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State v. Willis11/2/2005
Court composed of Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux, Chief Judge, Michael G. Sullivan, and Elizabeth A. Pickett, Judges.
PICKETT, J., DISSENTS IN PART AND WOULD AFFIRM THE CONVICTIONS FOR FORCIBLE RAPE.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART.
CONVICTION AND SENTENCE FOR AGGRAVATED RAPE AFFIRMED. CONVICTIONS FOR FORCIBLE RAPE FOR THE YEARS 1992, 1993, AND 1994 VACATED; JUDGMENTS OF GUILTY OF SEXUAL BATTERY FOR THE YEARS 1992, 1993, AND 1994 ENTERED AND CASE REMANDED FOR SENTENCING. CONVICTION FOR FORCIBLE RAPE FOR 1995 VACATED AND JUDGMENT OF ACQUITTAL ENTERED.
The Defendant, Robert Willis, appeals his convictions for aggravated rape for which he received a mandatory life sentence and four counts of forcible rape for which he received a forty-year sentence on each count, consecutive to each other and consecutive to the life sentence. He asserts twelve assignments of error, including insufficiency of the evidence.
For the following reasons, we affirm the Defendant's conviction and sentence for aggravated rape, vacate the Defendant's convictions of forcible rape for the years 1992, 1993, and 1994, and enter judgments of guilty of sexual battery for the years 1992, 1993, and 1994. We remand for sentencing on these convictions. Finally, because of insufficiency of the evidence, we vacate the Defendant's conviction for forcible rape for the year 1995.
Insufficiency of the Evidence
The Defendant contends the evidence presented was insufficient to support the jury's verdict. State v. Hearold, 603 So.2d 731 (La.1992) stated that, because a finding of insufficient evidence may result in an outright acquittal, sufficiency challenges should be addressed before other claims.
In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction,
he appellate court must determine that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676, 678 (La.1984).
State v. Williams, 03-3514, p. 5 (La. 12/13/04), 893 So.2d 7, 12.
The Defendant was convicted of one count of aggravated rape and four counts of forcible rape. At the time of the offenses, aggravated rape was defined as follows:
A. Aggravated rape is a rape committed where the anal or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without lawful consent of the victim because it is committed under any one or more of the following circumstances:
(1) When the victim resists the act to the utmost, but whose resistance is overcome by force.
(2) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act by threats of great and immediate bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution.
(3) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the offender is armed with a dangerous weapon.
(4) When the victim is under the age of twelve years. Lack of knowledge of the victim's age shall not be a defense.
(5) When two or more offenders participated in the act.
La.R.S. 14:42.
At the time of the offenses, forcible rape was defined as follows: a rape committed where the anal or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without the lawful consent of the victim because the victim is prevented from resisting the act by force or threats of physical violence under circumstances where the victim reasonably believes that such resistance would not prevent the rape.
La.R.S. 14:42.1.
J. W. had two children, C.M., born January 10, 1980, a
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