State v. Porter

185 So. 3d 153, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 28, 2016 WL 154875
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 13, 2016
DocketNo. 50,380-KA
StatusPublished

This text of 185 So. 3d 153 (State v. Porter) 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. Porter, 185 So. 3d 153, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 28, 2016 WL 154875 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

PITMAN, J.

LA nonunanimous jury convicted Defendant Kevin .Porter as charged of aggravated rape. The trial court sentenced him to the mandatory term of life imprisonment. Defendant appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm Defendant’s conviction and sentence.

FACTS

On July 19, 2012, -the state filed a secret indictment charging Defendant with one count of aggravated rape in violation of La. R.S. 14:42(A)(4), stating that, during the year 2010, Defendant committed, aggravated rape in that he had sexual intercourse with R.S.,1 whose.date of birth is March 16, 1998, without her lawful consent because she was under the age of 13 at the time. On August 14, 2Ó12,. Defendant pled not guilty. A jury trial began on March 9, 2015.

Warren Saucier testified that in 2010, he .was the principal of the school R.S. attended, Charlotte Mitchell Bossier Achievement Center. He stated that, on October 25, 2010, Defendant called him and told him that R.S., who is Defendant’s stepdaughter, was pregnant by a family member. Principal Saucier stated that he advised Deféhdant to réport this to the police. He then reported this information to the school counselor, Sheila Autry, and to the Student Resource Officer (“SRO”) Jackie Loveless, who is á police officer and overheard the phone call. He further stated that he also called R.S.’s mother and told her about the phone call from D¿-fendant. Principal Saucier testified about the procedure for a person to check out a student from school. He noted that, between August' 30, 2010,' and ^October 25, 2010, school records show that, on September 28, 2010, Defendant checked R.S. out from school and that, on October 25, 2010, David Morgan checked her out from school.2 Principal Saucier stated that it is possible that the checkout of a student would not be noted in the school records if the student was suspended for disciplinary reasons. He noted that R.S. was suspend[156]*156ed on October 20, 2010, and that Defendant picked her up from school that day.

SRO Loveless of thé Bossier Parish Sheriffs Office testified that he has been the SRO to Charlotte Mitchell Bossier Achievement Center in Bossier Parish since 2009 ' or 2010. He noted that, in 2010, he entered the principal’s office and overheard a conversation Principal Saucier was having over speaker phone. The conversation was about R.S. and he recalled that he heard a man say that something had happened at his household and he had moved out, that some type of activity was going on between an adult and a child and that a young girl was pregnant.

J.S.3 testified that she is the former wife of Defendant and the adoptive mother of R.S. She stated that she is the biological mother of David Morgan and the adoptive mother of S.M.S.,4 who is her biological niece and R.S.’s biological mother, and “Judy-Pie,” who is also S.M.S.’s biological daughter. She stated that she adopted S.M.S. as an adult and that US.M.S. lived with her at times and helped care for R.S. and Judy-Pie. She testified that she married Defendant on October 5, 2010, after meeting him in 2009. She, Defendant, R.S. and Judy-Pie all lived together and Defendant, being unemployed, cared for the girls while she was' at work. She stated that, around October 20, 2010, she asked Defendant to move out of their home after the girls told her that he was mean to them and “swatted” or hit one of them. She noted that, after Defendant moved out of their home, he continued to stop by her house, knock on the window or door , and ask R.S. to let him in. As a result, she obtained a protective order against Defendant.

J.S. further testified that, on October 25, 2010, she received a phone call at work from Principal Saucier who told her that he had received a phone call from Defendant, who had stated that J.S.’s brother had raped her daughter, and gotten her pregnant. She called 911 and made a report. She stated that she then went home and waited for the police to arrive. Once the police arrived, she and R.S, each spoke with them. She testified that the police officers inquired about the whereabouts of Defendant, which confused her because Principal Saucier had mentioned her brother, Mark Morgan, as the person who had raped-R.S. The police officers spoke with R.S. again and she told them that Defendant was the one who had been “messing with” her. J.S. stated that she then took R.S. to the hospital for an exam and a pregnancy test, which indicated that R.S. was not pregnant. She noted that the doctor did not conduct a rape examination because of R.S.’s young age. She testified that, as part of the investigation, R.S. was | interviewed at the Gingerbread House and revealed that S.M.S., her biological mother, also1 sexually abused her. S.M.S. pled guilty to that allegation and is currently serving time in a detention center. J.S. further testified that R.S. suffers from ADHD and bipolar disorder and attends special education classes at school. She described R.S., who was 16 years old at the time of trial, as acting childlike and not functioning as a normal 16-year-old. She stated that R.S.’s grades had suffered as a result of the abuse and, that she had failed a grade level in school. Due to that abusé, she and R.S. relocated out Of state and R.S. is now doing well in school.

J.S. also testified that, in 1998 or 1994, she accused S.M.S. of molesting her son, [157]*157David Morgan, after she saw a photograph of S.M.S. “doing something” to him. She also had accused her ex-husband, Raymond Stokes, of fondling her .nephew Je-drick, who is S.M.S.’s son. She denied accusing family friend O’dell Maxwell of molesting any of her children. She stated that, in the 1980s, she had accused her boss, Richard Johnson, of touching her and that the matter was settled out of court.

R.S., whose birthday is March 16, 1998, testified that Defendant is her stepfather. She stated that, after Defendant married her mother in October 2010, her mother asked him to leave the home after she told J.S. that Defendant had slapped her and put his hands on her. She testified that, in October 2010, Defendant brought her home from school when she was suspended. They went straight home and no one else was there. She stated that Defendant told her to go to her bedroom, followed her into the room and told her to.remove her clothes. When she asked why she had to remove | fiher clothes, Defendant took a gun out of his pocket and said, “Remove your clothes now.” She stated that she complied and then Defendant “forced hisself [sic] on top, as to taking his penis and inserting it into my vagina, which I told him, it hurts.” Defendant responded that it was punishment for misbehaving in school. She stated that Defendant then left the room and' she remained in the room crying. She was afraid to tell her mother what had happened because Defendant threatened to “kill [her] whole family” if she said anything. She also stated that Defendant raped her again on a subsequent day. He raped her vaginally and forced his penis into her mouth, telling her to “watch me grow.” She stated that Defendant anally raped her on another occasion. She further stated that the abuse continued until J.S. received a telephone call from her school advising that her teacher had told SRO Loveless that she was acting strangely, which led to SRO Loveless- speaking to Principal Saucier, who called J.S. She noted-that Principal Saucier told J;S. that her uncle had gotten her pregnant, but she clarified at trial that her uncle never sexually abused her.

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Bluebook (online)
185 So. 3d 153, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 28, 2016 WL 154875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-porter-lactapp-2016.