State v. Randolph

788 So. 2d 1210, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 95, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1423, 2001 WL 579908
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 30, 2001
DocketNo. 01-KA-95
StatusPublished

This text of 788 So. 2d 1210 (State v. Randolph) 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. Randolph, 788 So. 2d 1210, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 95, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1423, 2001 WL 579908 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

I JAMES L. CANNELLA, Judge.

The Defendant, Richard Randolph, appeals from his conviction of attempted aggravated oral sexual battery and his sentence to five years imprisonment at hard labor. For the reasons which follow, we affirm the conviction and sentence and remand.

Two young girls, ages ten and eleven, were at the Defendant’s apartment working on a school project with the Defendant’s girlfriend, Andrea Melancon (Me-lancon). Melancon had invited the girls to the apartment to help them with their project. When the girls arrived, the Defendant was asleep in the back bedroom. He was later awakened and, when Melan-con heard noise coming from the bedroom, she went there. After Melancon came back out, the Defendant walked into the living room with no clothes on and began to shout. Melancon and the eleven year old girl hurriedly left the apartment. The ten year old girl was left in the apartment. The Defendant allegedly grabbed her roughly and |sforced her down on the sofa. He then placed his penis near her face and told her to perform oral sex on him. The girl refused and turned her head away. The Defendant released his grip on the girl and she ran outside. The police were called.

When Deputy Claude Adams arrived on the scene, he saw red marks on the ten year old’s neck, some scratching and a mark on her forehead. The eleven year old stated that, before she ran from the apartment she saw the Defendant hit the other girl. When the ten year old girl came out of the apartment she was crying. Deputy Adams observed that both girls were visibly shaken. Melancon had gone back into the apartment and was locked in the apartment with the Defendant. They refused to come out. Deputy Adams eventually forced his way inside the apartment and arrested the Defendant.

The Defendant was charged by bill of information with attempted aggravated oral sexual battery in violation of La. R.S. 27/43.4.1 Following a one day trial on June 27, 2000, the jury found the Defendant guilty as charged. A pre-sentence report was ordered and completed. On November 9, 2000, the trial court sentenced the [1213]*1213Defendant to a term of five years imprisonment at hard labor, with credit for time served. It is from this conviction and sentence that the Defendant appeals and assigns two errors.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

By this assignment of error the Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, because (1) the State failed to prove that the Defendant, due to his intoxication, was able to form the required specific intent, |4and (2) there was insufficient evidence of the attempted oral sexual battery because of inconsistencies in the testimony.

La. R.S. 14:15 addresses the use of intoxication as a defense and provides in pertinent part:

The fact of an intoxicated or drugged condition of the offender at the time of the commission of the crime is immaterial, except as follows:
(2) Where the circumstances indicate that an intoxicated or drugged condition has precluded the presence of a specific criminal intent or of special knowledge required in a particular crime, this fact constitutes a defense to a prosecution for that crime.

When a defendant raises intoxication as a defense, he must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he was in fact intoxicated and the degree of intoxication. State v. Leroux, 94-133 (La.App. 5th Cir.7/26/94), 641 So.2d 656. When circumstances exist which indicate that intoxication could have precluded specific intent, the burden shifts to the state to show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that specific intent was present. State v. Patterson, 99-994, p. 8 (La.App. 5th Cir.1/25/00), 752 So.2d 280, 284; State v. Dammeron, 98-378, pp. 2-3 (La.App. 5th Cir.9/29/98), 719 So.2d 1151, 1154.

Specific intent is defined as “that state of mind which exists when the circumstances indicate that the offender actively desired the prescribed criminal consequences to follow his act or failure to act.” La. R.S. 14:10(1). Whether intoxication is sufficient to negate specific intent is a question for the trier of fact. State v. Patterson, supra; State v. Leeming, 612 So.2d 308, 313 (La.App. 5th Cir.1992), writ denied, 616 So.2d 681 (La.1993).

This Court must decide whether, viewing the evidence in the light most | ¿favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found that the State proved the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676, 678 (La.1984); State v. Patterson, 99-994 (La.App. 5th Cir.1/25/00), 752 So.2d 280, 283. The reviewing court is to consider the record as a whole, and if rational triers of fact could disagree as to the interpretation of the evidence, the rational decision to convict should be upheld. State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305, 1311 (La.1988).

The primary evidence of the Defendant’s intoxication came from the Defendant himself. He testified that some time after 2:00 p.m. he purchased and consumed about three-fourths of a fifth of vodka and Kahlua by drinking three large “White Russians.” He also stated that he drank 4 or 5 beers. He testified that he was drunk at the time of the incident. Melancon testified that the Defendant had been drinking, but she did not know how much. She had not seen him drink anything. The Defendant was asleep before she arrived home. The eleven year old girl also testified that she could smell alcohol when the Defendant came into the room and that he was stumbling when he appeared.

However, the ten year old girl testified that, when the Defendant came into the [1214]*1214living room, the girls were frightened and started “scooting” next to each other. She testified that the Defendant yelled at them that they did not need to be scooting by each other, indicating the Defendant’s awareness of what was happening. Further, the Defendant himself testified that he remembered what happened on the night of the incident and that he was certain that he did not try to force the girl to perform oral sex on him and that he did not hit her.

As stated above, when a defendant raises intoxication as a defense, it is his | ^burden to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he was in fact intoxicated to the extent that he could not have formed the requisite specific intent. Based on the record before us in this case, we find that the Defendant herein did not meet his burden of proof. While he testified that he was intoxicated, he also stated that he remembered what happened on the night in question. There was also testimony showing the Defendant’s awareness of what was happening at the time. Thus, even if we were to accept the Defendant’s testimony regarding the amount of alcohol that he consumed, we would still find that the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant was able to form the requisite intent, that is, that he was aware of his actions and actively desired the prescribed criminal consequences to follow his actions.

The Defendant also argues that there are inconsistencies in the testimony of the witnesses that give rise to a reasonable doubt as to whether the attempted oral sexual battery occurred.

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
State v. Mussall
523 So. 2d 1305 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1988)
State v. Captville
448 So. 2d 676 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1984)
State v. Leroux
641 So. 2d 656 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1994)
State v. Leeming
612 So. 2d 308 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)
State v. Patterson
752 So. 2d 280 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2000)
State v. Stevenson
778 So. 2d 1165 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
State v. Dammeron
719 So. 2d 1151 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
788 So. 2d 1210, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 95, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1423, 2001 WL 579908, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-randolph-lactapp-2001.