreter that R.C. hates her boyfriend, Pablo.3 J.C. testified that after Hurricane Katrina, she was living with Pablo, Defendant, Jimmy and J.H.4 She testified that in October of 2006, she learned “something unusual” regarding her son from A.C.’s father. She was surprised about what she learned, and she went to the police with R.C. She testified that R.C. translated certain words on her behalf to the police. She continued to live with Defendant after learning about what happened with A.C. because she did not have anywhere to go, but she was not happy about that. She testified that she never saw any -type of beatings or bruising, and if A.C. had any bruises on his body, she would have noticed them. She never noticed any mood swings from A.C. in the month prior to “this incident” and A.C. never complained to her of any discomfort “to his behind.”

J.C. testified that both of her sons used to play with Defendant and Jimmy; but when Defendant got home from work, he would be tired and did not always want to play with the children. She testified that there was an incident where A.C.’s pants were pulled down by Defendant and Jimmy, and A.C. immediately | (¡complained to her. She characterized it as a game and told Pablo that she did not like that game. J.C. said that was the first time either one of her children made a complaint about Defendant or Jimmy. J.C. testified that she “didn’t believe it, especially of his brother,” referring to Pablo’s brother, Defendant, as she liked Defendant a lot.

J.H., A.C.’s half-brother, testified that he was 18 years old at the time of trial. He testified that Defendant and Jimmy undressed A.C. in front of him one time. J.H. testified that Jimmy and Defendant “just took [A.C.’s] clothes off, they tried to take my clothes off.” J.H. testified that he was able to get away and went into the living room. J.H. tried to get back into the room after a few minutes to see what was going on, but Jimmy and Defendant had locked the door.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
177 So. 3d 342, 14 La.App. 5 Cir. 863, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1819, 2015 WL 5613341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hernandez-lactapp-2015.