State v. Anthony

• Decision Date: 30 December 2020
• Docket Number: NO. 17-KA-372,17-KA-372
• Citation: 309 So.3d 912
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Willard ANTHONY
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

309 So.3d 912

STATE of Louisiana

v.Willard ANTHONY

NO. 17-KA-372

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

December 30, 2020

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF/APPELLEE, STATE OF LOUISIANA Paul D. Connick, Jr., Terry M. Boudreaux, Anne M. Wallis, Douglas W. Freese, Lindsay L. Truhe

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT, WILLARD ANTHONY Letty S. Di Giulio

Panel composed of Judges Fredericka Homberg Wicker, Robert A. Chaisson, and Stephen J. Windhorst

WINDHORST, J.

This matter is before this Court on remand from the Louisiana Supreme Court. In our earlier decision, State v. Anthony, 17-372 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2/20/19), 266 So.3d 415, 430, this Court vacated defendant's convictions and sentences on all counts and remanded the matter for a new trial. In Anthony, supra, defendant's first assignment of error challenged several portions of the testimony given by the screening prosecutor, Thomas Block. He contended that Mr. Block's testimony denied him a right to a fair trial, the presumption of innocence, and the right to confront the actual evidence against him. Id. at 421. This Court found that the trial court erred by allowing Mr. Block to testify beyond what was necessary to rebut the defense's implication that a State's witness was given a "deal" in exchange for her testimony. Id. at 429. We further found that the alleged errors in Mr. Block's testimony were structural errors affecting the framework of the trial that violated defendant's right to a fair trial and presumption of innocence and to which harmless error standards could not be applied. Id. at 430.

Upon review, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in part, holding "While we presently express no opinion on whether the testimony of the screening prosecutor contained errors, we find that any such defects were not structural in nature and would instead constitute trial errors subject to a harmless error analysis." State v. Anthony, 19-476 (La. 6/26/19), 275 So.3d 869, 869 (per curiam ). The Supreme Court vacated this Court's decision and remanded the matter to this Court for a determination of whether the guilty verdicts rendered in defendant's trial were surely unattributable to the alleged errors in Mr. Block's testimony, and if necessary, to address the pretermitted assignments of error. Id. at 869-870.

For the reasons that follow, defendant's convictions are affirmed, his sentences on all counts except count six are affirmed, his sentence on count six is vacated and remanded for resentencing, and this case is remanded with instructions.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Defendant, Willard Anthony, was convicted by a jury of aggravated rape (counts one and two), human trafficking (count three), second degree battery (count six), aggravated battery (count seven), sexual battery (count eight), and felon in possession of a firearm (count ten).¹ The trial court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for each count of aggravated rape (counts one and two), to twenty years imprisonment at hard labor for human trafficking (count three), to ten years imprisonment at hard labor for second degree battery (count six), to ten years imprisonment at hard labor for aggravated battery (count seven), to ten years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for sexual battery (count eight), and to twenty years imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for felon in possession of a firearm (count ten). The trial court ordered all sentences to run concurrently. Defendant appealed his convictions and sentences.

FACTS²

C.W.³ testified that in April 2015, she was addicted to drugs and "not living a good lifestyle." In order to make money, she was working as a prostitute in Florida, where she first met defendant at a motel in Pensacola. He invited her back to his room, where there were three other women who were also prostitutes. C.W. described that they were all hanging out and drinking, and at some point, defendant, who always kept a gun on him, started "acting really paranoid," picked her up, and "body slammed [her]." C.W. remembered going to sleep at the end of the bed that night but waking up the next day in a car not knowing how she got there. She questioned defendant, who was driving, and he told her they were in New Orleans. C.W. expressed that she wanted to go back to Pensacola, but defendant pointed a gun at her and told her that she was "part of [his] family now."

C.W. stated that after they arrived at a hotel in New Orleans, co-defendant, Pierre Braddy, posted pictures of her and the other women online in order to get clients. The next day, they went to a hotel in Jefferson Parish. C.W. had a solo client appointment so everyone else waited in the car in the parking lot. C.W. testified that she wanted to get away, so she asked the "john" to help her escape. She told defendant that she wanted to leave with the john to make more money, but he said she could not go. C.W. told defendant she was going to tell the client goodbye, but instead, she got in his car and told him to "just go." C.W. and the client pulled out on the highway, but defendant pulled up next to them and pointed his gun at them. C.W. jumped out of the car and started to run, but defendant caught up with her and pulled her back into the car he was driving. C.W. testified that the "girls" started hitting her in the car. Defendant beat her with a belt in the hotel parking lot, at one point strangling her, and she lost consciousness.

When they got back to the hotel room, C.W. took a shower because she was bleeding, but defendant came in and continued to beat her. Defendant continued to verbally antagonize her and hit her with various objects, including his gun. C.W. also testified that defendant made the other girls hit her. She further testified that at the request of defendant, who was armed with a gun, Braddy urinated on her, put his penis in her mouth, and made her swallow the urine. After a while, defendant directed Braddy and the other girls to go to Walmart to buy makeup for C.W. so she could continue to make money.

C.W. testified that while she and defendant were alone in the hotel room, he told her various things that would happen to her if she ever tried to run again. Then, he "forced himself" on her and also inserted his gun into her vagina.

At some point later, Detective Steven Abadie arrived in connection with his investigation, and he was initially undercover as a client. C.W. eventually learned that Detective Abadie was with the police and he took her to the hospital. She was later brought to the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center.

Steven Abadie testified that he was working as a detective with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Vice Squad in April of 2015. He explained that he investigated prostitution or prostitution-related activities, including human trafficking, and he would go undercover. Detective Abadie went undercover on April 13, 2015, and arranged a "date" with a prostitute at the Sun Suites Inn on Manhattan Boulevard. When he arrived at the hotel room, he encountered Nadia Lee and Brittany Grisby, lying on one of the beds. Detective Abadie also saw C.W., who "was sitting...on her knees and...she was beat." He testified that he had "never seen somebody beat like this," so he knew "there was a pimp involved." He elaborated that her entire face was swollen, with one eye completely shut and a large laceration over her left eye, and she was "black and blue from head to toe." After Detective Abadie exchanged money with Ms. Lee for a "date," he said the code word and the covering officers came in shortly thereafter.

Detective Abadie brought C.W. to the hospital due to her significant injuries. She disclosed to him how she received her injuries, and based on that, he felt the need to investigate crimes other than prostitution, namely aggravated rape, human trafficking, aggravated battery, and second degree battery.

Nadia Lee testified that she met defendant and Braddy in April 2015 at a hotel in Alabama, and she agreed to travel with them to Florida. She explained that she did not initially know that defendant was a pimp. However, Ms. Lee realized soon after they arrived in Florida that he was a pimp. She testified that they used defendant's phone to set up calls, and he made sure the appointments were set up and that the girls would get to and from where they were working. She stated that defendant decided how much money she would charge for each client and "all the money had to go to [defendant]."

Ms. Lee testified that she first met C.W. one night when C.W. mistakenly knocked on their hotel room door, looking for a "john," and defendant invited her in. According to Ms. Lee, defendant indicated that he wanted C.W. to stay and, after a while, C.W. agreed to stay with them. However, shortly thereafter, defendant started treating C.W. very badly, "like beating her up and choke slamming her." Ms. Lee described that early the next morning, they were leaving the hotel, and she told C.W. that she could come with them or stay in the room. C.W. left with them. The group left in two cars, drove to New Orleans, and started receiving clients at a hotel. After they were "caught" by the police at the New Orleans hotel, they relocated to the Sun Suites Inn on the westbank of Jefferson Parish.

Ms. Lee stated that at some point, C.W. had a "date," and everyone else stayed in the car. When it was over, C.W. came down to the car and told defendant that the client wanted to take her to a bar for some drinks, but defendant told her no. Ms. Lee stated that C.W. walked back to the client, got in his car, and they drove off. Ms. Lee described that they chased after them until they caught up with them. Defendant rolled down his window, pointed his gun at the client's car, and told him to let C.W. out of the car. C.W. exited the car and started running away, but defend...