State v. Stevens
| Decision Date | 23 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 33,700-KA.,33,700-KA. |
| Citation | 766 So.2d 634 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Billy Ray STEVENS, Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, Traci A. Moore, Assistant District Attorney, Counsel for Appellee.
Before NORRIS, C.J., and PEATROSS and DREW, JJ.
Following a jury trial, the defendant, Billy Ray Stevens, was convicted of one count of aggravated rape, a violation of La. R.S. 14:42, and was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. Stevens appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence against him as well as urging that the district court imposed an unduly harsh and excessive sentence which also failed to sufficiently articulate and consider the La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1 guidelines. For the reasons expressed herein, we affirm.
On the morning of April 4, 1997, 13year-old K.M. was alone at her Shreveport home getting ready for school. Before she left to catch her school bus, she heard a jingling sound at the door. Assuming that it was her stepfather at the door, she did not think this unusual. Later, she stepped from her room into the hall to discover Stevens standing in the living room. Although she did not know Stevens' name at that time, she had seen him before in her neighborhood when she walked to her bus stop in the mornings; specifically, two days earlier, as she was leaving her house to catch the school bus, Stevens approached her, told her "good morning" and said she looked nice. When K.M. reached her bus stop, she noticed that Stevens was still standing in the bushes next to her house.
When Stevens began to walk toward K.M., she screamed; Stevens pushed her into her room and told her to stop screaming. Stevens then grabbed her around her neck and wrestled with her to prevent her from escaping. K.M. explained that the defendant "clothes-lined" her with his arm and hit her as she attempted to escape.
K.M. testified that Stevens grabbed her around the throat to make her stop screaming, telling her that if she did not shut up, he would kill her. K.M. thought that Stevens might have a gun in his coat, although she did not see one. K.M. stopped screaming and Stevens pushed her onto her bed.
Now fearing that Stevens was going to rape her, K.M. asked him if she could go to her brother's room to get a condom because she was planning to use this opportunity to try to escape. Stevens then told her that they were not going to use a condom.
Ultimately, K.M. feared for her life, so she did whatever he told her to do. K.M. took off her clothes when Stevens told her to and got back on the bed. As she was disrobing, she did not attempt to escape because Stevens was blocking her. When she hesitated, Stevens screamed at her to hurry. Stevens had taken off his pants. K.M. was unable to see if the Stevens' penis was erect at the time because of the size of his stomach.
While K.M. was on the bed, Stevens told her to open her legs, but she refused. She screamed and told him that she was a virgin. Stevens told her that if she did not stop screaming, he would put his penis in her mouth. Stevens then grabbed her legs and "jammed" two of his fingers into her vagina as she screamed. K.M. testified that this was very painful because she had never done anything like it before. Stevens then told K.M. to put his penis in her vagina, but K.M. told him that she did not know what to do. Stevens again told her to do it. When K.M. told him for a second time that she did not know how, he finally put his penis in her vagina; K.M. described this act as very painful. Stevens talked to K.M. while he raped her, asking her what her name was and how old she was; K.M. answered Stevens' questions because she was nervous. Stevens then told K.M. that he had been with her mother in their house and that it was good. K.M. cried and screamed as Stevens talked to her. K.M. had never seen Stevens in her house before this incident, nor had she ever seen him talk to her mother.
K.M. testified that Stevens was on top of her and that he had a very "horrified" smell. Stevens held her down with his hands, and she testified that to the best of her knowledge she saw both of his hands at that time. K.M. further testified that Stevens kept trying to kiss her and finally made her kiss him when he positioned her so that she could not move her head. According to K.M., the kiss had a very nasty feeling because his breath was terrible and that he did not have any teeth. K.M. testified that she felt an emission or wetness at the conclusion of the rape, which lasted three to five minutes. After Stevens was finished, he got up, pulled up his pants, and told K.M. to get dressed and catch her school bus. When it became apparent that she had missed her bus, Stevens then told her to call her aunt to take her to school. K.M. was very surprised that the defendant knew her aunt took her to school when she missed her bus.
Stevens told K.M. that if she told anybody what had happened, he would kill her. He also told her that he would return later and they would do it again. K.M. was hurt and scared of Stevens and was worried that he would return before she was able to leave. When Stevens finally left, K.M. locked up the house and attempted to call her mother at work; she was unable to reach her mother, but did talk to her mother's supervisor, informing him that she had been raped. K.M. then called her grandmother and told her that she had been raped. K.M.'s grandfather and aunt came and picked her up and took her to her grandmother's house where she met her mother. The police were called and an ambulance took K.M. to the hospital.
As a result of the incident, K.M. had a swollen lip and marks inside her mouth from her braces. K.M. explained that the marks were the result of Stevens wrestling with her and hitting her. K.M. also had a several finger marks where Stevens attempted to choke her. K.M. also testified that when she was at the hospital, she saw something in her panties which was not there when she dressed that morning but had apparently stained them after she got dressed after the rape. She had not washed herself before she was examined at the hospital.
Dr. Perry Scott Barrilleaux of the LSU Medical Center performed a sexual assault exam on K.M. He observed that K.M. had what appeared to be a small laceration on one side of her labia. He further observed that K.M. had small hash marks inside her vagina. Detective Clarence Wray, Jr., an investigator with the Shreveport Police Department, received the sexual assault kit performed on K.M. and some of her clothing. Wray brought the received items to the North Louisiana Crime Lab for further analysis.
Connie Lee Brown, a forensic DNA analyst at the North Louisiana Crime Lab who was stipulated at trial as an expert in DNA analysis, determined that the DNA of the semen found in KM's panties was consistent with the genetic markers found in the reference saliva stain of the defendant. Brown found that the possibility that another black individual could have this combination of genetic markers was approximately one in 84 quadrillion. On cross-examination, however, Brown admitted that no spermatozoa were detected on the vaginal swab which was collected as part of the rape kit.
At trial, K.M. testified that on the day of the rape, Stevens was wearing the black pants, black shirt, jacket, and ski cap that he wore every day. At trial, K.M. identified the clothing Stevens wore on the day of the rape. On cross-examination, K.M. testified that although Stevens did not pull a gun or knife on her or threaten her with any other weapon, she assumed that Stevens had a gun because he asked her whether she wanted him to "blow her brains out" and that she could not see into his jacket. Once Stevens pushed her into her room, she was unable to grab anything in an effort to protect herself.
Fannie Cawthorne, a neighbor of K.M., testified that Stevens lived down the street from her and used to cut her yard. Cawthome further testified that she had known the defendant for at least 15 years. Cawthome testified that one week in April 1997, she saw Stevens standing near K.M.'s house on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. According to Cawthorne, Stevens was looking over the bushes at K.M.'s house. Cawthome did not see Stevens on the morning of the rape, however, for it was raining that morning and she ran to her car without noticing anything.
Curley Jamerson, another of K.M.'s neighbors, testified that he saw Stevens standing in the street at around 7:00 a.m. on the morning of the rape. Jamerson testified that he had also seen Stevens walking up and down the street and standing in the street prior to this day.
Initially, Stevens contends that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the jury verdict of aggravated rape in that the state failed to prove the necessary element of penetration. He contends that the state failed to present conclusive medical or physical evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he penetrated the victim and that K.M. herself was unable to accurately testify as to whether she was actually sexually penetrated.
When issues are raised on appeal both 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. The reason for reviewing sufficiency first is that the accused may be entitled to an acquittal under Hudson v. Louisiana, 450 U.S. 40, 101 S.Ct. 970, 67 L.Ed.2d 30 (1981), if a rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in accord with Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct....
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