State v. Chandler

• Decision Date: 08 September 2006
• Docket Number: No. 41,063-KA.,41,063-KA.
• Citation: 939 So.2d 574
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee v. Prentiss Burns CHANDLER, Appellant.

939 So.2d 574

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee v. Prentiss Burns CHANDLER, Appellant.

No. 41,063-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

September 8, 2006.

Rehearing Denied September 21, 2006.

William D. Hall, P.L.C., Shreveport, for Appellant.

Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, Laura Wingate, Ron Christopher Stamps, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.

Before STEWART, CARAWAY and PEATROSS, JJ.

CARAWAY, J.

By an 11-1 vote, a jury convicted Prentiss Burns Chandler of aggravated rape in violation of La. R.S. 14:42. Chandler received the mandatory life sentence without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. In this appeal, Chandler asserts that his conviction for aggravated rape must be reduced to a conviction of forcible rape. We reject that claim. We also find no merit to Chandler's sentencing claim regarding the trial court's process in imposing the mandatory life sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm the conviction and sentence.

Facts

On May 16, 2002, M.R.H. was at home folding clothes when Chandler knocked at the door and asked to use the phone to call his girlfriend who lived two doors down. Chandler said his girlfriend was not home and he was locked out. He also told her he worked at the town houses where she lived but lied about his name. M.R.H. took her cordless phone to Chandler to use outside. She turned to give him "a little privacy" and clean the kitchen, but when she turned back, he was standing inside. Chandler then said his girlfriend did not answer and he needed to call her again. He began "making small talk." The victim said the situation made her "uncomfortable" and "nervous," and that she began thinking of a way out of the house. At the time of this offense, Chandler was 6'4" and weighed 180 lbs. M.R.H. was 5'2" and weighed between 104-108 lbs.

Chandler dialed the phone again, but no one answered. He handed the phone back to the victim, moved closer and told her he needed sex. M.R.H. ran for the door, but Chandler "grabbed" her arms from behind. The victim struggled and screamed to attract attention from anyone who might be outside. Chandler told her to lie on the floor, and when she continued to struggle, he pinned her face down in the hallway. She "wouldn't let him" pull her shorts off and she tried to get away. He was too strong and held her down with one hand while he removed her shorts with the other. During the struggle, M.R.H. hit her head on the ceramic tile in the bathroom as Chandler held her down while removing his clothing. When Chandler tried unsuccessfully to penetrate her, he told M.R.H. to go upstairs. The victim "took off running" for the front door wearing no shorts or panties. She made it partially outside, screaming, before he pulled her back in, slammed the door and locked it. Chandler twice warned the victim not to do that again or she would "get hurt."

Chandler threw the victim on the stairs, grabbed her by the arm and forced her upstairs. She asked him twice if he was going to kill her, and the defendant told her to do as he said. Chandler made M.R.H. kneel next to her bed and anally raped her, never letting go of her arm and leaning over her as she knelt. Chandler then instructed the victim to lie on the bed, which she did while he held her arm, and tried to vaginally rape her. After using Carmex lip balm retrieved from her nightstand, he penetrated her. Chandler repeated that M.R.H. would not get hurt if she did what she was told. He instructed her to stop crying, and tried to kiss her right breast. The victim "kept trying to move away from him" and asked the defendant not to ejaculate inside her. She testified Chandler made her stretch face down across the bed, and that as he anally raped her again, she began reading aloud from her Bible. Chandler grabbed the Bible, threw it against the wall and told M.R.H. to put on bikini bottoms and stand facing the wall. Chandler masturbated and made M.R.H. "lay back down," as he ejaculated on her stomach.

M.R.H. began to "go into shock" as Chandler apologized, grabbed the phone, and told her she did not need to call the police as he planned to commit suicide. As the defendant kept telling M.R.H. not to call the police, he began "curling" the phone cord in his hands. M.R.H. again asked Chandler if he was going to kill her. He told her he would come back and kill her if she called the police. He took the phone cord with him when he left. M.R.H. found an extra phone cord and called her boyfriend (her husband at the time of trial) who arrived and called 911. M.R.H. was transported to the hospital for examination. After the victim identified Chandler as the perpetrator, he was arrested on charges of aggravated rape. Chandler confessed to raping M.R.H.

The jury convicted Chandler of aggravated rape after receiving a jury charge defining that crime and the lesser and included offense of forcible rape. Subsequent to his conviction, Chandler filed motions for reconsideration of sentence, post verdict judgment of acquittal and new trial, all of which were denied by the trial court. This appeal ensued.

Discussion

In raising the sufficiency of the evidence for the conviction for aggravated rape, Chandler presents various arguments. He argues that M.R.H. did not resist the rape to the utmost. Next, he claims the threats to M.R.H. were merely implied and vague threats of physical violence, which fall only within the definition of forcible rape [La. R.S. 14:42.1 A(1)], and not those of great and immediate bodily harm, required for aggravated rape [La. R.S. 14:42 A(2)]. He then points out the lack of distinguishing guidelines for the determination of whether an aggravated rape under La. R.S. 14:42 A(2) occurred, or to the contrary, whether a forcible rape under La. R.S. 14:42.1 A(1) exists. Notably, Chandler concedes that the evidence was sufficient to convict him of forcible rape. Nevertheless, he asserts that the alleged lack of definitional guidelines between aggravated rape and forcible rape and the failure of the trial court to instruct the jury on this subject improperly allowed the jury to select a greater or lesser sentence by choosing between the two closely-defined grades of rape.

In general, the proper standard of appellate review for a sufficiency of the evidence claim is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Bosley, 29,253 (La.App. 2d Cir.4/2/97), 691 So.2d 347, writ denied, 97-1203 (La.10/17/97), 701 So.2d 1333. The Jackson standard is applicable in cases involving both direct and circumstantial evidence. An appellate court reviewing the sufficiency of evidence in such cases must resolve any conflict in the direct evidence by viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. When the direct evidence is thus viewed, the facts established by the direct evidence and inferred from the circumstances established by that evidence must be sufficient for a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of every essential element of the crime. State v. Sutton, 436 So.2d 471 (La.1983); State v. Owens, 30,903 (La.App. 2d Cir.9/25/98), 719 So.2d 610, writ denied, 98-2723 (La.2/5/99), 737 So.2d 747.

This court's authority to review questions of fact in a criminal case is limited to the sufficiency-of-the-evidence evaluation under Jackson, supra, and does not extend to credibility determinations made by the trier of fact. La. Const. art. 5, § 10(B); State v. Williams, 448 So.2d 753 (La.App. 2d Cir.1984). A reviewing court accords great deference to a judge or jury's decision to accept or reject the testimony of a witness in whole or in part. State v. Gilliam, 36,118 (La.App. 2d Cir.8/30/02), 827 So.2d 508, writ denied, State ex rel. Gilliam v. State, 02-3090 (La.11/14/03), 858 So.2d 422.

The testimony of a sexual assault victim alone is sufficient to convict a defendant. State v. Richard, 39,705 (La.App. 2d Cir.5/11/05), 902 So.2d 1271, writ denied, 05-1713 (La.2/10/06), 924 So.2d 161. See also State v. Simpson, 39,268 (La.App. 2d Cir.1/26/05), 892 So.2d 694. Such testimony alone is sufficient even where the state does not introduce medical, scientific, or physical evidence to prove the commission of the offense by the defendant. State v. Elzie, 37,920 (La.App. 2d Cir.1/28/04), 865 So.2d 248, writ denied, 04-2289 (La.2/4/05), 893 So.2d 83. See also Simpson, supra; State v. Ponsell, 33,543 (La.App. 2d Cir.8/23/00), 766 So.2d 678, writ denied, 00-2726 (La.10/12/01), 799 So.2d 490.

There are two relevant definitions for aggravated rape raised by this case and Chandler's arguments, Subsection A(1) and Subsection A(2). La. R.S. 14:42 A(1) and (2).¹ Subsection A(1) requires the victim's resistance of the act "to the utmost." There is no element of the victim's resistance in Subsection A(2) because "the victim is prevented from resisting the act by threats of great and immediate bodily harm, accompanied by the apparent power of execution." In an early case, a defendant argued that he could only be prosecuted on one of these counts for aggravated rape because of the inconsistency in the two definitions. State v. Jackson, 227 La. 642, 80 So.2d 105 (1955). The supreme court answered defendant as follows:

This argument is illogical and does not take into account the realities of the situation. Moreover the statute itself provides that aggravated rape may be committed under "any one or more of the following circumstances." This means that the circumstances may consist entirely of those set out in any one of the subsections or may be a combination of those set out in any two or in all three.

Id. at 107.

Before any consideration of Chandler's arguments regarding the application of the forcible...