State v. Lestrick

128 So. 3d 421, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 289, 2013 WL 5556155, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2034
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 9, 2013
DocketNo. 13-KA-289
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 128 So. 3d 421 (State v. Lestrick) 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. Lestrick, 128 So. 3d 421, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 289, 2013 WL 5556155, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2034 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

ROBERT A. CHAISSON, Judge.

12In this appeal, defendant, Detroit Les-trick, seeks review of his two convictions for indecent behavior with a juvenile. For the reasons that follow, we affirm defendant’s convictions, vacate his sentences, and remand the matter for resentencing in accordance with this opinion.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On October 26, 2011, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant with two counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:81. At his arraignment, defendant pled not guilty. The matter proceeded to trial before a six-person jury on September 25, 2012. After considering the evidence presented, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged on September 27, 2012.

On October 3, 2012, defendant filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court heard and denied the next day. Defendant then waived sentencing delays and was sentenced on each count to a concurrent sentence of seven years at hard labor, with all but two years suspended. The trial court also ordered defendant to register as a sex offender. Defendant now appeals.

\ ¡PACTS

At approximately 3:00 a.m. on August 27, 2011, Detective Thomas Guy of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office responded to a residence in Marrero in reference to a complaint of child molestation. When the detective arrived, he spoke with the mothers of the two juvenile victims before interviewing each victim separately, who were both “visibly upset.” After learning that the alleged incident occurred in Westwego, the investigation was turned over to the Westwego Police Department. Detective Brett Taylor of the Westwego Police Department then went to the Marrero residence where he spoke to the victims and their mothers: B.A. and her daughter, N.D., and S.K. and her daughter, S.K.(l).1

[426]*426In speaking to the victims separately, the detective found their stories to be consistent.

After failing to appear three times for forensic interviews at the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC), N.D. and S.K.(1) were finally interviewed on October 24, 2011, by Suzanne Jolissaint. Then, on November 9, 2011, at the Audrey Hepburn Care Center at Children’s Hospital, N.D. and S.K.(1) were interviewed and medically examined by Anne Troy, a forensic nurse practitioner and an expert in child abuse pediatrics. In these interviews, and subsequently at trial, N.D. and S.K.(1) each described substantially the same events.2

N.D. explained that one night defendant asked B.A. if N.D. and S.K.(l) could accompany him to his apartment in Westwe-go to check his mail. B.A., concerned for defendant because he had been drinking, allowed her daughter and S.K.(1) to accompany him. B.A. gave N.D. her cell phone to carry with her.

|4Upon arriving at his apartment, defendant and the two girls watched television. N.D. sat on the bed, defendant lay on the bed, and S.K.(1) stood up. While on the bed, defendant tried to “dig inside” the back of N.D.’s shorts. She explained that “he didn’t get that very far” and he did not touch her “butt.”3 After telling defendant to stop, N.D. got up and moved to the other side of the bed. Nevertheless, defendant attempted again to reach in N.D.’s shorts, prompting N.D. to stand up.

Then, after N.D. sat back down, S.K.(l) observed defendant attempt to touch N.D. a third time and warned her. N.D. stood back up. Soon thereafter, the two girls and defendant left to go to the store so he could buy another drink, and they then returned to defendant’s apartment.

N.D. and S.K.(l) lay across the bed to watch television. S.K.(l) fell asleep. Defendant soon joined the girls on the bed. Unbeknownst to N.D. at the time, she later learned that defendant was “messing with” S.K.(1), which prompted S.K.(l) to get up and state that she was ready to leave. The two girls got up off the bed and returned to the car where S.K.(l) told N.D. what had happened.

Thereafter, as defendant drove the girls back home, N.D. typed a question on her cell phone, asking S.K.(l) if she wanted to tell their mothers what had occurred with defendant. N.D. handed the phone to S.K.(l), but S.K.(l) did not know how to type on the phone, so she orally replied, “Yea, I wanna tell.” This prompted defendant to ask “Tell about what?” Not wanting defendant to know what they were talking about, N.D. fabricated a story about her sister. When N.D. wouldn’t elaborate on this, defendant attempted to get it out of S.K.(l), reaching into the back seat, tapping her, and asking “Tell about what?” While reaching back, he touched S.K.(l)’s “private area” twice.

|fiS.K.(l)4 explained that one night her aunt, B.A., wanted her and her cousin, [427]*427N.D., to accompany defendant, B.A.’s boyfriend, to his apartment to “make sure he was okay” because he had been drinking. When they arrived at defendant’s apartment, S.K.(l) and N.D. watched television on the bed for a few minutes before leaving with defendant to go to the store so he could buy another drink. The two girls returned to defendant’s apartment with him and resumed watching television on the bed. They lay down and defendant soon joined them. S.K.(1) was half asleep when defendant started to “rub” the skin of her chest. S.K.(l) moved his hand way from her and asked him what he was doing, but he acted like he did not know what was going on. S.K.(l) stood up and demanded to leave, though defendant wanted to stay to continue watching television.

Defendant eventually brought the girls home. During the drive, S.K.(l) and N.D. were discussing whether they would tell their parents what happened, which provoked defendant to ask what they were talking about. Defendant then reached in the back seat to tap S.K.(1) and rubbed S.K.(l)’s vagina on top of her clothes.5

N.D.’s mother, B.A., testified that she began dating defendant in February of 2011, he lived with her for a month or two starting in April of 2011, and they broke up sometime in June or July of 2011. Then, in August of 2011, B.A. and defendant resumed talking and seeing each other. Defendant resided in an apartment in Westwego, though he often slept at B.A.’s house.

B.A. testified that one night around the time that defendant and B.A. had resumed their relationship, defendant told B.A. he was heading over to his apartment to check the mail and he asked if N.D. and S.K.(1) could accompany | fihim. Although defendant had been drinking alcohol that night, B.A. permitted the two girls to go and gave N.D. a cell phone to carry with her. After they had been gone for a while, B.A. called her daughter, asking where they were. N.D. explained that she and her cousin were inside with defendant watching television. As more time passed, B.A. continued calling her daughter, who continued to inform her mother that they were still watching television. B.A. called defendant several times, urging him to bring the girls home. B.A. estimated that the girls were with defendant for “about 45 minutes to an hour,” leaving sometime between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. and returning after 11:00 p.m.

Eventually when N.D. and S.K.(l) returned home that night, they retreated to N.D.’s room while B.A. fell asleep. The next morning around 7:00 a.m., with defendant present, N.D. and S.K.(1) awakened B.A., informing her that they had to tell her something and that defendant had to leave the room.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
128 So. 3d 421, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 289, 2013 WL 5556155, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2034, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lestrick-lactapp-2013.