State v. Wallace

143 So. 3d 1275, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0149, 2014 WL 2885463, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1640
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided June 25, 2014·No. No. 2013-KA-0149·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

TERRI F. LOVE, Judge.

|,John Jason Wallace (“Mr. Wallace”) appeals his conviction for the aggravated rape of B.B.1 between 1996 and 1998, in violation of La. R.S. 14:42(A)(4). Mr. Wallace alleges that due to the insufficiency of evidence, improper jury charges, ineffective assistance of counsel, and the erroneous admission of evidence his conviction must be vacated or in the alternative the conviction must be reversed and the case remanded for a new trial. Notably, in its response to Mr. Wallace’s jury charge claim, the State concedes the error was not harmless and the matter should be reversed and remanded. We find that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to convict Mr. Wallace of aggravated rape; however, we find the trial court committed reversible error by charging the jury relative to the offense of aggravated rape as it was defined in 2012, at the time of trial, rather than as the offense was defined in 1996-1998, at the time of the violation. Accordingly, we reverse Mr. Wallace’s conviction for aggravated rape and remand the case for a new trial.

\ .PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In November 2010, the State charged Mr. Wallace with violation of La. R.S. 14:42(A)(4) for the aggravated rape of B.B. between 1996 and 1998. Following a two-day jury trial in October 2012, a unanimous jury found Mr. Wallace guilty as charged. Prior to sentencing, Mr. Wallace filed motions for new trial, in arrest of judgment and for post-verdict judgment of acquittal, all of which the trial court denied. Thereafter, Mr. Wallace was sentenced to life imprisonment, without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. This timely appeal followed wherein Mr. Wallace assigns as errors the sufficiency of the evidence, improper jury instructions, ineffective assistance of counsel, and erroneous admission of evidence.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The aggravated rape of B.B., born December 5, 1988, took place between 1996 and 1998 when she was a minor. The victim lived with her mother, M.M., and older sister K.B. In 1997, the victim’s mother began dating Mr. Wallace, who lived with them until 2000, when M.M. “kicked him out” of the house because “too many creepy things w[ere] happening.” M.M. testified that Mr. Wallace would often stay home and watch the girls while [1277] she was at work; however, her maternal instincts told her that her daughters were not safe in the house with him anymore.

1SB.B. testified that when she was between the ages of eight and ten years old and while Mr. Wallace was living with them, Mr. Wallace sexually abused her. At trial, B.B. stated that when she was around eight or nine she would sometimes sleep in the bed with her mother and Mr. Wallace. She recalled one occasion when she was sleeping between her mother and Mr. Wallace, and woke to find that Mr. Wallace placed her hand on his penis. In a recorded interview with police, B.B. explained that Mr. Wallace was rubbing his penis with her hand. She recounted several instances when she was nine years old when Mr. Wallace would enter her room and watch her sleep. During that time frame, Mr. Wallace’s advances progressed. He would regularly perform oral sex upon her, sometimes in her bed and other times on the sofa. The victim testified that there was one instance when Mr. Wallace kept her home from school and tried to have sexual intercourse with her. During her recorded interview, she explained how Mr. Wallace placed the victim on her hands and knees and positioned himself behind her and attempted to penetrate her vagina with his penis. She testified at trial that although he was unable to fully penetrate her, there was genital to genital contact.

B.B. testified that Mr. Wallace’s sexual advances occurred generally at night when her mother was at work. The only other person in the house during that time was her older sister; however, she never witnessed any of the sexual encounters. B.B. did not tell anyone at the time about Mr. Wallace’s actions because she was afraid of him. She described him as an “alcoholic” and being “physically abusive.” 14The victim testified that she feared telling anyone because he threatened to harm her family if she told anyone about his behavior.

Meanwhile, the victim’s mother noticed that any time Mr. Wallace and she would go somewhere, Mr. Wallace wanted to bring B.B. but never her other daughter. The victim’s mother testified that “it just seemed like he was trying to be more than a father figure to her,” and “it didn’t seem right anymore.” After the victim’s mother split with Mr. Wallace and “kicked him out” of her house in 2000, Mr. Wallace tried to see B.B. again. He knocked on the victim’s bedroom window one night while her mother was at work. B.B. stated she crawled out of her bed and into her sister’s room, where they called 911, who told the girls to hide in the closet and until the police arrived. In a separate incident, a drunken Mr. Wallace appeared at the victim’s house during the day asking to see B.B., but her sister would not allow him inside.

At trial, the parents of one of the victim’s friends testified that they knew Mr. Wallace from living in the neighborhood in the late 1990s to 2000. They both testified that Mr. Wallace would call their residence demanding to know the victim’s whereabouts. The husband testified that during one telephone conversation, Mr. Wallace admitted having sex with the victim. The wife added that Mr. Wallace would threaten her and her family if she did not tell him of the victim’s whereabouts. Mr. Wallace’s persistent telephone calls led to his arrest at their residence.

| fiWhen B.B. was in middle school, her mother began noticing behavioral problems. The victim began “acting up” and ran away from home. At one point, the school B.B. was attending called her moth[1278] er and informed her that B.B. had bags packed in her locker. Around this time, B.B. told her school counselor about Mr. Wallace and the sexual abuse she experienced when she was younger. The school counselor then informed the victim’s mother. Thereafter, in 2003, the police were called to B.B.’s father’s house, and she gave the police a statement.

Subsequently, the victim’s mother enrolled B.B. into a boarding school in Mississippi where she received counseling daily. During that time period, B.B. had no contact with Mr. Wallace. She then left the boarding school when she was seventeen and moved to Mississippi to live on her own.

In 2008, Mr. Wallace contacted B.B. via MySpace, but she did not respond. At trial, B.B. identified the messages she received from Mr. Wallace beginning in January of 2008 and noted for the jury that the messages contained a picture of Mr. Wallace. The messages stated that Mr. Wallace was sorry for what he did and that he wanted to have sex with her. The MySpace messages stopped for a brief period of time after the father of B.B.’s child contacted Mr. Wallace. When B.B. was pregnant with her second child, she began receiving MySpace messages from Mr. Wallace again. Scared that Mr. Wallace would try to physically contact her, she notified Sergeant Michelle Rogers Canepa (“Sergeant Canepa”).

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State v. Wallace, 143 So. 3d 1275, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0149, 2014 WL 2885463, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1640 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

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