State v. Wallace

788 So. 2d 578, 2001 WL 520943
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 16, 2001
Docket00-KA-1745
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 788 So. 2d 578 (State v. Wallace) 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. Wallace, 788 So. 2d 578, 2001 WL 520943 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

788 So.2d 578 (2001)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Marvin M. WALLACE.

No. 00-KA-1745.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

May 16, 2001.

*580 J. Rodney Baum, Louisiana Appellate Project, Baton Rouge, LA, Counsel for Marvin M. Wallace, Defendant-Appellant.

Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Allison Wallis, (Appellate Counsel), Douglas Freese, Joe Roberts, (Trial Counsel), Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, Counsel for the State of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Marvin Wallace, Appellant, pro se.

Panel composed of Judges SOL GOTHARD, SUSAN M. CHEHARDY and WALTER J. ROTHSCHILD.

CHEHARDY, Judge.

Marvin M. Wallace appeals his conviction of forcible rape and his subsequent adjudication as a third-felony offender. We affirm, but remand for correction of two patent errors.

On April 21, 1999 the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information that charged Marvin Wallace with violation of La.R.S. 14:42.1 by the forcible rape of a 16-year-old juvenile male on February 25, 1999. Wallace entered a plea of not guilty at arraignment and later filed numerous pre-trial discovery motions, including motions to suppress evidence and identification that were denied.

The defendant underwent trial by a jury on October 27-28, 1999. On the first day of trial, the State filed a motion in limine to exclude any evidence that the victim made prior sexual assault allegations that were false. The motion was granted by the trial court. At the trial's conclusion, the jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty as charged.

On November 19, 1999 the court sentenced the defendant to serve 35 years' *581 imprisonment at hard labor, with credit for time served, without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence for the first two years. On the same day, the State filed a multiple offender bill under La.R.S. 15:529.1, charging the defendant as a fourth-felony offender. The defendant denied the allegations of the multiple bill.

The District Attorney amended the multiple bill on April 28, 2000 to reflect the correct dates and case numbers.[1] On that date, after a hearing on the multiple bill, the trial court found the defendant to be a third felony offender. The court vacated the prior sentence and imposed the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

FACTS

The following facts are summarized from the testimony of various witnesses:

On February 20, 1999 J.L., a 16-year-old boy, had a fight with his mother because she refused to let him go to a party. J.L. had been suspended from school and his mother had grounded him for the suspension at the time of this fight. J.L. had been disciplined by the school on several occasions; each time, he had received punishment at home. He became angry with his mother on February 20, 1999 and left home. J.L. had run away from home twice before, but had returned in a day. This time, J.L. was away from home from February 20 to February 25, 1999. After he was missing for a day, his mother notified the police.

On the first night away from home, J.L. stayed at the home of a friend's aunt. On the second night, he stayed with a second friend. Thereafter, J.L. called a female friend, C., and told her that he had been put out of the house because his mother was angry about his suspension from school. C.'s mother, Miriam Midence, put J.L. in a Days' Inn motel located on Veterans Highway. She paid for seven nights and gave the boy money for food. The boy called Midence each day. On the second day at the motel, Midence drove the boy to McDonald's to buy food. On the third day, she bought him chicken. Each day she would urge the boy to call his parents. Midence told J.L. not to go out of the motel because it was dangerous.

On February 24, 1999, after talking on the phone and watching television, J.L. went to the E-Z Serve gas station and convenience store across from the motel to get something to eat. He met Marvin Wallace near the store and Wallace asked him if he was "Josh." J.L. replied that Josh is his brother. J.L. asked Wallace to buy him a beer. At the E-Z Serve, where Wallace had previously worked, Wallace purchased two beers and gave one to J.L. Wallace spoke with Tanya Thomas, a former co-worker at the E-Z Serve. J.L. and Wallace got in Wallace's car, Wallace gave the boy the beer, and Wallace then drove J.L. to Wallace's house at 124 Diane Street in St. Rose, Louisiana.

J.L. and Wallace went inside and Wallace showed J.L. around. Two of Wallace's friends arrived and Wallace lifted weights with them. They remained at Wallace's house for 30-45 minutes. Wallace poured a cup of liquor, which he *582 shared with J.L. Wallace borrowed a friend's vehicle to take J.L. to the motel.

On the way to the motel, Wallace stopped at his mother's house for about 20 minutes. Wallace got out at the house and J.L. stayed in the car. The pair then proceeded to the E-Z Serve, where Wallace bought a bottle of rum. At some time during the evening, J.L. had shown Wallace his pocketknife.

When the pair arrived at the motel, J.L. said that he was going inside. Wallace told him he was going to smoke some marijuana and then leave. However, Wallace followed J.L. into the motel room and told the boy to sit on the bed. Wallace gave the boy rum and marijuana. J.L. felt disoriented and went to the bathroom to vomit. J.L. lay across the bed. Wallace sat on the bed and, after drinking and smoking, he lay next to J.L. Wallace then lay on top of J.L., grabbed him by his throat, and removed J.L.'s pants. Screaming and pleading for his life, the boy slid down to the floor; Wallace put him back on the bed and held a pocketknife to his throat.

Wallace raped J.L. anally, then sat on his throat and ordered J.L. to perform oral sex. Wallace was wearing a condom at the time of this incident. J.L. went to the bathroom again and vomited once more. Wallace then placed him on the bed and again raped the boy anally. J.L. then vomited in the bed. Thereafter Wallace dressed and left the motel. According to J.L., he feared for his life and felt that his assailant would have killed him if he had not submitted to the rape.

Between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on the morning of February 25, 1999, J.L. called his girlfriend and told her that he had been raped. He was upset, crying, and asked her not to tell anyone. His girlfriend was afraid that J.L. would hurt himself, so she told J.L.'s mother's best friend, Madalena, of the incident.

At approximately 9:00 a.m. that day, J.L. called Miriam Midence and asked her to drive him to his Aunt Madalena's house. Midence picked up J.L. and drove him as he requested. When J.L. arrived at his aunt's house she was crying, so he knew she was aware of the rape. Madalena called J.L.'s mother and told her to come over because her son had been raped. When J.L.'s mother arrived, J.L. was crying and shaking and he wanted to kill himself. His mother told the boy that the incident needed to be reported to the police. J.L. was afraid because his assailant had threatened to kill the boy's family if they reported the incident to the police.

At approximately 12:07 p.m. on February 25, 1999, the victim, his mother and stepfather went to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Kenner Police Department. Kenner Police Detective Chad Jacquet met them. He took the rape report. The victim told the police that someone named "Marvin" raped him.

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Bluebook (online)
788 So. 2d 578, 2001 WL 520943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wallace-lactapp-2001.