State v. Zeringue

862 So. 2d 186, 2003 WL 22799683
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 25, 2003
Docket03-KA-697
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 862 So. 2d 186 (State v. Zeringue) 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. Zeringue, 862 So. 2d 186, 2003 WL 22799683 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

862 So.2d 186 (2003)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Ira ZERINGUE.

No. 03-KA-697.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

November 25, 2003.

*189 Harry J. Morel, Jr., District Attorney, David L. Chaisson, Assistant District Attorney, Hahnville, LA, for The State of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Manina D. Dubroca, Luling, LA, for Ira Zeringue, Defendant-Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges THOMAS F. DALEY, MARION F. EDWARDS and WALTER J. ROTHSCHILD.

WALTER J. ROTHSCHILD, Judge.

On June 5, 2002, the St. Charles Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant, Ira Zeringue, with carnal knowledge of a juvenile (Count 1), a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:80; and aggravated oral sexual battery (Count 2), a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:43.2. Defendant was arraigned on June 13, 2002, and pled not guilty to both charges.

On December 10, 2002, the State amended Count 2 of the bill of information, reducing the charge to oral sexual battery, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:43.3. Defendant was arraigned with respect to the amended charge, and pled not guilty.

A bench trial was held on January 21 and 22, 2003. The court found defendant guilty as charged on both counts. On February 4, 2003, defendant filed a motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal and a motion for new trial. The trial court heard and denied those motions on February 20, 2003.

On March 6, 2003, the court sentenced defendant to seven years at hard labor on both counts. The court further ordered that the sentence on Count 2 be served without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, and directed that the sentences run concurrently with each other. Defendant made an oral motion for appeal, and the judge granted the motion. Defendant filed a written motion for appeal on March 26, 2003. Defendant filed a motion to reconsider sentence on March 18, 2003. The trial court denied the motion on March 24, 2003.

Defendant now appeals on the basis of three assignments of error. For reasons stated more fully herein, we affirm conditionally defendant's convictions and sentence and remand the matter for an evidentiary hearing.

FACTS

A.B.[1], the victim in the instant case, testified that her date of birth is September 9, 1988, and that she lives in Boutte. As of May 14, 2002, A.B. had known defendant for two to three weeks. A.B. initially became acquainted with defendant through Damian Blake (Damian), the twenty-two-year-old brother of her classmate, Dana Blake (Dana). Defendant worked with A.B.'s step-brother, Lloyd Whitehead, Jr. (a/k/a Sonny), whose date of birth is August 17, 1981. According to an exhibit offered by the State, defendant, Ira Zeringue, was born on July 20, 1980.

A.B. testified that she and defendant were both at the Blakes' home between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. on May 14, 2002. Mr. Blake, Dana's father, instructed defendant to leave the house. A.B. invited defendant to accompany her to her house, and defendant accepted. Damian drove A.B. and *190 defendant to the house where she lived with her mother, step-father, and Sonny. A short time later, Sonny drove defendant from there to his grandfather's house, where defendant picked up some clothing belonging to him. Sonny then drove defendant to Breaux's Motel, where defendant was living in a rented room. A.B. testified that she rode along with them in Sonny's truck. Defendant told A.B. that he liked her. A.B. asked defendant whether he wanted to come to her house that night to have sex with her, and defendant said he did.

A.B. later telephoned defendant at his motel room and told him to come to her house at 10:30 p.m. She testified that defendant arrived at the agreed-upon time and that she let him in at the front door. Her step-father and Sonny were asleep in the house, and her mother was using her computer behind closed doors. Defendant went into A.B.'s bedroom with her. Defendant performed oral sex on her, and the two engaged in vaginal intercourse. The encounter lasted forty to forty-five minutes and was consensual on A.B.'s part.

At 11:47 p.m., defendant and A.B. went outside to the backyard and smoked marijuana cigarettes provided by defendant. A.B. testified that this was not the first time she had smoked marijuana with defendant. Moreover, defendant performed oral sex on her in his hotel room prior to the May 14 incident.

Rene Whitehead, A.B.'s mother, testified that she went to the backyard at 11:45 p.m. to smoke a cigarette. She noticed the outside lights were on, although they are usually kept off. She saw a man with a cigarette in the yard. She then saw A.B. and asked her who the man was. A.B. responded that he was Ira. Defendant left the yard by jumping over the fence. Ms. Whitehead took A.B. inside and looked outside through a window. She saw defendant walking in front of the house. She recognized him because she had met him once when he came to her house to visit with Sonny and A.B. He was not wearing a shirt or shoes. Ms. Whitehead ordered defendant to leave the premises and threatened to call police if he returned.

Ms. Whitehead questioned A.B. as to what she and defendant had been doing at that hour. A.B. said they had been talking and smoking marijuana. A.B. testified that she discovered defendant's tennis shoes and shirt in her bedroom, along with a can of beer. She hid those items in her step-sister's room, as her step-sister was away that night.

Sonny Whitehead testified that he was at Damian Blake's house on the afternoon of May 15, 2002 when defendant arrived. The three young men went to a Wal-Mart store in Damian's truck. On the way there, defendant told Sonny he had had sex with A.B. the previous night. Sonny in turn told his father, and Mr. Whitehead confronted A.B. when she returned home from school that day. Ms. Whitehead returned home from work and also questioned A.B. Eventually, A.B. admitted that she had had sexual relations with defendant. Upon hearing A.B.'s story, Ms. Whitehead reported the incident to police. Detective Joe Lawler of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office interviewed A.B. and her family and determined defendant to be a suspect in the matter.

Kevin Hollingsworth, a crime scene technician with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office, testified that he collected evidence from A.B.'s home on May 15, 2002, including a pair of tennis shoes and a white T-shirt. A.B. identified State's Exhibit 2 as the tennis shoes defendant left at her house on the night of May 14, 2002. She further testified that State's Exhibit 4, a photograph, depicts defendant's shoes and T-shirt.

*191 Jamie Lynn Zammit testified that she saw defendant socially on the night of May 14, 2002. When she arrived home from work at 11:30 p.m., there was a message from defendant on her answering machine. The message prompted her to drive to Breaux's Motel. She arrived there between 11:40 and 11:45, and went to defendant's room. He was not there, so she left a note on the door and returned home. Defendant telephoned her right after she arrived at her house, and she returned to defendant's motel room. He was wearing sandals on his feet. She did not remember whether he was wearing a shirt. Defendant told her he had lost his tennis shoes but did not say how.

Ms. Zammit told Detective Lawler she had arrived at defendant's room the second time at 12:30 a.m., but she testified that she thought the time was closer to midnight. She remained with defendant in his room until 8:30 on the morning of May 15 when she dropped him off at his grandparents' house. Later that day, she picked defendant up at an unknown person's house[2]

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Bluebook (online)
862 So. 2d 186, 2003 WL 22799683, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-zeringue-lactapp-2003.