State v. Johnson

253 So. 3d 887
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 15, 2018
DocketNo. 52,128-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 253 So. 3d 887 (State v. Johnson) 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. Johnson, 253 So. 3d 887 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

STONE, J.

A jury found Edward K. Johnson guilty of aggravated rape in violation of La. R.S. 14:42. He received a mandatory life sentence at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Johnson now appeals asserting four assignments of error. For the following reasons, we affirm his conviction and sentence.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On June 18, 2015, 53-year-old Edward K. Johnson ("Johnson") was indicted for the aggravated rape of A.D., who was born on April 22, 2008.1 The bill of indictment alleged the offense occurred between January and March of 2015, when A.D. was six years old. On August 16, 2017, a jury unanimously found Johnson guilty as charged. On September 11, 2017, Johnson filed a motion for new trial and motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal. Both were denied by the trial court. Thereafter, the trial court sentenced Johnson to mandatory life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

Johnson now appeals asserting four assignments of error: 1) there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction; 2) the trial court erred in denying his request to allow an expert to review A.D.'s Gingerbread House interview prior to trial; 3) the trial court erred in allowing the state to reference other crimes evidence outside the scope of its La. C. E. art. 412.2 notice; and 4) the trial court erred by denying him the opportunity to conduct a Daubert hearing as to Kiersten Prochnow's testimony.

DISCUSSION

Sufficiency of the Evidence

The state is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Johnson engaged in anal or oral sexual intercourse with A.D. without his lawful consent because it was committed when A.D. was under the age of 13 years. La. R.S. 14:42(A)(4). After a review of the evidence presented at trial, we find it sufficient to support Johnson's conviction.

Johnson's trial began with the testimony of A.D, who testified he was now nine years old. A.D. identified Johnson in open court and stated Johnson was "his momma's boyfriend." The state then played the videos of A.D.'s Gingerbread House interviews. A.D. testified he remembered talking to the interviewer, Alex Person ("Person"), *891on more than one occasion and that everything he told her was true. A.D. was interviewed by Person at the Gingerbread House on three separate occasions; those interviews are summarized as follows:

Statement # 1 on April 2, 2015 : A.D. stated he was six years old and living with his grandmother, his uncle, "E.N.," and his aunt, Jaime. A.D. stated he used to live with Johnson and his mother, K.H., at Johnson's house. A.D. stated he would ride with Johnson in one of his two trucks. During the interview, Person assured A.D. that it is her job to help keep kids safe and make sure no one is doing things they are not supposed to do. After Person demonstrated what private parts were, A.D. denied anyone touched his private parts.
Statement # 2 on April 6, 2015 : Person spoke further with A.D. about his home life and the people in it. A.D. did not disclose any sexual abuse. Prior to ending the interview, Person told A.D. she knew something had happened to him, and they would come back later that afternoon to talk about it.
Statement # 3 on April 6, 2015 : Person again told A.D. she knew something had happened to him and that they had to talk about it. Person showed A.D. a piece of paper with a boy drawn on it and asked A.D. to draw a circle around the boy's private parts. Thereafter, she asked A.D. to identify the private parts that no one is supposed to touch. Person told A.D. that if someone ever touched his private parts, A.D. had to tell someone. When asked again if anyone had touched his private parts, A.D. answered yes, his "Grandpa, Ed." A.D. stated Johnson put his private in his "butt." A.D. stated Johnson did this multiple times and at different places, while no one else was around. A.D. stated it happened multiple times at Johnson's house in his bedroom. A.D. said Johnson made him lie down, and Johnson was behind him. A.D. said he would tell Johnson to stop but Johnson said no. A.D. stated the abuse also happened multiple times at Johnson's Bossier City shop, "behind the bowling alley." Additionally, A.D. said the sexual abuse happened multiple times while they were in Johnson's truck in the parking lot of Albertsons. A.D. said Johnson had a blue truck and a black truck. A.D. said "He put his penis in my butt." A.D. stated Johnson would sometimes put something clear from a "big, plastic bottle," on his private. A.D. said he was six years old when Johnson started doing this behavior and that he told his mother, but she did nothing about it so he told his grandmother. A.D. stated Johnson warned him not to tell anyone because he would get taken away.

During cross-examination, A.D. testified he and Johnson were alone when Johnson abused him in the Albertsons parking lot, and that no one walked by as it happened. He testified the abuse at Johnson's house would occur at night in Johnson's bedroom when no one else was home. A.D. testified the abuse at Johnson's shop occurred when he was alone with Johnson in "this little place" at the shop that "had a couch and a few chairs and the bathroom." A.D. testified Johnson would make him lie down on the couch without clothes. At the end of cross-examination, A.D. reiterated that everything he said in his Gingerbread House interviews was true.

The state presented the testimony of A.D.'s grandmother, D.N. Besides K.H., D.N. had three other children: Brandon, Jamie, and E.N.2 D.N. testified K.H. was *892married to Johnson's stepson but her daughter was "intimately involved" with Johnson. D.N. testified she has known Johnson for about seven years and had considered him a friend. She stated Johnson had done a lot to help her family financially, and that they all spent a lot of time together at Johnson's house and shop.

D.N. testified A.D. disclosed the sexual abuse to her "a little at a time." D.N. testified she first learned of the abuse in April of 2015 when A.D. told her, in his own words, Johnson "stuck his dick in my ass." She also testified A.D. told her that while K.H. was in Albertsons shopping, Johnson would make A.D. put his mouth on Johnson's penis. At the time A.D. first disclosed the abuse, he was still living with K.H. and Johnson at Johnson's home. D.N. stated she responded to A.D.'s allegations by calling K.H. to come home so A.D. could tell his mother what had happened. Two days later, when K.H. had not removed A.D. from the home, D.N. took A.D. to her home and reported the abuse to authorities.

The state presented the testimony of E.N., A.D.'s 15-year-old uncle. E.N. testified he had been friends with Johnson for years, and that he and his family often hung out at Johnson's house and shop. E.N. testified that in early 2015, he had been staying at Johnson's house for several months. E.N. was not in school at the time and had been using an online home-schooling program. E.N. testified in January or February 2015, he had been working with Johnson at his shop all night. E.N.

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Bluebook (online)
253 So. 3d 887, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-lactapp-2018.