State v. Licona

141 So. 3d 333, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 543, 2014 WL 2119163, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1316
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 21, 2014
DocketNo. 13-KA-543
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 141 So. 3d 333 (State v. Licona) 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. Licona, 141 So. 3d 333, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 543, 2014 WL 2119163, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1316 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

MARC E. JOHNSON, Judge.

1 ¡¿Defendant, Jose Manuel Licona, appeals his convictions and sentences for aggravated rape and sexual battery on the basis of trial court error denying his multiple motions for a mistrial. For the reasons that follow, we affirm his convictions and sentences.

Defendant was indicted by a Jefferson Parish Grand Jury on October 20, 2011, and charged with one count of aggravated rape of a juvenile under the age of 13 in violation of La. R.S. 14:42 and one count of sexual battery on the same juvenile in violation of La. R.S. 14:43.1. He pled not guilty and filed several pre-trial motions, including a motion to suppress his statements which was denied after a hearing. Defendant proceeded to trial on March 18, 2013. After a four-day trial, a twelve-person jury found Defendant guilty as charged on both counts. The trial court [337]*337sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment for the aggravated rape conviction and 50 years for the sexual battery conviction. Both sentences were ordered to be | ¡¡served without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence and were ordered to run concurrently with each other.

FACTS

On the afternoon of July 10, 2011, J awoke from a nap and heard her five-year-old daughter, M, tell Defendant, J’s live-in boyfriend, that she was bleeding.1 Upon putting M in the bathtub, J pulled down M’s pants and noticed she was bleeding. When J asked M why she was bleeding, M kept saying she did not know. J saw clots of blood coming out, at which time she and Defendant took M to East Jefferson General Hospital (EJGH). M was subsequently transferred from EJGH to Children’s Hospital via ambulance.

Once at Children’s Hospital, M was evaluated by Dr. Jamie Jackson, a forensic pediatrician with the Audrey Hepburn Care Center at Children’s Hospital. Dr. Jackson was called to consult on the case because of concerns for sexual abuse due to M’s unexplained vaginal bleeding. After obtaining M’s basic medical history from J, Dr. Jackson asked J and Defendant to leave the room so she could speak to M privately. When Dr. Jackson asked M what happened, M stated that her “dad” hurt her.2 She told Dr. Jackson that her “dad” put his thing “here” and pointed to her front middle vaginal area and her butt. M also indicated that her “dad” played with her vaginal area with his finger. After Dr. Jackson talked to M, M was taken to surgery so her injuries could be fully assessed and evidence could be collected.

14Prior to surgery, M was examined by Dr. Kurt Eeg, a pediatric urologist. He noted that M had blood stains on her inner thighs, a clot where the vagina and urethra are located, and a small tear in the 7:00 position. In surgery, Dr. Eeg determined that M had a complete laceration, or a deep cut, along the entire length of her vagina and along the posterior wall of the vagina. Dr. Eeg believed he could see M’s bowels, indicating the tear went into M’s peritoneal cavity, and had to consult with a general surgeon on how to repair the injury. Both Dr. Jackson, who was present during the surgery to take photographs and collect evidence,3 and Dr. Eeg testified that M’s injuries were consistent with penetrating trauma, such as penile/vaginal penetration.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., Officer Michael Jackson with the Kenner Police Department was dispatched to Children’s Hospital regarding a possible aggravated [338]*338rape.4 After speaking with Dr. Jackson, Officer Jackson contacted his supervisor and then spoke with Detective Charlotte Synigal, who was assigned as the lead investigator on the ease. Pursuant to Det. Synigal’s instructions, Officer Jackson separated J and Defendant until Det. Synigal arrived.

Upon Det. Synigal’s arrival, Dr. Jackson gathered the Detective, J and a worker with child protective services, and disclosed what M had told her about what had happened. Det. Synigal then spoke with Defendant, who agreed to go to the police department to further discuss the matter. Thereafter, Det. Synigal was able to meet with M in the surgery recovery area, at which time M provided information consistent with that given by Dr. Jackson.

Early in the morning on July 11, 2011, Det. Synigal subsequently went to the police department, where she met with Defendant and advised him of his Rrights. Defendant waived his rights, and Det. Sy-nigal proceeded to interview him. During the interview, Defendant indicated that he and J were the only people who cared for M. He suggested to Det. Synigal that M might have caused the injury herself by inserting something into her vaginal cavity. According to Det. Synigal, when she told Defendant that M said he had vaginally and anally raped her and showed him Dr. Jackson’s report, Defendant “just kind of laughed and ... said that can’t be right, there has to be some other explanation for this.” When Det. Synigal specifically asked if M was lying, Defendant replied “no.” . Det. Synigal ended the interview once Defendant started laughing and she knew the interview would not progress any further. Defendant was subsequently arrested and transported to the jail.

Later that same day, Defendant agreed to talk with Det. Synigal, and gave two recorded statements. In his first statement, Defendant referred to M as his daughter. The statement was stopped shortly after it began when Defendant indicated he needed to use the restroom. After a break, Defendant gave a second statement in which he made inculpatory statements. Specifically, Defendant apologized for not previously telling the truth about the incident, asked God’s forgiveness for what he had done, admitted that he “must have been the person who did that to her,” that he must have done everything that M and the doctors said, and that he was there to “take responsibility” for what he had done.

Meanwhile, a search warrant had been obtained and was executed at the Kenner apartment where Defendant, J and M lived. Various items and clothing had been seized, including bloodied underwear. A day or two after the search, J called the police to report that she had found a t-shirt and a pair of men’s grey boxers balled up inside a towel in the laundry room. J stated these clothes belonged to Defendant. The police collected these items from the apartment and | (¡performed DNA testing on the boxers, which appeared to have blood stains on them.

The DNA test results showed that there was a mixture of more than one individual’s DNA on the boxer shorts. The DNA test results showed that M could not be excluded as a major donor to the DNA mixture, but Defendant was excluded as a possible donor. Further DNA testing, specifically an amplified test for Y chromosome testing, was conducted on the DNA mixture and revealed that Defendant and all males within his paternal lineage could [339]*339not be excluded as a possible donor of the DNA mixture found on the boxer shorts.

Ten days after the incident, on July 20, 2011, M was interviewed by Suzanne Jolis-saint, a forensic interviewer at the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). This videotaped interview was played for the jury. During the interview, M stated that “Manuel” had hurt her and had put his “thing” in her “pee part” and “butt.” When asked to identify Defendant’s “thing” on a body diagram of an adult male, M circled the front middle part of male’s pants, between the legs. She also stated that “Manuel” put his finger in her “pee part.” She again circled the finger on the body diagram of the adult male.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
141 So. 3d 333, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 543, 2014 WL 2119163, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-licona-lactapp-2014.