29,172 La.App. 2 Cir. 1/24/97, State v. Ingram
| Decision Date | 24 January 1997 |
| Parties | 29,172 La.App. 2 Cir |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Hunter, Scott, Blue & Johnson by Robert C. Johnson, for Defendant-Appellant.
Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Jerry L. Jones, District Attorney, Jimmy D. White, Assistant District Attorney, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Before NORRIS, HIGHTOWER and BROWN, JJ.
Defendant Joel D. Ingram was charged with four counts of aggravated rape in violation of La. R.S. 14:42. A 12-member jury found him guilty on all four counts. He was subsequently sentenced to three concurrent and one consecutive life term at hard labor without benefit on each count. Ingram now appeals his convictions and sentences, alleging 11 assignments of error. 1 For the reasons stated herein, we affirm.
Ingram was charged with three counts of aggravated rape of a minor girl, K.T., and one count of aggravated rape of her mother, S.T. K.T. was born on October 12, 1980. K.T. and her mother lived with Ingram, S.T.'s boyfriend, from approximately 1987 until October 1994. Ingram is not K.T.'s father and she has had little if any contact with her father since she was nine years old.
Count 1
K.T. testified that shortly after her ninth birthday, defendant and S.T. had an argument and when they finished, they went to their bedroom. Ingram later called K.T. into the bedroom. Over S.T.'s protests, Ingram forced K.T. to hold S.T. and watch as he and S.T. had sex. After this, defendant ordered K.T. to take her clothes off; S.T. protested and defendant slapped her. Defendant then forced K.T. to get in the bed with him, and had both anal and vaginal intercourse with her. Shortly thereafter, Ingram had sex with S.T. a second time, again making K.T. watch.
K.T. testified that when she was allowed to leave the bedroom to take a shower, defendant entered the shower with her and apologized for the incident. K.T. testified that having sex with defendant caused her to bleed heavily; however, she was not allowed to see a doctor because Ingram "didn't believe in doctors." S.T. testified that she did not notify the authorities because defendant threatened to kill her and her daughter if she told anyone what happened. Ingram also told S.T. that if he ever went to jail, he would upon release find and harm her family.
K.T. further testified that a few months after this incident, defendant began having sex with her once or twice a month; eventually these episodes increased in frequency until they occurred two or three times a week.
K.T. testified that on October 7, 1994 she was intending to spend the night with her best friend, J.M. K.T. arrived at J.M.'s house, and the two of them went out with K.T.'s 17-year-old boyfriend, Danny. K.T. had been previously ordered by Ingram and S.T. not to see Danny. After going out, K.T. and J.M. returned to J.M.'s home around 10:30 p.m.
On the same evening, Ingram discovered some letters written by Danny to K.T. Ingram knew that K.T. and Danny had had sex in the past and these letters led him to believe that K.T. was still seeing Danny against his wishes. S.T. testified that Ingram picked her up from work that same night and told her about the letters from Danny. She agreed to go with Ingram to pick up K.T. from her friend's house, but asked him not to hit K.T. Around 11:00 p.m., Ingram and S.T. arrived at the friend's house and picked up K.T.
Ingram was angry and confronted K.T. about dating Danny in defiance of his orders. K.T. and S.T. both testified that when they reached home, defendant began choking K.T. Ingram then picked her up by her ears and threw her down. S.T. also testified that defendant hit K.T. with his fist some six to eight times during this encounter. As a result of the beating, K.T. testified that her ears turned black, she sustained several bruises on her legs and arms, and several blood vessels in her eyes burst; photos taken on October 10 corroborate her testimony.
During this altercation, S.T. attempted to intervene, and Ingram hit S.T. several times with a hammer. K.T. testified that Ingram and her mother fought for several hours afterward; S.T. testified that the argument lasted for forty-five minutes to an hour.
In the course of the beating, Ingram ordered S.T. and K.T. to follow him to the bedroom. S.T. testified that because Ingram did not want the neighbors to hear the screams and call the police, he ordered them to turn the lights off in their trailer and go into the bedroom. After entering the bedroom, Ingram told K.T., "take off your clothes because you're going to get what you deserve for sleeping around with Danny," and he would show K.T. "a real man." K.T. testified that she was frightened of defendant and therefore complied. S.T. testified that despite her and K.T.'s protests, Ingram had sex with K.T. During this time, Ingram prevented S.T. from leaving the bed, forcing her to hold the girl while he had sex with K.T. After forcing S.T. to watch him have sex with K.T., Ingram then had sex with S.T. and forced K.T. to watch.
K.T. testified that while defendant had intercourse with S.T., S.T. cried and asked him to stop. Whenever S.T. protested, Ingram told her to "shut up" and either grabbed her by the neck or "push[ed] her in the stomach." S.T. also testified that Ingram told K.T. that he would harm Danny if K.T. saw Danny again. Ingram then allowed K.T. to go to her own bedroom. S.T. testified that shortly thereafter, Ingram forced her to have vaginal and anal intercourse with him. S.T. testified that she attempted to push Ingram off of her, but he overpowered her. S.T. stated she did not call the police because Ingram had threatened her with knives and guns in the past. S.T. testified that Ingram also threatened to kill her and K.T. if they ever told anyone about what he did. He also told her he would take K.T. away to live elsewhere, and she would never see K.T. again.
K.T. testified that she did not physically resist Ingram's sexual advances because he would have forced her to comply had she resisted. Ingram had just throttled and violently beaten her. She testified that Ingram again warned her not to tell anyone about what had happened, and if she did, he would kill her, S.T., and the rest of their family. K.T. also testified that she did not report the incidents because she believed Ingram's threats and feared he would kill her and her mother.
Count 4
The following morning, K.T. testified that she awoke around 5 or 6 a.m. and found Ingram in her room. Ingram once again forced her to have intercourse with him, despite her crying and her requests not to. K.T. testified that during this encounter, Ingram hit her with a lighter and slapped her in the face. She stated that she believed he would hurt or kill her if she refused to have sex with him. Later, Ingram apparently then told S.T., "I got some of your daughter again" and then left the trailer to go hunting. K.T. admitted that Ingram was not holding a dangerous weapon on her while he was raping her on the night of October 7th or the morning of October 8th.
After defendant left to go hunting on October 8th, K.T.'s friend J.M. visited K.T. and observed bruises on her neck. K.T. had previously revealed to J.M. that Ingram was sexually abusing her and now K.T. told J.M. about the recent abuse. J.M. later notified the authorities.
On Monday, October 10, 1994, a Ouachita Parish Sheriff's deputy and a social worker from the Louisiana Department of Social Services met with K.T. at her school. After K.T. informed them that she had been sexually abused, the deputy contacted S.T., and S.T. and Ingram eventually arrived at the school. The deputy requested Ingram go back to work, and took K.T. and S.T. to another location to discuss the matter further.
S.T. initially denied knowing anything about any sexual abuse of K.T. and admitted at trial that she was scared that defendant would make good on his threats and kill her if she told authorities. Ingram had threatened her intermittently yet often concerning these matters. S.T. ultimately allowed the deputy to take a videotaped statement from her daughter; several pictures of K.T. and S.T. were also taken.
Dr. Meade O'Boyle, an expert in the field of pediatrics, examined K.T. pursuant to a request by the Department of Social Services. Dr. O'Boyle's examination of K.T produced findings consistent with vaginal penetration by a penis. She testified that her examination found evidence of significant injury to K.T.'s anus in the form of old scars. Her findings were consistent with an adult male penis being violently inserted into K.T.'s anus.
The sheriff's deputy later asked Ingram to come to the sheriff's office for an interview with both the deputy and the Social Services worker. The deputy and the social worker testified that Ingram was advised of his rights, signed a waiver form, and agreed to talk with them. According to the deputy, Ingram stated that he had found notes from a boy to K.T. in K.T.'s room. Ingram admitted shaking K.T. and hitting S.T. once with a hammer. The deputy testified that Ingram also admitted having sex with both K.T. and S.T. after this confrontation. According to the deputy and the social worker, Ingram also admitted having sex with K.T. the next morning. In response to an inquiry regarding the incident which occurred when K.T. was nine years old, Ingram admitted having sex with K.T. when she was "real young," but stated he did not remember whether it was anal sex on that occasion. The social worker testified that she distinctly remembered Ingram admitting that he knew K.T. was nine years old at the time. Furthermore, both the deputy and social worker testified that defendant admitted having sex with K.T. through the years, sometimes as a means for K.T. to avoid being grounded. Ingram allegedly told the...
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... ... Bosley, 29,253 (La.App. 2d Cir.4/2/97), 691 So.2d 347, writ denied, 97-1203 ... State v. Ingram, 29,172 (La.App. 2d Cir.1/24/97), 688 So.2d 657; ... ...