State v. Monroe

53 So. 3d 626, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 0194, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1708, 2010 WL 5034545
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 8, 2010·No. No. 2010-KA-0194·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MICHAEL E. KIRBY, Judge,

h STATEMENT OF CASE

The State charged Donald Monroe with three counts of sexual battery in violation [629] of La. R.S. 14:43.1. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. Following a trial a unanimous six-member jury found him guilty of one count of sexual battery.

Mr. Monroe pleaded guilty to the multiple bill of information charging him as a second felony offender, and the court sentenced him to ten years at hard labor. That same day, the court granted the defendant’s Motion for Appeal. Some three months after the appeal had already been granted, the defendant filed a Motion to Reconsider Sentence.

Finding no merit in any of defendant’s three assignments of error we affirm his conviction and sentence.

STATEMENT OF FACT

Ms. Rochelle Hartman testified that in 2007 she worked as a forensic interviewer at Children’s Hospital in the Children’s Advocacy Center. She explained the specialized training, educational and occupational qualifications 1 required for her position. She stated that her services are utilized to obtain information from children who are victims of crimes. Her technique involves interviewing the child one-on-one, in a private, non-threatening environment and foster a positive rapport between her and the subject to quell any fear and apprehension the child may have. The room is sequestered from other areas of the facility and is equipped with video and audio recording equipment. While interviewing a child, Ms. Hartman is able to communicate with the investigating officer or social worker assigned to the case to obtain information pertinent to the officer’s/social worker’s concern(s).

Ms. Hartman explained that she interviewed M. P., the victim,1 in October 2007. Prior to the interview, Ms. Hartman was not aware of any of the facts related to the case. The video and audio tape of her interview of the victim was played for the jury.2

Following Ms. Hartman’s testimony, the State introduced the defendant’s birth certificate, and the court allowed the jury to view it.

Detective Corey Lymous of the NOPD Sex Crimes Unit testified that in October 2007, he became aware of the alleged sexual battery of M.P. that occurred sometime in 2006. M.P. referred to the defendant by the alias “Romeo Johnson.” Through investigation, the detective determined that the defendant’s real name was Donald Monroe. With this information, Detective Lymous compiled a photo lineup, which he showed to the victim. She immediately identified the picture of the defendant and signed and wrote on the back of the picture, “That’s the person I |shad sex with.” The detective identified the photo lineup in court and verified the victim’s name and information on the back of the defendant’s photo.

On cross examination Detective Lymous stated that he got involved with this case because a young girl was pregnant. That case, however, involved a man named Derrick Pierre. The victim in this case told Lymous that she had penile/vaginal sex with the defendant on three occasions — in her aunt’s house, at Motel 6 and at the defendant’s FEMA trailer in November and December 2006. He also interviewed the victim’s grandmother who told him that she believed she heard the defendant in the victim’s bedroom on one occasion, but when she entered the room, she did not see him. The State introduced and [630] published to the jury copies of the victim’s and the defendant’s birth certificates.

The victim testified that she was fifteen at the time of trial and that she was in the ninth grade. Her aunt is her legal guardian because her mother is a drug addict, whom she rarely sees or hears from. The victim told the jury that she was thirteen years old in November 2006 when the defendant first contacted her. She referred to the defendant as “Romeo Johnson” and said that he got her telephone number from her mother. The victim received a telephone call from the defendant, and then he showed up at her aunt’s house and they spoke. Later that night, the defendant came to her house, and the two had sex. Her aunt was not at home that night.

The next time she had sex with the defendant was around Christmas 2006, again in her bedroom at her aunt’s house. That night the victim’s great-grandmother was in the house visiting for the holiday. The defendant entered her bedroom window, and they had sex. While the two were in the bedroom, her grandmother knocked on the door. The victim refused to open the door until her |4grandmother began fussing and demanding that she open the door. The defendant hid in her closet, so that when the grandmother opened the door, she did not see him. After that, the defendant and the victim left the house and went to a hotel where they had sex again for a few hours. The victim returned home in the early morning hours before her aunt returned from work about 7:00 a.m. On another occasion, the victim and the defendant had sex in the defendant’s trailer.

The victim stopped seeing the defendant in early January of the next year when she received an irate phone call from the defendant’s girlfriend, Jennifer. The victim said she became pregnant in 20073 and gave birth to her daughter on November 25, 2007. When her aunt discovered that she was pregnant, her aunt called the police and learned from the victim that she had been seeing the defendant. Her aunt confronted the defendant at his house in the presence of the defendant’s brother, a friend and another woman. Thereafter, the victim went to the Children’s Advocacy Center where she was interviewed by a counselor. The victim reported to the counselor that she was pregnant and had started seeing Derrick Pierre after her relationship with the defendant ended. Sometime in the summer of 2008, the victim viewed a photo lineup from which she identified the defendant. She identified her signature on the back of the defendant’s picture. She also identified the defendant in court as “Romeo,” the man she had sex with in 2006.

L.P., the victim’s aunt/guardian, testified that she found out that the victim was pregnant in the fifth month of the pregnancy. The victim gave birth to a daughter in November 2007. When L.P. learned of the pregnancy, she demanded | ¡¡that the victim give her details — what happened, when and with whom. L.P. said that the victim never sees either of her parents— her mother is a homeless drug addict and her father lives in Baton Rouge.

L.P. learned that the victim had had sex with the defendant. She had the victim direct her to the defendant’s home on America Street where L.P. confronted him, telling him that she had heard that he had sex with her thirteen year old niece. Initially, the defendant denied the allegation, but L.P. told him he might as “well fess up” because she had notified the police. The defendant admitted that he had [631] been to L.P.’s house and had sex with the victim. The defendant pleaded with the victim to explain to her aunt how their relationship began — that the victim’s mother had given him the victim’s phone number and address. The defendant’s girlfriend, Jennifer, his younger brother and another relative were present when L.P. confronted the defendant. L.P. identified the defendant in court as the man she learned had had sex with the victim.

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State v. Monroe, 53 So. 3d 626, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 0194, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1708, 2010 WL 5034545 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

53 So. 3d 626 (State v. Monroe) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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