State v. Humphries

124 So. 3d 1177, 2013 WL 5345631, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1938
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 25, 2013
DocketNo. 48,235-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 124 So. 3d 1177 (State v. Humphries) 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. Humphries, 124 So. 3d 1177, 2013 WL 5345631, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1938 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

PITMAN, J.

LA unanimous jury convicted Defendant Steve Allen Humphries as charged of three counts of aggravated incest. The trial court originally sentenced Defendant to 45 years at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence for Count One, to 10 years at hard labor for Count Two and to 15 years at hard labor for Count Three. The trial court ordered these sentences to run concurrently. After Defendant filed a notice of appeal, the state filed a motion to reconsider sentence. The trial court granted the state’s motion and sentenced Defendant to 45 years at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence for Count One, to 16 years at hard labor for Count Two and to 16 years at hard labor for Count Three. The trial court ordered Counts Two and Three to run concurrently with each other and consecutively with Count One.

Defendant now appeals his conviction as to Count One and claims his sentence is excessive. For the following reasons, we affirm Defendant’s conviction and sentence.

[1179]*1179FACTS

On July 7, 2011, the state filed a bill of indictment charging Defendant with three counts of aggravated incest of his stepdaughter, K.W.,1 in violation of La. R.S. 14:78.1. Count One alleges that, between the dates of January 1, 2000, and December 19, 2008, Defendant committed aggravated incest with K.W., a person who is under 13 years of age and who is related to Defendant by being his stepdaughter. Counts Two and Three allege that, between the dates of December 19, 2008, and June 8, 2011, ^Defendant committed aggravated incest with K.W., a person who is under eighteen years of age and who is related to Defendant by being his stepdaughter. On July 13, 2011, Defendant pled not guilty. A jury trial began on July 16, 2012.

K.W., born on December 19, 1995, testified that her mother, M.H., married Defendant when K.W. was five, almost six, years of age, making Defendant her stepfather. K.W. lived with her mother and stepfather and thought of Defendant as her father because she had no contact with her biological father.

K.W. testified:

I was around the age of five and six, and he would make me rub his penis with my hand. He would forcibly make it-make me do that.
[[Image here]]
He told me that if I told that it would make my mother’s life miserable and he would just hurt me more than what he was actually making me do.

K.W. testified that this would happen two or three times a week. K.W. further testified:

I was around the age of eight to ten and he would make me get naked and bend over so that he could see my vaginal area and he would masturbate.
[[Image here]]
He would ask me every day, but I wouldn’t do it every day. It would be three or four times a week.

K.W. also testified that, when she was eight or nine years old, Defendant “stuck a spark plug up my butt.... He told me that he was — that he plugged me up so nobody else could have me.” K.W. added that, beginning when she was approximately ten years old, Defendant showed her pornographic movies. K.W. explained that her mother was not home when all of these | (¡actions occurred. K.W. testified that, when she was 12 years old, she told her mother that Defendant had “been touching me in the wrong areas.” K.W. explained that Defendant “found out that I told and he immediately threatened me, that if I didn’t tell her that it was a lie that he would hurt me,” so K.W. recanted and told her mother she had lied.

K.W. further testified that, before the age of 10, Defendant never touched her; but, from the ages of 10 to 15, “he had never penetrated me until I was fifteen. He had fondled with me, but he had never actually penetrated me.” K.W. further testified that, when she was 15 years old, Defendant began asking her to have anal sex with him. K.W. recalled that the first time they had anal sex was on Defendant’s birthday, February 26, 2011.2 K.W. stated that they had anal sex over 20 times, with the last time being on May 29, 2011. K.W. initially did not tell her mother because Defendant threatened K.W. that, if she told, “he would do something way worse to [1180]*1180me than what he was doing.” K.W. eventually did tell her mother, which led to the investigation of Defendant.

Sgt. Jo Caston of the Ouachita Parish Sheriffs Office testified that she works on sex crimes and child abuse cases. She stated that the Sheriffs Office received a complaint involving Defendant on June 8, 2011, and that she was assigned the case the next day. Sgt. Caston had K.W. interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center and arranged for her to be examined by Dr. Meade O’Boyle, a pediatrician who focuses on child sexual abuse. On June 14, 2011, Sgt. Caston located Defendant at his place of work and asked | ^Defendant if he would be willing to speak with her. Sgt. Caston testified that she explained the Miranda rights to Defendant and then began asking him about his sexual conduct with K.W. Sgt. Caston testified that Defendant originally denied having sexual contact with K.W. Sgt. Caston explained that she told Defendant a lie that K.W. said they had consensual sex, saying:

I don’t remember my exact words, but I said something to the effect of look, man, [K.W.] told me all about it, and I know it was consensual; she wanted to do it just like you did. And his whole demeanor and countenance changed.... He started smiling and kind of chuckling and laughing a little bit and admitted.

Several minutes into the conversation, Sergeant Caston turned on a tape recorder to record the remainder of their conversation.

In the recorded conversation,3 Defendant denied that he had touched K.W. from the age of five and denied that he threatened K.W. if she told anyone about their sexual contact. Defendant admitted that he and K.W. had been having sex for two months. He stated that he and K.W. talked about having children and “whether or not we’d make a pretty baby.” Defendant then detailed the first time he and K.W. had anal sex and that they had anal sex again a few weeks later.4

Dr. O’Boyle testified that she examined K.W. on June 13, 2011, and stated that she took a history from K.W. in which K.W. described how Defendant engaged in improper sexual actions with her. Dr. O’Boyle 1 ..¡performed a physical examination of K.W. and noted that K.W. “had a normal, intact hymenal ring which means that she had not had sex vaginally.” Dr. O’Boyle further noted:

Examination of her anus showed a large anal tag and there was venous pooling. This is normal. And there was scarring all over her anus. The architecture was very, very distorted from the normal that I usually see.
[[Image here]]
Normally, the anus has muscles that go around, and they’re all like this. But hers were all distorted in appearance. And she had scarring. And it was — it looked like she had taken trauma to her anus on repeated occasions.

Dr. O’Boyle testified that the condition of KW.’s anus was consistent with that of someone who had been anally penetrated 20 or more times.

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

Related

State of Louisiana v. James. L. Tabb
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State Of Louisiana v. Allen James Harrison
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2021
State v. Roth
260 So. 3d 1230 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State v. Barbain
179 So. 3d 770 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
State v. Randle
166 So. 3d 465 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
State v. Warmack
166 So. 3d 424 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
State v. Allen
162 So. 3d 519 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
State v. Woods
139 So. 3d 1085 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State v. Urena
161 So. 3d 701 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State of Louisiana v. Walter Urena
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014
State v. Elkins
138 So. 3d 769 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 So. 3d 1177, 2013 WL 5345631, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-humphries-lactapp-2013.