State v. Jaramillo

953 So. 2d 146, 2006 La.App. 3 Cir. 1377
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 7, 2007
Docket2006-1377
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 953 So. 2d 146 (State v. Jaramillo) 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. Jaramillo, 953 So. 2d 146, 2006 La.App. 3 Cir. 1377 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

953 So.2d 146 (2007)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Mark JARAMILLO.

No. 2006-1377.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 7, 2007.

*147 G. Paul Marx, Louisiana Appellate Project, Lafayette, Louisiana, for Defendant/Appellant, Mark Jaramillo.

James C. Downs, District Attorney—Ninth Judicial District, ADA Sheryl L. Laing, Alexandria, Louisiana, for Appellee, State of Louisiana.

Court composed of SYLVIA R. COOKS, BILLY HOWARD EZELL, and JAMES T. GENOVESE, Judges.

GENOVESE, Judge.

The Defendant, Mark Jaramillo, was originally indicted on August 15, 2002, and charged with one count of aggravated rape, in violation of La.R.S. 14:42. On January 26, 2006, pursuant to trial by jury, the Defendant was found guilty of the responsive verdict, sexual battery, in violation of La.R.S. 14:43.1. On August 7, 2006, the Defendant was sentenced to ten years at hard labor, to run consecutively to any other sentences he might be subject to, with credit for time served.

On August 7, 2006, the Defendant, through counsel, orally moved to appeal his conviction.[1] In his appeal, the Defendant alleges the following assignments of error:

1) that the trial court erred by allowing the victim's drawings as testimonial evidence without any foundation of interpretation of the drawings and by providing the drawings to the jury during deliberations;
2) that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to find him guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted because the state did not prove that the claims of abuse were not the result of the hallucinations or the psychosis of the victim because of his mild retardation and that his testimony was incoherent, bizarre and illusory; and
*148 3) that the trial court failed to advise the Defendant of the time limits set forth in La.Code Crim.P. art. 930.8 in which to file an application for post conviction relief.

FACTS

According to the bill of indictment, between November 21, 1997 and September 19, 1998, the Defendant engaged in conduct with the victim, constituting the elements of the crime of which he was convicted. The following facts were adduced at trial, and the alleged criminal conduct occurred during the aforementioned time frame. On at least one occasion, it is alleged that the Defendant forced the victim, S.N.,[2] to engage in oral intercourse and touched the victim's buttocks with his penis. At the time the Defendant was alleged to have engaged in this conduct, S.N. was 10 years old.

Errors Patent & Assignment of Error No. 3

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed for errors patent on the face of the record. Hence, we will first address the issue of errors patent. After reviewing the record, there is one error patent.

As raised in Defendant's Assignment of Error No. 3, there is no indication in the record that the trial court advised the Defendant of the prescriptive period for filing post-conviction relief. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 930.8 requires the trial court to advise a defendant of the prescriptive period at sentencing. Accordingly, this case is remanded, and the trial court is instructed, to inform the Defendant of the 930.8 prescriptive period by sending appropriate written notice to the Defendant within thirty days of the rendition of this opinion and to file written proof of same in the record.

Assignment of Error No. 2

When multiple issues are raised on appeal, and sufficiency of the evidence is one of the alleged errors, the reviewing court should first determine the sufficiency of the evidence error. State v. Hearold, 603 So.2d 731 (La.1992). Consequently, we will first discuss the Defendant's sufficiency claim. In his second assignment of error, the Defendant alleges that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to find him guilty of sexual battery because the State did not prove that the claims of abuse were not the result of the hallucinations or the psychosis of the victim because he is mildly retarded and that his testimony was incoherent, bizarre and illusory. In support of this allegation, the Defendant cites State v. Bruce, 577 So.2d 209 (La.App. 1 Cir.), writ denied, 580 So.2d 667 (La.1991), where the appellate court reversed a molestation of a juvenile conviction due to insufficiency of the evidence where in response to questions at trial, the four-year-old victim was only able to respond with yes or no answers, and he was not able to testify that the defendant had any inappropriate contact with him.

The instant case is clearly distinguishable. S.N. was seventeen at the time he testified, he was able to completely answer the questions posed by the prosecutor and the Defendant's attorney, and he was able to testify about the Defendant's conduct sufficiently enough to establish the elements of the offense of which the Defendant was convicted. The Defendant also alleges in his brief that the State failed to prove that S.N.'s testimony was not the result of hallucinations or psychosis of the *149 victim. While S.N.'s mild retardation might impact his credibility as a witness, it does not impact his capacity to testify. In State v. Wilkerson, 448 So.2d 1355, 1361-62 (La.App. 2 Cir.), writ denied, 450 So.2d 361 (La.1984), the appellate court stated:

[c]ertainly, this witness' defects of capacity sensory or mental, which would have lessened her ability to perceive the facts which she purports to have observed were provable to attack the credibility of the witness, either upon cross-examination or producing other witnesses to prove the defect. However, such matters go to her credibility, not her competency, which is properly determined by the trial court.

Consequently, the issue of the mental capacity of a witness goes to his credibility which the trier of fact has the responsibility to assess. In the instant case, the record indicates that the jury did not find the victim completely credible, as it convicted the Defendant of sexual battery, a lesser offense than aggravated rape.

Also, in support of his insufficiency argument, the Defendant cites Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). In State v. Touchet, 04-1027, pp. 1-2 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/9/05), 897 So.2d 900, 902, this court stated:

With regard to sufficiency of the evidence, this court set forth as follows in State v. Lambert, 97-64, pp. 4-5 (La.App. 3 Cir. 9/30/98), 720 So.2d 724, 726-27:
When the issue of sufficiency of evidence is raised on appeal, the critical inquiry of the reviewing court is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State ex rel. Graffagnino v. King, 436 So.2d 559 (La.1983); State v. Duncan, 420 So.2d 1105 (La.1982); State v. Moody, 393 So.2d 1212 (La.1981). It is the role of the fact finder to weigh the respective credibility of the witnesses. Therefore, the appellate court should not second-guess the credibility determination of the trier of fact beyond the sufficiency evaluations under the Jackson standard of review. See King,

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953 So. 2d 146, 2006 La.App. 3 Cir. 1377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jaramillo-lactapp-2007.