State v. Lilly

111 So. 3d 45, 2012 La.App. 1 Cir. 0008, 2012 WL 4320414, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1188
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 21, 2012
DocketNo. 2012 KA 0008
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 111 So. 3d 45 (State v. Lilly) 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. Lilly, 111 So. 3d 45, 2012 La.App. 1 Cir. 0008, 2012 WL 4320414, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1188 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

CARTER, C.J.

|2The defendant, William Ray Lilly, was charged by bill of information with one count of sexual battery, in violation of Louisiana Revised Statutes Section 14:43.1. The defendant pled not guilty and, following a jury trial, was found guilty as charged. He then filed motions for a new trial and postverdict judgment of acquittal, which were both denied. After denial of those motions, the defendant waived sentencing delays and the trial court sentenced him to thirty-five years at hard labor without benefit of parole. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender. The defendant then filed a motion to reconsider sentence, which was also denied. He now appeals, designating seven assignments of error. We affirm the conviction and sentence.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On August 11, 2010, the defendant and his wife, C.L.,1 babysat C.L.’s grandchildren, S.D. and her baby brother, while their mother was at work. S.D., the victim, was four years old at the time. That evening, S.D. allegedly told her mother, H.D., that while she was at her grandmother’s house that day, the defendant touched her on her vagina. She testified at trial that while she was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, the defendant hugged her and reached under her clothes and touched her on her “privates” using his finger. The day after the incident, on August 12, 2010, S.D.’s mother took her to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office (STPSO) to make a report and to the Children At Risk Evaluation (CARE) Center at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans for an exam. At the CARE Center, S.D. was examined by Dr. Ellie Wetzman. S.D.’s mother also took her to the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) in Coving-ton, where she was interviewed |sby Jo Beth Rickels, a forensic interviewer. [50]*50Rickels’s interview with S.D. was recorded and played at trial.

Detective Scott Davis from the STPSO investigated S.D.’s claim. He observed the interview at the CAC and then met with S.D.’s mother to place a phone call to the defendant on August 13, 2010. The defendant voluntarily appeared at the police station at the request of Detective Davis on August 16, 2010. In a recorded statement, the defendant admitted to Detective Davis that he had touched S.D. on her vagina. That statement was played for the jury. After the defendant admitted touching the victim, he was arrested. While in jail, the defendant made several phone calls to his wife, which were also recorded and played for the jury.

At the trial, the defendant denied intentionally touching S.D. He recalled a different set of facts than what he had admitted to in the recorded statement. He claimed that his confession was obtained through coercion by Detective Davis and that he was forced to change his version of events to what the detective told him to say. The defendant and his wife also testified at trial about the defendant’s serious alcohol addiction and how that affected his behavior on the day of the incident, as well as in the days afterward, when the defendant was in custody of the STPSO.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

NO. 1 — DENIAL OF CHALLENGE FOR CAUSE TO PROSPECTIVE JUROR

In his first assignment of error, the defendant contends that the trial court committed reversible error by refusing to grant his challenge for cause to a prospective juror who indicated during voir dire examination that he would shift the burden of proof to the defendant to testify or otherwise produce evidence of innocence in order to consider a “not guilty” verdict, thereby forcing the defendant [4to exhaust all of his peremptory challenges. The defendant contends that as a consequence of the failure to grant the challenge for cause, he was denied due process of law and his right to be tried by a fair and impartial jury of his peers.

A trial court is accorded great discretion in determining whether to seat or reject a juror for cause, and such rulings will not be disturbed unless a review of the voir dire as a whole indicates an abuse of that discretion. State v. Martin, 558 So.2d 654, 658 (La.App. 1st Cir.), unit denied, 564 So.2d 318 (La.1990). A challenge for cause should be granted, even when a prospective juror declares his ability to remain impartial, if the juror’s responses as a whole reveal facts from which bias, prejudice, or inability to render judgment according to law may be reasonably implied. Martin, 558 So.2d at 658. However, a trial court’s ruling on a motion to strike jurors for cause is afforded broad discretion because of the court’s ability to get a first-person impression of prospective jurors during voir dire. State v. Brown, 05-1676 (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/5/06), 935 So.2d 211, 214, writ denied, 06-1586 (La.1/8/07), 948 So.2d 121.

Prejudice is presumed when a trial court erroneously denies a challenge for cause and the defendant ultimately exhausts his peremptory challenges. State v. Kang, 02-2812 (La.10/21/03), 859 So.2d 649, 651. This is because an erroneous ruling depriving an accused of a peremptory challenge violates his substantial rights and constitutes reversible error. Kang, 859 So.2d at 652. To prove there has been an error warranting reversal of a conviction, a defendant need only show: (1) the trial court’s erroneous denial of a challenge for cause; and (2) the use of all his peremptory challenges. See Kang, 859 So.2d [51]*51at 652. Since the defendant in this case exhausted all of his peremptory challenges, we need only consider the issue of whether the trial judge erroneously denied the defendant’s challenge for cause.

| ¡¿Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 797 provides, in pertinent part:

The state or the defendant may challenge a juror for cause on the ground that:
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(2) The juror is not impartial, whatever the cause of his partiality. An opinion or impression as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant shall not of itself be sufficient ground of challenge to a juror, if he declares, and the court is satisfied, that he can render an impartial verdict according to the law and the evidence;
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(4) The juror will not accept the law as given to him by the court[.]

The defendant points to four prospective jurors — Diane Stein, Dominick Palmisano, Priscilla Hill, and Kenneth Miller — who, he alleges, indicated an inability to be impartial, or that they would hold it against the defendant if he did not testify on his own behalf or otherwise prove that he did not commit the crime. The defendant complains that challenges for cause to Stein, Palmisano, and Hill were granted, but the defendant’s challenge to Miller was denied, forcing him to exercise a peremptory challenge. The defendant argues that there was no difference in attitude among these four prospective jurors toward the burden of proof, presumption of innocence, and failure to testify or put on a defense. However, our examination of the voir dire transcript shows that there were distinctions.

Stein, Palmisano, and Hill indicated they could not be impartial in the present ease if the defendant refused to testify or that the defendant would have to prove that he did not commit the crime charged. In contrast, Miller said if he was accused of such a crime, he would do anything to prove his innocence but that he could consider a vote of not guilty if the State failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
111 So. 3d 45, 2012 La.App. 1 Cir. 0008, 2012 WL 4320414, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lilly-lactapp-2012.