State v. Price

• Citation: 140 So.3d 1212
• Decision Date: 15 May 2014
• Docket Number: No. 48,986–KA.,48,986–KA.
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, First Appellant v. Dustin PRICE, Second Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana (US)

140 So.3d 1212

STATE of Louisiana, First Appellant
v.
Dustin PRICE, Second Appellant.

No. 48,986–KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana,
Second Circuit.

May 15, 2014.

[140 So.3d 1214]

T. Taylor Townsend, D. Scott Kendrick, Natchitoches, for Defendant, Second Appellant.

Julie C. Jones, District Attorney, J. Chris Guillet, Assistant District Attorney, for Plaintiff, First Appellant.

Before BROWN, CARAWAY and GARRETT, JJ.

CARAWAY, J.

Dustin Price was convicted as charged of second degree cruelty to juveniles in violation of La. R.S. 14:93.2.3 after a jury trial. Price was subsequently adjudicated a fourth-felony habitual offender and received a sentence of 24 years at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Price challenges his conviction and habitual offender adjudication. The State of Louisiana has appealed the sentence. We affirm the conviction and habitual offender adjudication. We vacate the sentence imposed and remand for resentencing.

Facts

Two and one-half month old I.P., the son of defendant and Ashley Coker, ¹ was rushed by his mother to the Christus Coushatta Hospital emergency room on the afternoon of December 23, 2009. The child was unresponsive and had bruising on his buttocks, knees, legs, arms and face. Hospital personnel notified the Red River Sheriff's Department, which documented the child's injuries. Law enforcement also

[140 So.3d 1215]

observed that Coker had a black eye and bruising on her body. I.P. was initially diagnosed with pediatric trauma. He was later transferred to a Shreveport children's hospital where his condition deteriorated; he began having seizures. A neurologist was consulted, and I.P. underwent emergency brain surgery to relieve pressure inside his skull caused by multiple subdural hemorrhages. I.P. also suffered from multiple broken bones, brain injuries of differing stages, indicating more than one episode of shaking, multiple retinal hemorrhages, and hearing and vision loss.²

After law enforcement investigation of the events, both Coker and Price were charged with second degree cruelty to juveniles. The case against Price proceeded to trial in June 2012. Price was convicted as charged and subsequently adjudicated a fourth-felony offender. He was sentenced to 24 years at hard labor without benefits in March 2013. Price appeals his conviction and habitual offender adjudication. The state has appealed the imposed sentence.

Discussion

In his first assignment of error, Price argues that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of the charged offense due to the lack of evidence showing that he inflicted injuries to the child. Price argues that the uncorroborated testimony of Coker failed to exclude the reasonable hypothesis that she inflicted the injuries to I.P.

Coker was 25 years old when she testified at trial. She first met Price in 2008 and the two began dating and living together. At the time of trial, Coker testified that Price was 29 years old. In 2009, Coker found out she was pregnant, and the two moved into a trailer together. I.P. was born on October 1, 2009.

On December 22, 2009, Coker recalled that Price was sick and that the two had been up all night with I.P. Price allowed Coker to go back to bed while he took care of I.P. Coker got up at approximately 1:00 p.m. that afternoon. When she saw Price and I.P., the baby was on the floor asleep next his father, who was playing a video game in front of the TV. Price complained that the baby was fussy and always crying.

At both 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., Price demanded that Coker give him a Xanax. Coker had been prescribed the drug for a bipolar disorder. Coker refused both of Price's requests for the drug. Some time after the second refusal, Price started screaming at Coker again demanding that she give him the drug “to calm his head down.” Coker testified that Price “snatche[d] him (I.P.) up by the arm.” Coker immediately retrieved I.P. from his father and began to feed him a bottle. Thereafter, Coker described the events as follows:

I start feeding him a bottle.... And Dustin's still complaining and hollering and screaming. And I'm just ignoring him. I get up to get away from it, to go inside the bedroom and Dustin follows me. And in that time he's pushing me, while I have [I.P.] in my arms. And there was clothes in the floor in the kitchen, and I tripped over them. I fell on my back. And when I did, Dustin was over me hollering and screaming, f* * * you, pack your s* * *, get out and leave, I want all your s* * * gone, all you all just get out. Just keep on. Started punching, screaming, kicking me with his feet and then dragging my hair around the floor. The floor's, it's not

[140 So.3d 1216]

hardwood floor, but it's a floor that you can drag somebody around on. He started pulling me and dragging me by the hair. I holler—I just holler out, quit, quit, please quit. And then he finally he stops. I get up and I'm checking on [I.P.] making sure he's okay.

Coker testified that during these events, I.P. was in her arms. She went into one of the bathrooms on the other side of the house. Price kicked her in the back and she almost fell. She started for the front door with Price behind her. According to Coker, Price pushed her and the baby, and she fell out of the door. She “somewhat caught the fall,” but ended up on the ground with I.P. in her arms. Coker got up as Price continued to scream. She stayed outside until he calmed down and went back into the trailer. At this time, Price apologized to Coker and checked on I.P.

Coker testified that she then put I.P. to sleep and a couple of hours later discovered that she needed diapers. She asked Price for money and went to the store, intending to bring I.P. Coker testified that Price told her to leave the child with him instead and to buy medicine. Coker left the home for 1 to 1–1/2 hours. Upon her return, Price “flings open the door and is hollering” that he was sick of I.P.'s crying. Coker stated that she went into the house and found I.P. screaming and crying. She asked Price what he had done. Coker testified that she started feeding I.P., and he went to sleep. As she began to bring the baby into the bedroom, Price grabbed her ponytail and pulled her to the ground. Coker testified that he started kicking, screaming and demanding that she give him the Xanax, “all over again.” Ultimately, Coker testified that she gave him the Xanax. She and I.P. went into the bedroom where they fell asleep. Within two hours Price came into the bedroom and went to sleep without further incident.

Coker testified that the following morning, December 23, she got up and performed her daily routine of preparing Price for work and getting I.P. fed and changed. She stated that Price began looking for the money he had given her the night before. He began to accuse her of stealing the money, and he pushed her. She caught herself before she fell on I.P. Price then stormed out and drove off in his truck. Coker stated that during these events I.P. was crying.

Coker testified that it was later that she noticed that I.P. had a fever. Upon earlier instructions by Price's mother, Coker gave the baby infant Tylenol. After Coker prepared I.P. a bottle, she came back into the room to find him unresponsive. She testified that she tried to wake him up, but his arms were “flimsy.” She then thought to put him in a bathtub of cold water. As she did so, however, Coker testified that she dropped the baby on the side of the baby bathtub, hitting his leg on the side of the tub. She placed him in the icy water, but he remained unresponsive. Coker then called Price's father, David Price, who lived six or seven miles away. The elder Price drove the mother and baby to the Coushatta Hospital for treatment.

As I.P. was being transferred to the Shreveport hospital later that evening, Price arrived. Coker stated that she went to a safe house because she was scared to go home. She testified that as the result of her altercation with Price, she had her hair pulled out, a black eye, and bruises on her arms, back and legs. Coker identified photographs of her injuries, which were introduced into evidence.

Coker testified that Price hurt I.P. in the fights she described, and that throughout the punching, kicking, and knocking, I.P. was crying and trying to move around.

[140 So.3d 1217]

Coker admitted that she initially pled guilty to second-degree cruelty to a juvenile but later withdrew her plea. Her case was still pending. She also admitted to a couple of criminal convictions.

On cross-examination, Coker admitted that Price was working in Texas at the time I.P. was brought to the hospital. She admitted that she told officers that Price “never hurt I.P. and was a good daddy.” She also conceded that she gave her statements to officers prior to being criminally charged. Coker later explained that she made those statements because she was being bombarded with questions at the hospital and was afraid of Price. She ultimately told the supervisor of the safe house “everything” because she felt safe.

Vernon Perrin, a criminal investigator with the Red River Parish Sheriff's Department, testified that he was present at I.P.'s admittance. He stated that the baby was in pain and had bruises on his buttocks, knees, legs, arms, head and face. Perrin photographed I.P.'s injuries; the state introduced these photographs into evidence. Perrin identified one photograph of bruises on the child's right upper arm, which showed four fingerprints. Perrin testified that Coker told him that she did not think Price could have done it when she left I.P. with him the day before.

Johnny Ray Taylor, an investigator for the Red River Parish Sheriff's Office, also photographed I.P.'s injuries. The state introduced these photographs into evidence. Investigator Taylor testified that from the evidence he collected, he learned that I.P. had multiple broken bones, brain injuries in different stages, multiple retinal hemorrhages, and...