State v. Waguespack

939 So. 2d 636, 2006 WL 2773873
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 27, 2006
Docket2006-410
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 939 So. 2d 636 (State v. Waguespack) 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. Waguespack, 939 So. 2d 636, 2006 WL 2773873 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

939 So.2d 636 (2006)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Leroy WAGUESPACK.

No. 2006-410.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

September 27, 2006.

*637 J. Phil Haney, District Attorney, New Iberia, LA, Jeffrey J. Trosclair, Asst. District Attorney, Franklin, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellee, State of Louisiana.

Mark O. Foster, Louisiana Appellate Project, Natchitoches, LA, for Defendant/Appellant, Leroy Waguespack.

Court composed of SYLVIA R. COOKS, MICHAEL G. SULLIVAN, and GLENN B. GREMILLION, Judges.

GREMILLION, Judge.

In this case, the defendant, Leroy Waguespack, was convicted of aggravated rape, in violation of La.R.S. 14:42, and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. Defendant now raises two assignment of errors contending that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that his sentence is excessive. For the following reasons, we affirm.

SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE

In his first assignment of error, Defendant contends the evidence was insufficient to convict him of the charge of aggravated rape. Our standard of reviewing sufficiency of evidence is as follows:

In reviewing the sufficiency of evidence, an appellate court must determine that the evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, or a mixture of both, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier-of-fact that all of the elements of the crime have been proven 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). Additionally, when circumstantial evidence forms *638 the basis of the conviction, the evidence, "assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove . . . must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence." La.Rev.Stat. 15:438; see State v. Jacobs, 504 So.2d 817, 820 (La. 1987)(all direct and circumstantial evidence must meet the Jackson v. Virginia test); State v. Porretto, 468 So.2d 1142, 1146 (La.1985) (La.Rev.Stat. 15:438 serves as an evidentiary guide for the jury when considering circumstantial evidence).

State v. Sosa, 05-0213, pp. 6-7 (La.1/19/06), 921 So.2d 94, 99.

In order to support a conviction of aggravated rape, the State was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Defendant had oral, vaginal, or anal sexual intercourse with a victim who was under thirteen years of age. La.R.S. 14:42(A)(4). "[A]ny sexual penetration, when the rape involves vaginal or anal intercourse, however slight, is sufficient to complete the crime." La.R.S. 14:41(B). In State v. Ross, 03-564, p. 11 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/17/03), 861 So.2d 888, 895, writ denied, 04-0376 (La.6/25/04), 876 So.2d 829, we defined sexual penetration as, "[a]ny penetration, however slight, of the aperture of the female genitalia, even its external features, is sufficient."

The record reflects that Dave Lamperez allowed Defendant, who was homeless, to move into his trailer with him two to three days prior to June 3, 2004, the date of the offense at issue. On that date, S.B. and her child, T.B., who was the victim in this case, went to Lamperez's residence at approximately midnight.[1] Lamperez and S.B. later left Lamperez's home and went to another trailer, two doors down, belonging to some people described as Mexicans.

Lamperez testified that when he returned to his trailer he found Defendant with T.B. At that time, Defendant was totally nude and kneeling in front of T.B. and T.B. had her shorts off. Lamperez further described what he saw as follows: "[T.B.] was like on her knees. Her pants was off, and she had her hands toward the back like she was leaning back, and [Defendant] was in front of her." He did not see any oral sex or vaginal or anal penetration. Lamperez ran to T.B.'s mother and reported the incident to her and Defendant ran from the trailer.

T.B. testified that she was born on May 2, 1996, making her eight years old at the time of the crime. She described Defendant as "the boy" who hurt her by putting "his private in her private." T.B. explained that she was watching Sponge Bob when Defendant took her off the sofa and took his clothes off, then took her clothes off. She said that he then got on top of her and he kept moving up and down. T.B. said that Lamperez subsequently came into the room and Defendant grabbed his clothes and left out of the back door. T.B.'s mother then took her to the hospital. When asked where her private part was, T.B. pointed to her vagina.

T.B. said that she told the doctor and her mother that the boy put his private in her mouth. At trial, T.B. acknowledged that this act did in fact occur. T.B. testified that she told Ann Lavergne, a forensic interviewer with Stuller Place, that Defendant put his private in her mouth. T.B. stated that if she told Lavergne that this did not occur, it was a lie. T.B. also testified that Defendant put lotion on his private and on her private and the lotion made her private burn.

*639 Lavergne interviewed T.B. on June 10, 2004. During that interview, T.B. stated that Defendant put his private inside her private and he put lotion on his private and her private. She further stated that Defendant had sex with her. T.B. at first indicated that she did not know what sex meant, then she stated that sex meant getting on top of you. She later indicated that Defendant used the word "sex." T.B. also told Lavergne that the boy put two fingers inside her private. T.B. did not tell Lavergne that oral sex had occurred.

T.B. was taken to the emergency room on June 4, 2004. Mona Moore was working as a nurse in the emergency room at that time. Moore testified that T.B. was talkative, calm, and not in any acute distress while there. A questionnaire filled out by Moore indicated that T.B. was not sure that vaginal or anal penetration occurred. However, the questionnaire indicated that oral sex had occurred. Moore indicated that the answers were based on information provided by T.B. A history of the assault was written on a "Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit Information Sheet." The sheet was introduced as Defendant's Exhibit 1 and indicated that T.B. stated that a thirty-three-year-old "had sex with her."

Dr. Christopher Lawrence examined T.B. at the emergency room. Dr. Lawrence testified that T.B. sustained the following injuries:

[A]brasions to the right and left labia, or the outer surface of the vagina, specifically, the right side, the labia majora, which is the larger skin fold, if you will, covering the entrance to the vagina, and the left labia minora, which is the small, thinner, I guess, lip, if you will, which is further inside, right at the entrance to the vagina.

T.B. told Dr. Lawrence that "[Defendant] had sex" with her. Dr. Lawrence felt that this was not a typical response by an eight-year-old, so he had T.B. elaborate. T.B. then told Dr. Lawrence that "he" took her pants off then took his pants off and got on top of her. Dr. Lawrence testified that no semen was detected on the skin or external genitalia of T.B. He noted that T.B.'s hymen was intact. Additionally, there was no bleeding. Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
939 So. 2d 636, 2006 WL 2773873, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-waguespack-lactapp-2006.