State v. Sanford

660 So. 2d 555, 1995 WL 497523
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 23, 1995
Docket27268-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 660 So. 2d 555 (State v. Sanford) 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. Sanford, 660 So. 2d 555, 1995 WL 497523 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

660 So.2d 555 (1995)

STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Tommy W. SANFORD, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 27268-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 23, 1995.

*557 Indigent Defender Office by John M. Lawrence, for defendant-appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, Tommy J. Johnson, Asst. District Attorney, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before MARVIN, NORRIS and LINDSAY, JJ.

NORRIS, Judge.

Tommy Sanford was originally charged by bill of information with aggravated oral sexual battery, La.R.S. 14:43.3, and indicted for aggravated rape, La.R.S. 14:42 A(2). By amended bill of information, Sanford was charged with forcible rape and aggravated crime against nature of a 12-year old boy. La.R.S. 14:42.1, 14:89.1. The jury found him guilty on both counts. Sanford received 27 years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence for forcible rape and 10 years at hard labor without benefit for aggravated crime against nature, both sentences to run concurrently and with credit for time served. He now appeals both convictions and the sentence for forcible rape, urging six assignments of error. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Facts

Sanford, a 36-year old, allegedly sexually molested four minor boys, M.W., C.G., J.R., and N.H., ages eight, eight, nine and twelve, respectively, at the time of the incident.[1] All four boys lived in the same trailer park as Sanford, Forest Mobile Home Estates in Shreveport. In late August 1993, the group was washing residents' cars to earn extra money when they encountered Sanford. They finished washing his car and knocked on the door to collect their money. Sanford invited them in and allowed them to watch a pornographic video that was playing. Sanford went into the back bedroom. Shortly thereafter, he called for the boys to come into the bedroom; when they did not, he screamed, "Come back here!" and the boys complied.

Sanford, who was naked, closed and locked the bedroom door behind them, and ordered the boys to take off their clothes. When they refused, Sanford screamed at them; frightened, they again complied and removed their pants. While masturbating, Sanford performed oral sex on each of the boys. According to N.H., Sanford asked them all to perform oral sex on him, but they refused. The other boys, however, testified that they performed oral sex on Sanford; two testified that N.H. did also.

Sanford then retrieved a jar of Vaseline from his nightstand and put some on his penis. Sanford pushed N.H. face-first onto the bed and put his erect penis into the child's rectum. N.H. testified that during this "he told me if I told anybody that he would kill me." R. p. 188. N.H. testified that Sanford "sounded serious" and he believed him. N.H. also testified that he told Sanford to stop, but to no avail. The other boys corroborated N.H.'s story that Sanford had anal sex with him. J.R. also testified that he tried a few times to push Sanford off of N.H., but Sanford shoved him back and continued to rape N.H. At one point, N.H. tried to escape from the bedroom, but Sanford pulled him back inside.

*558 Sanford unsuccessfully attempted to perform anal sex on the other three boys as well. Sanford also tried but failed to get the boys to perform anal sex on him. Finally, Sanford tried to have the boys perform oral and anal sex on each other, but they refused. Sanford ordered them to get dressed and to retrieve some homosexual pornographic books and magazines from the bottom drawer of his dresser. They sat in the living room and Sanford showed the boys the materials, depicting primarily men and some children. Sanford then gave the boys some money and asked them to go purchase cigarettes for him at the Circle K. The store refused to sell the cigarettes to minors; they returned to Sanford's trailer because he threatened to shoot them if they did not. Sanford himself went to buy the cigarettes. The boys obeyed Sanford's command to stay in the trailer. While he was out, M.W. and J.R. who had allegedly been to his trailer just a few days earlier, showed them where Sanford kept three guns, two air rifles or BB guns and one deer rifle; the boys fired the BB guns into the walls of the trailer. When Sanford returned, he gave the boys some chewing tobacco as their "reward." Sanford then took his deer rifle, showed them it was loaded, pointed it at them and said he would shoot them if they told anyone what had happened. Finally, he let the boys leave his trailer.

The boys told no one about the incident until about two weeks later. On September 12, two of the boys' mothers saw Sanford at the pool and remarked that he seemed to be watching the children. M.W. and N.H. related much of the story to their mothers who immediately called the police.

Detective J.B. Walker, assigned to the juvenile and sex crimes division of the Shreveport Police Department responded. He interviewed each of the boys individually at the trailer park. The next day, Sanford was arrested. A search of Sanford's trailer revealed the pornographic video the children had described, a loaded deer rifle and two air rifles, 45 pornographic books and magazines (44 of which were homosexual and four of which depicted minors), chewing tobacco and the jar of Vaseline. The location of these items corresponded exactly with the children's stories.

On September 13, N.H. was examined by Dr. Gerald A. Dzurik, a pediatrician. Dr. Dzurik found no physical evidence to support N.H.'s allegation that he had been anally penetrated. Nevertheless, the testimony of both Dr. Dzurik and another pediatrician, Dr. Margaret Springer, established that several factors, including the two-week delay between the rape and the examination and the use of a lubricant, would likely have eliminated any signs of trauma.

Sanford testified at trial. He admitted the boys came to his trailer in late August, but denied any sexual misconduct; he claimed the boys were lying. He presented one alibi witness who testified to his whereabouts on August 7 and 8. Sanford presented two other longtime friends who testified to his good character and lack of sexual misconduct in the past.

On appeal, Sanford contends (1) there was insufficient evidence to convict him, and that the trial court erred in (2) allowing the state to present J.R.'s testimony about a prior incident at Sanford's trailer without laying a proper foundation; (3) failing to grant his motion for mistrial when a victim's father verbally abused and tried to attack him in front of some jury members; (4) admitting one of the state's exhibits, a photograph of his dresser; (5) imposing an excessive sentence for the forcible rape conviction and (6) failing to record the jury poll results sustaining the two guilty verdicts.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

We note that the proper procedural vehicle to raise this alleged error is a motion for post verdict judgment of acquittal. La. C.Cr.P. art. 821. Sanford failed to present the sufficiency issue to the trial court. However, he has formally assigned it as error and briefed the matter on appeal, and we will therefore consider it. State v. Martin, 26,501 (La.App. 2d Cir. 12/7/94), 647 So.2d 437; State v. Ducre, 596 So.2d 1372 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 600 So.2d 637 (1992).

Under Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 *559

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
660 So. 2d 555, 1995 WL 497523, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sanford-lactapp-1995.