State v. Schenck

513 So. 2d 1159
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided October 19, 1987·No. 87-K-1046·Published·Cited by 39 cases

Opinion

513 So.2d 1159 (1987)

STATE of Louisiana,
v.
Michael SCHENCK.

No. 87-K-1046.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

October 19, 1987.

*1160 John Wayne Mumphrey, Jeffrey Perigoni, Gregory D'Angelo, Chalmette, for applicant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., John Rowley, Dist. Atty., Walter Drake, Jr., Chalmette, for respondent.

CALOGERO, Justice.

As the fourteen year old female victim and her aunt were leaving a Mardi Gras parade in St. Bernard Parish on the night of March 3, 1984, the twenty-one year old male defendant jumped from behind a tree, grabbed her by the hips from behind, rubbed himself against her, reached in front and touched or squeezed her between the legs (she was wearing pants) in the pubic region. It was a momentary event quickly concluded when the startled victim dug an elbow into the defendant and cried out, "Pervert", prompting the defendant to agree ("That's me") as he ran back in the direction of the parade.

Michael Schenck was convicted after a judge trial for the crime of sexual battery in violation of La.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 14:43.1 (West 1986), a felony with an authorized statutory penalty of ten years imprisonment at hard labor. He was sentenced to two and one-half years at hard labor. After the conviction was affirmed in the Court of Appeal, we granted writs to review the defendant's contention that his proven conduct did not constitute a sexual battery as defined in La.R.S. § 14:43.1, and, in all events, that there was insufficient evidence to establish the victim's compelled submission to the proscribed sexual conduct, a requirement under the statute.

Because we find merit in the latter contention (no evidence that the victim was compelled to submit to the defendant in this case, within the meaning of Louisiana's Sexual Battery statute, La.R.S. 14:43.1), we do not reach defendant's argument that sexual battery cannot be committed by touching through clothing, that La.R.S. § 14:43.1 requires actual physical contact between the offender and the victim.

At trial, the victim testified that she was wearing pants at the time of the incident and that the defendant touched her "behind" and her "vagina". In response to the question, "What did you do when he touched you?", the victim responded, "I screamed and elbowed him. I didn't know what to do. I was in shock." The trial judge found the defendant guilty of sexual battery in violation of La.R.S. 14:43.1 based on his opinion "that the offender used force and did touch the genitals of the victim...." There was no finding that the victim was compelled to submit to the defendant. The Court of Appeal took a slightly different approach and found that the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction for sexual battery based on the fact that "[t]he victim's testimony indicates that she was intimidated by her attacker's size and her initial failure to resist his actions was caused by this fear. Testimony at trial also indicated that at least the external genitals of the victim were touched by the defendant."[1]

The crime of sexual battery was added to the Louisiana Criminal Code in 1978 as a subset of the crime of simple rape, to penalize sexual offenses which fall short of rape where contact between specific *1161 sexual organs occurs.[2] The statute, as originally enacted, emphasized that the criminal conduct proscribed was sexual conduct involving contact between specific sexual organs coupled with the element of compulsion.[3] The ten year felony offense of sexual battery, created a class of sexual offenses to punish acts more severe than simple battery but less serious than non-consensual sexual intercourse where there is a sexual act committed by a person not the spouse of the offender and where the offender compels the victim to submit by placing the person in fear of receiving bodily harm. The Legislature adopted the sexual battery statute without deleting the provisions of the Criminal Code which relate to crimes against nature,[4] although the Law Institute recommended that sexual battery replace actions previously considered crimes against nature.[5]

In 1981, the statute was amended and was in place in this form at the time of this incident:

Sexual battery is the intentional engaging in any of the following acts with another person, who is not the spouse of the offender, where the offender compels the other person to submit by placing the person in fear of receiving bodily harm:
(1) The touching of the anus or genitals of the victim by the offender using any *1162 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.
Whoever commits the crime of sexual battery shall be punished by imprisonment, with or without hard labor, for not more than ten years.

Act of July 20, 1981 La.Acts No. 624, § 1, effective July 20, 1981.[6]

The areas covered by the statute were broadened with this 1981 amendment to include the anus or the genitals and touching accomplished by use of any instrumentality. The requirement of forced submission was retained. La.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 814(A)(8), (10), and (12) (West 1981 & Supp.1987) makes sexual battery a responsive verdict where aggravated rape, forcible rape or simple rape is charged, evidencing a legislative scheme that envisions sexual battery as encompassing conduct falling short of actual rape but which is sexually intrusive and more egregious than a simple battery.

This Court has not yet been called upon to interpret La.R.S. § 14:43.1, but has affirmed convictions under this statute on at least two occasions where in fact an actual rape had occurred. In State v. Arnaud, 412 So.2d 1013, 1015 (La.1982), we upheld a sentence of six years at hard labor after a jury found the defendant guilty of sexual battery where the evidence showed that the victim had been raped at knifepoint and that her six year old son witnessed a portion of the events. Later the same year, in State v. Lanclos, this Court upheld a sentence of ten years at hard labor where the defendant pled guilty to sexual battery after confessing that he was guilty of rape, and where the offense of sexual battery did not fully describe the gravity of defendant's conduct.[7] 419 So.2d 475, 478 (La.1982).

*1163 This court recently addressed the issue of the degree of force necessary for a conviction of molestation of a juvenile under La.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 14:81.2 (West 1986) in State v. LeBlanc, 506 So.2d 1197 (La.1987). We concluded that "the Legislature contemplated a requirement of something more than the mere exertion of physical effort necessary to commit the lewd act" to sustain a conviction for molestation of a juvenile. Id. at 1200. As pointed out in LeBlanc, "the `use of force' element (in molestation of a juvenile) refers to the forcible means of overcoming the will or the resistance of the victim, and this additional essential element requires a use of force in addition to any m

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