State v. Redfearn

22 So. 3d 1078, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 1637, 2009 WL 3021648
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 23, 2009
Docket44,709-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 22 So. 3d 1078 (State v. Redfearn) 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. Redfearn, 22 So. 3d 1078, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 1637, 2009 WL 3021648 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

MOORE, J.

[tA grand jury indicted the defendant, Franklin C. Redfearn, for aggravated rape' (La. R.S. 14:42) and aggravated incest (La. R.S. 14:78.1). After trial, the jury returned a responsive verdict to the rape charge of guilty of sexual battery (La. R.S. 14:43.1) and a guilty verdict on the aggravated incest charge. The court sentenced Redfearn to concurrent terras of 40 years for sexual battery, including 30 years without benefits and 25 years without benefits for aggravated incest. The defendant filed this appeal claiming insufficient evidence to convict, excessive sentences, and the erroneous failure to sustain one of his challenges for cause.

Our initial review of the record indicated a possible double jeopardy issue on the face of the record. Accordingly, we issued an order directing the state and counsel for Redfearn to submit briefs regarding whether the instant convictions constitute a violation against double jeopardy, whether it constitutes error patent, and what remedy is appropriate. The parties timely submitted their briefs.

After review of all issues, we affirm the convictions and sentences.

FACTS

After the Redfearn family returned home from a boat outing on a nearby lake, Redfearn, asked his wife, Stacey, to prepare something to eat. Meanwhile, he and the three children went into the master bedroom to watch television. While she was preparing the meal, Stacey noticed that the house had become unusually quiet. She went to the master bedroom door, which was closed. When she opened the door, she saw her husband on top of their five-year-old daughter under the bed sheets. Redfearn immediately 12slipped off the girl and kept his back turned to the mother, as she pulled the top sheet off and discovered that both he and the child were naked. The child was on her back with her legs open. Redfearn left the room.

Stacey asked her daughter what happened. The daughter mimicked the movement of sexual intercourse. One of their sons said that their father was doing something nasty.

Stacey confronted the defendant in their living room; he claimed that nothing had occurred. After an argument, she left the home with the children and sought help from a family friend, who put her in touch with the authorities. A forensic interviewer subsequently interviewed the children. The child was also medically examined.

Police subsequently arrested Redfearn, and he was indicted by a grand jury for aggravated rape and aggravated incest. After trial by jury, the applicant was convicted of sexual battery and aggravated incest.

This appeal followed.

Discussion

Sufficiency of Evidence

By his first assignment of error, Red-fearn argues that the state failed to present sufficient evidence to support the verdicts of sexual battery and aggravated incest. He contends that there are internal contradictions and irreconcilable conflicts in the evidence and no physical evidence supporting either of the verdicts *1083 other than minor abrasions of the victim’s vagina. He argues that the latter could have been caused by the victim’s life jacket that she wore during a trip to the lake earlier in the day. The sole basis of the ^state’s case, he argues, was the testimony of the victim’s mother, the victim and her two brothers. Finally, Redfearn contends that there was no evidence of any prior disharmony in the family, sexually inappropriate behavior or criminal acts on the part of the defendant. Thus, he contends that the testimony is suspicious enough to raise reasonable doubt concerning his guilt of sexual battery and aggravated incest.

The standard of appellate review for a sufficiency of the evidence claim is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Tate, 01-1658 (La.5/20/03), 851 So.2d 921, cert. denied, 541 U.S. 905, 124 S.Ct. 1604, 158 L.Ed.2d 248 (2004). This standard, now legislatively embodied in La. C. Cr. P. art. 821, does not provide the appellate court with a vehicle to substitute its own appreciation of the evidence for that of the fact finder. State v. Pigford, 05-0477 (La.2/22/06), 922 So.2d 517; State v. Robertson, 96-1048 (La.10/4/96), 680 So.2d 1165. The appellate court does not assess the credibility of witnesses or reweigh evidence. State v. Smith, 94-3116 (La.10/16/95), 661 So.2d 442. A reviewing court accords great deference to a jury decision to accept or reject the testimony of a witness in whole or in part. State v. Gilliam, 36,118 (La.App. 2 Cir. 8/30/02), 827 So.2d 508, writ denied, 2002-3090 (La.11/14/03), 858 So.2d 422.

14Thus, in order for the defendant’s convictions to be upheld, the record must establish that the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt all the essential elements of sexual battery and aggravated incest.

La. R.S. 14:42.1 defines sexual battery as follows:

A. Sexual battery is the intentional engaging in any of the following acts with another person where the offender acts without the consent of the victim, or where the act is consensual but the other person, who is not the spouse of the offender, has not yet attained fifteen years of age and is at least three years younger than the offender:
(1) The touching of the anus or genitals of the victim by the offender using any instrumentality or any part of the body of the offender; or
(2) The touching of the anus or genitals of the offender by the victim using any instrumentality or any part of the body of the victim.
B. Lack of knowledge of the victim’s age shall not be a defense. However, where the victim is under seventeen, normal medical treatment or normal sanitary care of an infant shall not be construed as an offense under the provisions of this Section.

La. R.S. 14:78.1 defines aggravated incest as follows:

A. Aggravated incest is the engaging in any prohibited act enumerated in Subsection B with a person who is under eighteen years of age and who is known to the offender to be related to the offender as any of the following biological, step, or adoptive relatives: child, grandchild of any degree, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece.
B. The following are prohibited acts under this Section:
*1084

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Bluebook (online)
22 So. 3d 1078, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 1637, 2009 WL 3021648, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-redfearn-lactapp-2009.