State v. Heath

• Decision Date: 10 November 2020
• Docket Number: No. 53,559-KA,53,559-KA
• Citation: 304 So.3d 1105
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee v. Henry HEATH, Appellant
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

304 So.3d 1105

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee

v.Henry HEATH, Appellant

No. 53,559-KA

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

Judgment rendered November 10, 2020

LAVALLE B. SALOMON, APLC By: Lavalle B. Salomon, Monroe, Counsel for Appellant

PENNY WISE DOUCIERE Interim District Attorney K. DOUGLAS WHEELER, AMANDA M. WILKINS, New Orleans, Assistant District Attorneys Counsel for Appellee

Before PITMAN, STONE, and McCALLUM, JJ.

PITMAN, J.

A jury convicted Defendant Henry C. Heath, Jr. of 20 counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile. The trial court sentenced him to a year and six months at hard labor on each count and ordered that the sentences be served consecutively. Defendant appeals his convictions and sentences. For the following reasons, we affirm Defendant's convictions and sentences.

FACTS

On January 8, 2018, the state filed a bill of information charging Defendant with 61 counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile. On January 23, 2019, the state filed an amended bill of information charging Defendant with 20 counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile. On March 12, 2019, the state filed a second amended bill of information charging Defendant with 20 counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile in Richland Parish, in violation of La. R.S. 14:81. The state alleged that between the dates of January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2016, Defendant committed indecent behavior with a juvenile, i.e., S.G., whose date of birth is February 8, 2000.

Trial commenced with jury selection on March 18, 2019, and evidence was adduced on March 19 and 20, 2019.

S.G. testified that she met Defendant at church sometime in December 2014, when she was 14 years old. After she expressed an interest in hunting, Defendant agreed to take her and began to visit her home. Defendant, S.G., her mother ("K.G."), her sister and Defendant's nieces and nephews periodically cooked and watched movies together, among other things. She and Defendant located hunting spots near her house and put out corn for the deer. Around April 2015, she dated Defendant's son. She testified that Defendant did not approve of their relationship and told her that his son was not good enough for her. She characterized Defendant as acting like a jealous boyfriend.

S.G. recalled that her first sexual contact with Defendant was in December 2015, at Mack Borden's father's house in West Carroll Parish where he had taken her to hunt. The two left the Bordens’ house and went to Defendant's home located in Morehouse Parish. There, Defendant undressed her, fondled her breasts and other areas on her body and put a vibrator inside her vagina. Defendant additionally pleasured himself. At some point, Defendant also kissed her. She testified that she asked Defendant to stop, but he did not. Defendant asked her not to tell anyone about their encounter because they could both get into trouble.¹

S.G. testified that in January 2016 she continued to see Defendant almost daily at her home in Richland Parish, which was across the road from the home of her grandparents, Francis Dolores and Darryl Caston. Occasionally, Defendant would walk by her and touch her buttocks and grab her breasts. She and Defendant continued to prepare their hunting spot, usually close to dark, throwing corn along a tree line some distance from her grandparents’ house and behind the mobile home across the road where her family lived. She stated that while putting out the corn, Defendant would pull her pants down, pull her shirt up or touch her breasts or buttocks. She testified that this type of activity occurred at least five times in January 2016 behind her house and behind her grandparents’ house. She never told anyone about these incidents.

S.G. testified that in February 2016, she and Defendant continued putting out corn, even though it was not hunting season. She stated that Defendant was at her house daily and sexually assaulted her every day. She recalled a day when she and Defendant took his truck behind her grandparents’ house where Defendant undressed her and touched her breasts and vagina. He also used his mouth in her "private area." Defendant engaged in identical contact with her on another day in February after returning from Walmart. He stopped his truck on Ruff Road and proceeded to undress her and touch her breasts and vagina. She testified that this type of activity occurred at least four times in February 2016.

S.G. testified that she did not experience any contact from Defendant in March 2016. Defendant and her mother were fighting, so he stayed away. In April 2016, S.G. and her family planned to move to Gainsville, Texas, to assist her uncle in the opening of his new restaurant. She stated that prior to their departure, Defendant gave her a vibrator and a cellphone. She did not refuse the vibrator because she knew that would make Defendant angry. The family moved to Texas in May and there was no contact between her and Defendant on the cellphone, with the exception of one text message she received from him saying, "I see how it's going to be."

S.G. further testified that she and her family returned to Louisiana either at the end of July or early August 2016. Defendant traveled to Texas to help her family with their move. Shortly thereafter, she and her family went to Minnesota to visit her brother. On the drive home, they stopped in Branson, Missouri, where Defendant met them and insisted that she ride with him on the way back to their home, but K.G. refused to allow her to ride alone with Defendant, which upset him. After their return home, Defendant resumed his daily visits to her home and began staying overnight, sleeping on the couch.

In August 2016, there was sexual contact between Defendant and S.G. virtually every day. S.G stated that when her mother left the room, Defendant would casually grab her buttocks and breasts. She also stated that the touching was on both the outside and inside of her clothing. She testified that this type of activity occurred at least five times in August 2016. She further testified that there was not any sexual contact between her and Defendant in September, October or November 2016. During those months, she did not see Defendant very often because he was working. She did, however, occasionally text him on K.G.’s phone to determine if he would attend her softball games.

S.G. testified that in December 2016, when hunting season began, she and Defendant resumed putting corn out for the deer at dusk. Defendant's sexual contact with her also resumed. She stated that Defendant again pulled down her pants, put his mouth on her, used his fingers on her vagina and touched her breasts. She told him to stop on a couple of occasions. She testified about another incident which occurred around Christmas after she and K.G. picked up some pecans from her grandparents’ property and stored them in her grandmother's barn. She and Defendant went to retrieve the pecans and, once inside the unlit barn, Defendant proceeded to pull her pants down and touch her breasts. At no point did she report any sexual contact to her mother or anyone else, stating that she was afraid she would get in trouble.

S.G. further testified that Defendant's illicit acts came to light in April 2017, when her sister found the vibrator in her room that Defendant had previously given her. Her sister took a picture of it and showed it to K.G. K.G. questioned her about the vibrator, and she replied that Defendant had given it to her. K.G. contacted the sheriff's department, and an investigation ensued.

Other witnesses at trial included K.G., Ambi Bundy, Mack Borden, Jr., Debbie Borden, Dolores Caston, Dennis Platt and Wanda Vallery.

K.G. testified that she and her family met Defendant at Victory Tabernacle Church in Bastrop, Louisiana, in December 2014. After Christmas, Defendant began coming to her home a few times per week to take S.G. hunting and to put out corn. She expressed displeasure with Defendant many times because he only paid attention to S.G. and not to her younger daughter. She stated that she and Defendant never developed any type of personal relationship, but Defendant would sometimes act as if he were interested in her after she expressed her displeasure. Defendant would also cook with her family and do other typical family activities with them, such as grocery shopping. She stated that in November 2015 when hunting season began again, Defendant was at their house three or four times a week. It was during this time that he would take S.G. to the Bordens’ house to hunt. She testified that she permitted S.G. to stay the night at the Bordens’ house with Defendant because he assured her that his sister would be there.

K.G. further testified that by January 2016, Defendant was still visiting her home three or four times a week. In May 2016 when the family moved to Texas to help at her brother's restaurant, she found a cellphone that Defendant had given S.G. She surmised that Defendant had purchased the phone for S.G. because she would not allow Defendant to have S.G.’s number. She stated that she called Defendant and asked if he had given S.G. the phone. He admitted that he had, "because she wanted it." The family stayed in Texas only a short while. She called Defendant and asked him to help them move back to Louisiana. The family moved to Caston Road, across the street from her parents.

K.G. further testified that Defendant met her family in Branson, Missouri, on their way back from visiting her son in July 2016. Defendant became upset when she refused to allow S.G. to ride back home with him. She stated that she had stopped letting S.G. ride in Defendant's vehicle because he would not allow her younger daughter to ride with him. She corroborated S.G.’s testimony that in August 2016, Defendant began staying the night at their home. She stated that Defendant was there almost every day, with the exception of every other weekend, when he kept his son.

K.G. also testified that she never had any suspicion...