State v. Linson

654 So. 2d 440, 1995 WL 239619
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 7, 1995
Docket94 KA 0061
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 654 So. 2d 440 (State v. Linson) 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. Linson, 654 So. 2d 440, 1995 WL 239619 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

654 So.2d 440 (1995)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
William Stanley LINSON.

No. 94 KA 0061.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

April 7, 1995.

*441 Mark D. Rhodes, Houma, for plaintiff-appellee State of La.

William H. Dunckelman, Houma, for defendant-appellant William Stanley Linson.

Before LeBLANC, PITCHER, and FITZSIMMONS, JJ.

PITCHER, Judge.

William Stanley Linson was charged by bill of information with three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile, violations of LSA-R.S. 14:81. He pled not guilty and, after trial by jury, was found guilty on count one of the responsive offense of attempted indecent behavior with a juvenile and was found guilty as charged on the other two counts. The court sentenced him on count one to serve a term of twelve months imprisonment at hard labor, with credit for time served, and to pay a fine of $500 and court costs. The court suspended the term of imprisonment upon payment of the fine and costs and placed defendant on active supervised probation for a period of three years with special conditions. The court sentenced defendant on count two to serve a term of thirty months imprisonment at hard labor, with credit for time served. The court suspended the sentence and placed him on supervised probation for three years with special conditions. The court sentenced him on *442 count three to serve a term of fifteen months imprisonment at hard labor, with credit for time served, and to pay a fine of $500 and court costs. The court suspended the term of imprisonment upon payment of the fine and costs and placed him on supervised probation for three years with special conditions. The court ordered that the terms of imprisonment should be served consecutively but that the periods of probation and conditions of probation should be served concurrently. Defendant has appealed, urging seven assignments of error. In his brief, he specifically abandons assignments of error numbers one (introduction of hearsay testimony), two (admission of other crimes evidence), and five (refusal to allow defense witness to testify as expert in field of sexual trauma).

FACTS

Defendant was convicted of indecent behavior with his stepdaughter (G.E.) and two stepgranddaughters (E.E. and J.M.). Defendant's wife (Evelyn) had four daughters from her previous marriage, Wendy, Tammy, and Annette, who were grown, and G.E., who still lived at home. Annette had two daughters, E.E. and J.M. Evelyn's previous husband died after an extensive illness. When Evelyn married defendant, G.E. was thirteen.

G.E., the victim of count one, testified that, around Mardi Gras of 1990 when she was fourteen years old, defendant came up behind her as she sat at the kitchen table. He put one of his hands in her underwear and moved his hand down to the pubic hair area. When this happened, G.E. got up and went to her bedroom. She also testified that, on a previous occasion when she was standing at the kitchen sink, defendant came up from behind her and started kissing her softly on the neck. In response, the victim stopped what she was doing and went to her room. She testified that she did not tell anyone about these incidents until after her sister, Annette (who was the mother of the other two victims), called her to tell her about the other girls' allegations. G.E. was fifteen when the complaint was filed with the authorities and was seventeen by the time she testified at trial.

E.E., the victim of count two, was eight by the time of the trial. She testified that, on more than one occasion when she was sitting on defendant's lap, defendant put his hand in her underwear and moved his hand up and down. She said she could not remember how may times defendant did this to her "because it happened so many times." She described one particular incident, occurring in 1991 (when she would have been six years old), when she was sitting on defendant's lap in the living room of his house watching television. She named the following people as usually being present when the incidents occurred: her grandmother, her mother, her aunts, her sister, and family friends. She also recalled defendant doing the same thing to her when she was at "Miss Gwen's" house, where she and her immediate family stayed for a couple of months after their trailer burned, and at the residence where she and her family lived in Montegut. She said it made her mad each time defendant put his hand inside her underwear, but she did not tell anybody because she thought he would not do it anymore. One time when she and J.M. were riding home, she asked J.M. if defendant did the same things to her; and J.M. said he did. E.E. testified that, when she finally had had enough, she told her mother. Her mother then asked J.M. if the same things had ever happened to her, and J.M. said they had. According to the investigating detective, E.E. and J.M. told their mother on July 25, 1991.

J.M., the victim of count three, testified that defendant, and nobody else, had touched her between her legs. She could not recall when the incident occurred, but she said it occurred when she was at defendant's house and when she was at Miss Gwen's house, which would have been when she was five years old. Initially she testified that she could not recall the number of times it happened, but later she implied that it happened only once. Although she was reluctant to describe defendant's actions, she said he put his hand inside her panties and rubbed her in that area while she was sitting on his lap. When the incident occurred, she, defendant, and other family members were watching television in the living room of defendant's house. J.M. told her mother about defendant's *443 actions after she overheard E.E.'s complaint. J.M. was seven by the time of the trial.

After learning what had been happening to her daughters, Annette was concerned defendant also might have abused G.E., who at that time was living with defendant and her mother. Annette contacted Linda McCord, a longtime family friend, and asked her to talk with G.E. When McCord met with G.E., G.E. described defendant's actions and explained that she had not told anyone because her mother seemed happy with defendant and she did not want to hurt her mother. The offenses were not reported to the authorities until almost two months later. During the interim, Annette's trailer burned, the family consulted counselors, and defendant, his wife, and G.E. went to Colorado for several weeks.

After the allegations were reported, the sheriff's office and Family Services conducted an investigation. During the investigation, Detective Jackie Malbrough of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office separately interviewed the victims, using anatomically correct dolls. Malbrough testified that, during the course of the investigation, the stories told by the children did not vary and she saw no indication the children were merely repeating things told to them by someone else. When defendant was arrested, he made a brief statement to a detective. Defendant said he did not do anything and his actions must have been misinterpreted. He told the detective that J.M. never got close to him so it was not possible for him to have abused her. Defendant recalled one incident with E.E. in which he straightened her waistband while she was sitting in his lap. He also explained that one day he patted G.E.'s stomach, after she raised her shirt and said, "Look how fat I am."

Defendant testified at the trial. He denied touching G.E. in any improper manner. He explained that the family was affectionate and that the only time he kissed G.E.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
654 So. 2d 440, 1995 WL 239619, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-linson-lactapp-1995.