State v. Vargas

66 So. 3d 29, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 788, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 543, 2011 WL 1775872
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 10, 2011
DocketNo. 10-KA-788
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 66 So. 3d 29 (State v. Vargas) 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. Vargas, 66 So. 3d 29, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 788, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 543, 2011 WL 1775872 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

WALTER J. ROTHSCHILD, Judge.

On March 30, 2006, defendant, Humberto Vargas, was indicted by a Jefferson Parish grand jury with aggravated rape (Count I), in violation of LSA-R.S.14:42, and aggravated burglary (Count II), in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:60. Defendant pled not guilty at arraignment. On the trial court’s own motion, a preliminary hearing was held on October 19, 2006, and continued to February 1, 2007.1 On February 1, 2007, the trial court decided not to continue forward with the preliminary exam and found that there was probable cause to proceed to trial.

After a hearing on defense counsel’s application to appoint a sanity commission, the trial court deemed defendant competent to stand trial. Trial commenced on December 15, 2008, and jury selection began. On that same date, |aprior to jury selection, defense counsel orally moved the trial court to quash the indictment arguing that the two-year time limit for the institution for prosecution had expired. The trial court immediately denied defendant’s motion to quash asserting that part of the reason for the delay was due to defense counsel’s request for continuances in order to obtain evidence taken from defendant in Miami, where defendant was arrested.

On December 16, 2008, after opening arguments, Count I of the bill of indictment was amended, in accordance with a [32]*32plea agreement, to allege a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:42.1, forcible rape. At that time, defendant withdrew the not guilty plea and pled guilty as charged. On the same day, defendant was sentenced to twenty years with the Department of Corrections on Counts I (as amended) and II, to run concurrently with each other and with a six month misdemeanor sentence in case number 05-5130, to which defendant also pled guilty.

The defendant filed an application for post-conviction relief on December 28, 2009. The trial court dismissed defendant’s application while granting his request for an out-of-time appeal on January 8, 2010. This out-of-time appeal follows.

FACTS

As this matter did not proceed to trial, the pertinent facts were deduced from the direct examination of the victim at the preliminary examination hearing held on October 19, 2006. At that time, the victim stated that she met defendant at a party sometime in February of 2005, and they dated for about two and a half months. Shortly after they started dating, defendant began to ask the victim to marry him to which she responded maybe. However, the victim ended the relationship because she felt he was not a suitable partner.

|4The victim explained that the defendant would follow her around and “always impulse his presence” even when she wanted to be alone. She further testified that when she ended the relationship, she told him that she wanted nothing more to do with him to which defendant responded “no, no” because he wanted to marry her on May 26, 2005, which was her birthday. The victim again instructed the defendant that the relationship was over because he continued to contact her at work and “he would talk bad about her and say that she was a bad person.”2

After the victim ended the relationship, defendant would continue to contact her. He brought her flowers to work to get her to change her mind. Additionally, he would call her at work, home, as well as on her cell phone, where he would leave numerous harassing messages. She then expressed that defendant would leave messages on her phone calling her a “disgraceful bitch, not worth anything.” When the victim asked defendant to stop calling her, he ignored her requests and continued to call.

Initially, the victim did not call the police about the harassment. However, she did call the police in May of 2005, when the defendant met her unannounced at the airport where the victim was returning from visiting her mother in Guatemala. She did not notify defendant of her travel plans; however, the departure and return dates were written down in her calendar at home. The defendant broke into her house and retrieved the information. When the victim returned home, she found her bathroom on the second floor dirty and the victim’s neighbor informed the victim that she heard noises in the apartment but she was afraid to enter.

At the airport, the defendant began “accosting” the victim: pulling her arm, insulting her, telling her she was “disgraceful”, and that she had to leave with him because he needed to speak with her. Security personnel noticed the situation, 1 .^escorted the victim safely to her brother, who picked her up, and instructed her to call the police.

When the victim arrived at home, she observed the defendant driving around her block. She called the police, and her neighbor, Maria Paniaqua, assisted her in [33]*33explaining the incident to the police because she did not speak English well enough. When the policemen arrived on the scene, the defendant was not in the area; however, he started calling her on the phone instead. At that time, the police officers instructed the victim to change her locks and to call again if she saw defendant near or if he began to harass her again.

On a separate occasion, also in May of 2005, the victim’s friend and neighbor, Maria Paniaqua, called the police because the defendant chased the victim in her vehicle. When the victim was leaving work, she observed defendant in his vehicle at the corner near a Taco Bell. The defendant chased behind the victim in his vehicle and she became very nervous. She drove around the back of her house where defendant hit her vehicle. The victim called Ms. Paniaqua, who came outside. As the victim turned the corner, the defendant hit her vehicle for a second time. The defendant then began banging on the windows of her vehicle while he was saying that she was “disgraceful, bewitched, [and] that he was going to kill [her].”

When Ms. Paniaqua called the police, the defendant left. One of the policemen who arrived on the scene was the same officer who was called out the first time victim called the police. This officer called defendant on his cell phone and told him that he needed to stop following the victim, and that he wanted to talk to the defendant. The defendant told the police officer that he had done nothing. |fiThe police officers took pictures of the damage to the victim’s car and left the scene.

The defendant continued to harass the victim. Specifically, he threw rocks at her windows and her eight-year-old daughter got so scared she started crying and hid underneath the table. The victim testified that she did not call the police because the young men in the neighborhood vowed to protect her. The defendant would call her and accuse her of having sexual relationships with the men and that was the reason why they were protecting her. On that particular day, one of the young men came outside and defendant left. The victim further testified that defendant continued to watch her and he would let her know he was watching her by calling and telling her who she was talking to on the phone or what she was doing at that particular time.

On June 2, 2005, the victim was working at Maria’s Hair Salon, in Metairie, and defendant called her at work at around 11:00 a.m. The victim’s co-worker told defendant that she was not there so he hung up and called back around 1:00 p.m. The victim’s co-worker again told defendant that she was not there, but included that she would come back because she left her car there, reasoning that defendant may have been outside watching the victim.

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Bluebook (online)
66 So. 3d 29, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 788, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 543, 2011 WL 1775872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-vargas-lactapp-2011.