State v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 22 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. 2011–KA–1280.,2011–KA–1280.
• Citation: 99 So.3d 1019
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Walter JACKSON.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

99 So.3d 1019

STATE of Louisiana

v.Walter JACKSON.

No. 2011–KA–1280.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

Aug. 22, 2012.

Holli Herrle–Castillo, Louisiana Appellate Project, Marrero, LA, for Defendant/Appellant, Walter Jackson.

(Court composed of Judge DENNIS R. BAGNERIS, SR., Judge MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge MADELEINE M. LANDRIEU).

MADELEINE M. LANDRIEU, Judge.

[4 Cir. 1]PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Walter Jackson was charged by bill of information with three counts of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile in violation of La. R.S. 14:80. He pled not guilty on November 16, 2009. The case proceeded to trial by jury on March 10, 2011. Mr. Jackson was found guilty as charged on two of the three counts and was acquitted on the third. Mr. Jackson filed the instant appeal of his convictions.

FACTS

The juvenile victim, S.P., was a student at Douglas Senior High School (“Douglas”). Mr. Jackson worked at Douglas as a security guard and also provided security detail for the high school's sporting events. Testimony at trial established that S.P. had been having difficulty at school, such as being teased for not having clean uniforms and skipping school. In response to these difficulties, S.P.'s mother had asked Mr. Jackson and a female security guard to watch over her.

The criminal investigation into activities between Mr. Jackson and S.P. began when S.P.'s mother called 911 to report inappropriate behavior by Mr. [4 Cir. 2]Jackson with S.P., her minor daughter.¹ S.P.'s mother testified that she became suspicious of Mr. Jackson because he refused to take S.P.'s brothers with him when he took S.P. on outings, and because she discovered a credit union statement reflecting that Mr. Jackson had started a college fund for S.P. When she questioned S.P. about the college fund and her concerns about Mr. Jackson, S.P. revealed to her mother that she and Mr. Jackson had been having consensual sex at hotels.

Detective Glenell Sentino of the New Orleans Police Department responded to the 911 call and was the lead investigator on the case. She testified that upon arriving at S.P.'s residence to investigate, she spoke with the mother first and learned that S.P. was having consensual sex with a security guard employed at her high school. Det. Sentino obtained from the child's mother a credit union statement bearing S.P.'s name which was entitled “college fund” with a balance of $5,785.10. The fund appeared to be jointly owned by Mr. Jackson and his mother. Det. Sentino then spoke to S.P., who stated that she had consensual sex with Mr. Jackson numerous times at hotels. Accompanied by her mother, S.P. left the residence with Det. Sentino and directed her mother and the detective to a specific hotel, the Econo Lodge Motel on Chef Menteur Highway, where she alleged that she and Mr. Jackson had engaged in sexual intercourse. Det. Sentino subsequently obtained from this motel a receipt in Mr. Jackson's name dated February 24, 2009.

Sometime later, Det. Sentino showed S.P. Mr. Jackson's picture from his driver's license. S.P. identified him as the man with whom she had engaged in [4 Cir. 3]consensual sex. After the positive identification of Mr. Jackson and after confirming Mr. Jackson's age, Det. Sentino obtained an arrest warrant for Mr. Jackson.² She also obtained a taped statement from S.P.

At trial, S.P. testified that she did not get along well with her mother and that her mother had once thrown her out of the house. She also recalled that when she was younger, she and her siblings were removed from their mother's custody by the State.³ S.P. testified that she initiated the sex with Mr. Jackson because she “wanted to be a grown person at a young age” and that they had sex four or five times at hotels. She further testified that her mother was always asking Mr. Jackson for money and that she once texted Mr. Jackson that her mother wanted her to get money from him. S.P.'s mother testified that she never asked Mr. Jackson for money, but acknowledged that her husband did ask him for help one time with an automobile payment.

S.P. also testified that the credit union statement which her mother found was a fake created by Mr. Jackson and was a scam to get back at her mother. Mr. Jackson denied providing S.P. with a fake statement and noted that he sometimes had documents in his vehicle when he would transport S.P.—inferring that S.P. may have taken the bank statement from his car. Mr. Jackson testified that he and his mother had a college account for his son in the Navy Federal Credit Union bearing the same account number and balance as the one presented by S.P.'s mother.

Glennis Herbert is a female teacher and coach at Douglas. Both she and Mr. Jackson testified that Mr. Jackson and his family looked after S.P. and [4 Cir. 4]bought her school uniforms. Mr. Jackson further testified that once S.P. left high school and his mother died, he ceased contact with S.P. He explained that he terminated contact because he always liked to have a female present whenever he dealt with S.P. Without his mother and Coach Herbert, this was no longer possible.

Mr. Jackson was charged with three counts of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, each count representing an incident of illegal sexual conduct between him and S.P. He was found guilty on counts one and three. Count one charged him with committing felony carnal of a juvenile on November 28, 2009 and count three charged him with committing felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile on May 10, 2009. The jury acquitted Mr. Jackson on count two of the bill of information which charged him with felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile on February 24, 2009.

Count One

The evidence at trial established that on November 28, 2008, during the school's Thanksgiving holidays, Coach Herbert had called a practice for the school's basketball team. On the way to practice, one of the Douglas female basketball players, M.N. was involved in an automobile accident.⁴ Coach Herbert saw the accident and stopped to assist. Coach Herbert testified that Mr. Jackson and S.P. arrived at the scene of the accident in his truck. She further testified that M.N. had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. According to Coach Herbert, Mr. Jackson followed the ambulance to the hospital in his [4 Cir. 5]truck, and S.P. rode with him. Coach Herbert kept in touch with Mr. Jackson for updates on M.N. and Mr. Jackson informed the coach when he left the hospital later in the evening.⁵ When school resumed after the holidays, Mr. Jackson told the coach that after leaving the hospital, he had picked up beignets for S.P.'s mother, dropped off S.P., and then dropped off M.N. Coach Herbert testified that she never saw Mr. Jackson engage in any inappropriate behavior with any of the girls.

S.P. testified that she went to the hospital with her mother and left with Mr. Jackson and M.N. She denied being at the accident scene. She further testified that after leaving the hospital, she, Mr. Jackson and M.N. went to a motel on Downman Road, where Mr. Jackson had sex with both she and M.N. Mr. Jackson then dropped them off at their respective houses, dropping S.P. off first and M.N. second.

Mr. Jackson testified that as part of his duties as security for the basketball team, he went to the scene of the accident because it involved one of the players. However, he testified that he arrived at the accident by himself and that he went to the hospital by himself. Consistent with Coach Herbert's testimony, he testified that after leaving the hospital, he stopped for beignets and then dropped S.P. and M.N. off at their respective residences. He denied ever having gone to a motel with S.P. M.N. did not testify at the trial.

Count Three

Count three of the bill of information charged Mr. Jackson with carnal knowledge of a juvenile occurring on May 10, 2009. Mr. Jackson specifically [4 Cir. 6]denied going to a hotel with S.P. on this date. The only other reference at trial to this date was in the form of testimony by Det. Sentino. This testimony did not establish that any criminal activity occurred on May 10, 2009.

Mr. Jackson was found guilty as charged on counts one and three and not guilty on count two. On March 28, 2011, he was sentenced on each count to two years at hard labor to run concurrently, which sentence was suspended. Mr. Jackson was placed on two years of active probation, ordered to pay $190.50 in court costs, and ordered to register as a sex offender. Mr. Jackson appealed his convictions.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Mr. Jackson alleges two assignments of error:

1. That there is insufficient evidence to sustain the convictions.

2. That due to the fact that evidence is missing from the record, Mr. Jackson cannot receive a full review of the evidence and is therefore entitled to a new trial.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR # 1: SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE

By this assignment of error, Mr. Jackson asserts that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions. When issues are raised on appeal as to the sufficiency of the evidence and as to one or more trial errors, the reviewing court should first determine the sufficiency of the evidence. State v. Hearold, 603 So.2d 731, 734 (La.1992); State v. Marcantel, 2000–1629, p. 8 (La.4/3/02), 815 So.2d 50, 55. Therefore, this assignment of error will be considered first.

The standard of review for the sufficiency of the evidence is whether, viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational trier of fact could have found that the State proved the essential elements beyond a [4 Cir. 7]reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979);State v. Jacobs, 504 So.2d 817, 820 (La.1987). La. R.S. 14:80 provides in pertinent part:

A. Felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile is committed when:

(1) A person who is seventeen years of age or older has sexual intercourse, with consent, with a person who is thirteen years of age or older but less than...