State v. Brauner
| Decision Date | 21 February 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-KA-1954.,99-KA-1954. |
| Citation | 782 So.2d 52 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Francis BRAUNER. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Susan Erlanger Talbot, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, LA, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee.
Marcia A. Widder, Richard C. Teissier, New Orleans, LA, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant.
Court composed of Judge BAGNERIS, Judge KIRBY, and Judge GORBATY.
By grand jury indictment dated January 8, 1998, defendant was charged with one count of aggravated rape, one count of forcible rape, and one count of aggravated crime against nature. He pleaded not guilty; and, on November 30, 1998, a twelve-member jury that found him guilty of forcible rape on the aggravated rape count and guilty as charged on the other two counts tried him. On May 3, 1999, defendant filed a motion for new trial that was denied by the trial court; and, the trial court sentenced defendant to forty years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on the two forcible rape convictions and to fifteen years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on the aggravated crime against nature count. The sentences were to run concurrently with each other. The trial court denied defendant's motion for reconsideration of sentence.
Detective Pearla Gibbs testified that on April 14, 1997, she was assigned to investigate a report of rape received via an anonymous phone call. She stated that she had received a phone call from a woman who said that her daughter had told her that the daughter's good friend had been raped. Detective Gibbs further stated that she got the names of the parties involved from the caller, whom she identified as Patty Partland. Detective Gibbs testified that before she and a worker from Child Protection went to Ms. Partland's house, she called the victim, who told Gibbs that her mother was at work and that her stepfather, who was the accused, was at a funeral. Gibbs interviewed Ms. Partland and then went to the victim's home. She stated that the victim's mother met her at the door and that she heard a male voice saying, "Just telling truth." Gibbs further stated that she then saw defendant with his arm around the victim, who was crying. She ordered them to separate; and, Miss Guise, the worker from Child Protection, took the victim to the side while Gibbs sat with defendant and his wife in the kitchen to explain why she was there. Gibbs then went to speak with the victim who was upset and crying. The victim told Gibbs that she did not want defendant to go to jail and that she did not want to cause trouble between him and her mother. After interviewing the victim, Gibbs read defendant his rights and placed him under arrest.
Dr. Khouri Anas testified that on April 29, 1997, she examined the victim, who was thirteen years old. She further testified that the victim told her that the last incident of sexual abuse had been a month earlier and that there had been several other incidents of vaginal penetration as well as anal penetration. Dr. Anas testified that her examination showed that the victim's hymen was still present and that it was thickened, irregular, and redundant, which she said was the type adolescents mainly had. She stated that because of the secretion of puberty hormones, the hymen grows and makes what she described as a cauliflower shape and which she called redundant. She also stated that the opening in the victim's hymen was within normal limits. Dr. Anas testified that because the hymen is elastic, she could not tell just from the examination if it had been traumatized. She also found that the victim's rectal area was normal.
Dr. Susanne Tropez—Sims was qualified as an expert in child sexual abuse, and she testified that there was a scale, which went from one to five, called Tanner Development to determine a child's genital development. She stated that the victim was a Tanner Four, which meant that she would have the effects of estrogen thickening her vagina and causing her hymenal tissue to have a paler appearance. The victim would also have a thin, milky discharge, called leukorrhea, and pubic hair over her genital area. Dr. Tropez—Sims reviewed the victim's colposcope photographs, and she described the victim's hymen as a denticular hymen, which went all the way around, and that it was estrogenized. She stated that the victim's hymen had a lot of folds or extra skin and that a denticular hymen would show fewer signs of injury than would a crescentic hymen. She further stated that because of the extra folds, it might allow more penetration although it can also tear. When asked about the healing powers of an estrogenized hymen, Dr. Tropez—Sims replied that whether it is estrogenized or not, the genital area heals within forty-eight hours unless there are really deep tears. She also stated that the rectum heals very fast and that if there is a delay in reporting, there would be no physical findings.
Patty Partland testified that her daughter Meredith was a good friend with the victim and that on April 13, 1997, Meredith told her something that concerned her. Ms. Partland further testified that she then called a crisis hotline to report that a child was being sexually abused. She said that she was given another number to call which she did the next morning and was asked to take the victim to the NOPD at 3:30 p.m.; but, at 11:30 a.m., a police officer, Al Hines, came to her house to ask about another neighbor who was going to be a police officer. Ms. Partland said that she spoke to Hines about the neighbor and that she also told him about what Meredith had told her. She stated that she and Meredith spoke on the telephone to Detective Gibbs around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. She again arranged to take the victim to the police at 3:30, but Gibbs called her back to find out where the victim went to school and the time she got out of school. When she told Gibbs that the victim got out at 1:50, Gibbs told Ms. Partland that she would come out to get the victim. Ms. Partland stated that between the two phone calls with Detective Gibbs, she got a call from the victim, who said that she had received a phone call that the police were on their way because it had been reported that she had been sexually molested. Ms. Partland further stated that the victim was crying and said that defendant was going to hurt her. She said that she then heard the victim's mother come into the room and start screaming at the victim. She also heard the phone beeping, and she said that the victim told her that it was the defendant calling. The victim again stated that defendant was going to hurt her, and Ms. Partland heard the phone beep again. The victim told her that it was defendant screaming at her not to tell. Ms. Partland saw defendant drive into the neighborhood, park his truck, and run into his house. She saw him come back out to his truck and then go back into his house. Ms. Partland saw the police arrive, and she directed them to defendant's house when they appeared to be lost. She testified that Meredith had told her that the victim was being molested and that defendant would make the victim dance for him while he put money in her underwear. Ms. Partland also testified that Meredith said that the victim told her that she and defendant had had sexual and oral intercourse several times. She stated that two weeks after defendant's arrest, Meredith told her that defendant had tried to get her to change clothes and tried to "do something" to her.
Meredith Partland testified about telling her mother what she had been told by the victim about being molested by defendant. She stated that when Officer Hines came by her house to ask about the neighbor who was to be police officer, she told him what she had been told by the victim. She said that she then spoke on the phone with Detective Gibbs about the matter. Meredith testified that when the victim came home from school, the victim called her and that she then went over to the victim's to get some makeup she had left there. Meredith said that she only stayed a couple of minutes and that the victim and her baby brother were the only ones there. After she returned home, Meredith got a phone call from the victim who asked her who had reported that defendant had been molesting her. Meredith said that she did not say anything and handed the phone to her mother. Meredith testified that when the victim had told her about the molestation, the victim asked her not to tell anybody because she did not want anything to happen to her little brother and her mother and that she knew defendant would be very upset and mad at her. Meredith said that she decided to tell her mother about it because she knew it was wrong and that the victim would be living in misery until she would be able to move out. She also stated that the victim told her about it on April 3 when she was staying at the victim's house along with another girl named Ashley. She said that Ashley left before it got dark and that the victim told her that defendant needed to talk to them about something. Meredith and the victim sat in the living room where defendant told them to be careful around boys and sometimes that the only thing they wanted was sex. Meredith testified that defendant then told them that they needed lessons from a "real man" and that he told her not to tell her father. He asked who wanted to go first, and Meredith told him that she would. He told her that the first lesson would be "lickety-split" and that she and the victim were to go to the victim's room, takes off all their clothes, and put on white T-shirts. Meredith testified that she told defendant that she was comfortable as she was and that she and the victim went...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- State v. Hawthorne
-
State v. D.T.
...rape committed within this time frame is sufficient to obtain a conviction of aggravated rape against Defendant. State v. Brauner, 99-1954 (La.App. 4 Cir 2/21/01), 782 So.2d 52, writ denied, 01-1260 (La.3/22/02), 811 So.2d At the time that three of these offenses were committed, aggravated ......
-
Carter v. Vannoy
...Cir. Sep. 19, 2007) (same); see also, State v. Adams, 897 So.2d 629, 633-34 (La. App. 1st Cir. 2004) (hearsay); State v. Brauner, 782 So.2d 52, 67 (La. App. 4th Cir. 2001) (hearsay); State v. Young, 764 So.2d 998, 1005 (La. App. 1st Cir. 2000) (hearsay); State v. Burmaster, 710 So.2d 274, (......
-
State v. Lebreton
... ... State v. Augustine, 555 So.2d 1331, 1333 (La.1990), superseded, in part, by statute as stated in State v. Martin, 93-1915, pp. 2-3 (La.App. 4 Cir. 9/29/94), 643 So.2d 830, 832 ; 4 State v. Brauner, 99-1954, 859 So.2d 793 p. 14 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/21/01), 782 So.2d 52, 63, writ denied XXXX-XXXX (La.3/22/02), 811 So.2d 920 ... However, Louisiana jurisprudence has recognized exceptions to this requirement in cases where the failure to observe the delay is considered ... ...