DREW, J.
Antywane Eric Williams was charged with attempted aggravated rape, in violation of La. R.S. 14:27 and La. R.S. 14:42, and home invasion, in violation of La. R.S. 14:62.8(A). A 12-member jury found him guilty as charged.
He received the following concurrent sentences:
• 35 years at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for the attempted aggravated rape conviction; and
• 10 years at hard labor, with the first five years to be served without benefit of
He appeals. We affirm the defendant's conviction and sentence, but remand for the trial court for compliance with La. R.S. 15:541-543.1.
The defendant was found guilty on August 28, 2012.
He filed two pro se motions for appeal on September 4, 2012.
He then filed a pro se motion for new trial on October 17, 2012.
The trial court granted one of the motions for appeal on October 25, 2012, without first ruling on the motion for new trial.
The defendant was sentenced as noted above on November 9, 2012.
The defendant filed a motion to reconsider sentence on November 20, 2012.
In August 2013, our court issued a per curiam order noting that the trial court sentenced the defendant before disposing of his motion for new trial. In addition, there was no disposition on the motion for reconsideration of sentence.
We vacated the sentences, remanding for rulings on these two matters. State v. Williams, 48,416 (La.App.2d Cir.8/7/13), 123 So.3d 235, rehearing denied (9/19/13), writ granted, vacated in part, 2013-2346 (La.3/21/14), 135 So.3d 625.
In early fall of 2013, the trial court denied the motion for new trial and resentenced the defendant to the exact same sentence as before.
On March 21, 2014, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted the defendant's writ application, and vacated our court's August 7, 2013, ruling "to the extent that it purports to affirm defendant's convictions while setting aside his sentences and remanding the case for a ruling on the pending motion for a new trial and for resentencing." State v. Williams, 2013-2346 (La.3/21/14), 135 So.3d 625.
• she dated the defendant for eight years;
• she emphatically ended the relationship in late 2011;
• the defendant texted her on the evening of February 3, 2012, stating that he was coming to her home to "talk about it";
• she told him no, yet an hour later he crawled through her kitchen window;
• he chased her into her bedroom;
• the defendant was drunk;
• he positioned himself on top of her, and carried her into the bedroom;
• because of his strength, she could not push him off;
• he told her that he loved her, did not want her to leave him, could not live without her, that she was his, and promised that he would leave her alone if she had sex with him one more time;
• she poked him in the eye and ran for the back door;
• he grabbed her arms and picked her up by her waist;
• after fighting him, she ran outside
• one of her three pit bull dogs bit him.
• he and other officers were dispatched to P.T.'s home; and
• he found P.T.'s shorts lying on the floor, near the foot of her bed.
• he searched the area for the defendant, and saw him drive into a ditch;
• the defendant stumbled out of his car, appeared intoxicated, and had a strong odor of alcohol; and
• the defendant's pants were torn, and he had a three-inch scratch on his leg.
At sentencing, the trial court reviewed the presentence investigation report, noting that:
• it had examined the statements of the defendant and the victim;
• the defendant had three pending charges;
• he had a juvenile record from Chicago;
• he had an adult criminal record from Chicago and Bossier City;
• the defendant had a troubled family and social history;
• he was classified as a fifth-felony offender;
• the victim did not want him to receive the maximum sentence;
• he was intoxicated at the time of the offenses; and
• the crimes were serious.
Upon resentencing, the defendant received the same sentence.
The defendant contends that the state failed to present sufficient evidence to sustain his convictions beyond a reasonable doubt. He points out that he was not positioned on top of P.T. with his full weight, and removed her shorts only to prevent her from running. He notes that she did not suffer any physical injuries. He argues that the state had only proved a domestic abuse battery, nothing more. Our law is well settled as to the review of sufficiency claims.
Defendant was convicted of attempted aggravated rape.
As applies here, aggravated rape occurs when the victim resists the act to the utmost, but the resistance is overcome by force. La. R.S. 14:42(A)(1) and (2).
An attempt is committed when a defendant, after having formed the intent to commit rape, does an act for the purpose of and intending directly toward the accomplishing of the objective. La. R.S. 14:27(A). Attempt is a specific intent crime. La. R.S. 14:27. Specific intent is that state of mind which exists when the circumstances indicate that the offender actively desired the prescribed criminal consequences to follow his act or his failure to act. La. R.S. 14:10(1).
Responsive verdicts for attempted aggravated rape include: guilty; guilty of attempted forcible rape; guilty of attempted simple rape; and not guilty.
Forcible rape is rape committed when the anal, oral, or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without the lawful consent of the victim when 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.
In Clark, supra, at 885, this court noted:
There is no magic formula to determine which acts of coerced sexual intercourse warrant the greater punishment of aggravated rape rather than forcible rape.
The testimony of a sexual assault victim alone is sufficient to convict a defendant. State v. Chandler, 41,063 (La. App.2d Cir.9/8/06), 939 So.2d 574, writ denied, 2006-2554 (La.5/11/07), 955 So.2d 1277. Such testimony alone is sufficient even where the state does not introduce medical, scientific, or physical evidence to prove the commission of the offense by the defendant. In Chandler, supra, this court recognized:
Defendant was also convicted of home invasion, which is the unauthorized entering of any inhabited dwelling, or other structure belonging to another and used in whole or in part as a home or place of abode by a person, where a person is present, with the intent to use force or violence upon the person of another or to vandalize, deface, or damage the property of another. La. R.S. 14:62.8(A).
Home invasion is a general intent crime. La. R.S. 14:62.8(A). General criminal intent is present whenever there is specific intent, and also when the circumstances indicate that the offender, in the ordinary course of human experience, must have adverted to the prescribed criminal consequences as reasonably certain to result from his act or failure to act. La. R.S. 14:10(2).
The prosecutor had the burden of presenting sufficient evidence to prove that the defendant specifically attempted to engage in an act of vaginal, anal, or oral sexual intercourse with P.T. without her consent and that she resisted to the utmost.
The victim testified that Williams chased her inside her home, got on top of her on her bed, held his hands on her shoulders, grabbed her with both his hands wrapped around her arms, pushed her, pulled off her shorts, grabbed her around her arms, picked her up by her waist, and pursued her outside. She testified that she resisted him by struggling, begging him to stop, poking him in the eye, kicking, fighting, and fleeing.
The issue is whether a rational jury could have heard this evidence and found that P.T. resisted to her utmost, and her resistance was overcome by the defendant's force. Since there is no magic formula in determining whether a rape is aggravated or forcible, a comparison with relevant cases may be helpful.
Our jurisprudence provides numerous examples of convictions for the crime of attempted aggravated rape.
This defendant may not have used the same amount of force as in some attempted aggravated rape cases, but it is within the province of the jury to determine the degree of force employed in a particular case and to decide whether the act constituted aggravated, rather than forcible, rape. The jury had before it the responsive verdict of attempted forcible rape but determined that the amount of force employed in this case amounted to an attempted aggravated rape.
The jury heard evidence of this defendant texting P.T. that he was coming over, her telling him not to, him crawling through her window, and trying to rape her. The jury also heard evidence that the defendant and P.T. did not live together and he was not a lessee of the premises. Viewing this evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was also guilty of home invasion.
The defendant contends that his intoxication precluded him from forming the specific intent to commit attempted aggravated rape. The prosecution asserts that the evidence does not support his allegation that he was so drunk that he could not form the specific intent to commit a crime.
An intoxicated or drugged condition is a defense to a prosecution for attempted aggravated rape only if the circumstances indicate that it has precluded the presence of specific criminal intent. La. R.S. 14:15(2). The burden is on the defendant to prove the existence of the condition at the time of the offense by a preponderance of evidence. State v. Ellis, 28,282 (La.App.2d Cir.6/26/96), 677 So.2d 617, writ denied, 96-1991 (La.2/21/97), 688 So.2d 521. If the defendant proves that he was intoxicated at the time of the offense,
The jury heard evidence that the defendant was intoxicated, but had the ability to crawl through P.T.'s window, hold her down on her bed, chase her inside and outside, and drive away. Without any additional evidence of his intoxication at the time of the offense, the defendant did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that his intoxication prevented any specific intent to commit an attempted aggravated rape. State v. Ellis, supra.
The defendant argues that his actions were not as bad as other defendants convicted of these crimes. The prosecution urges that the sentences are warranted and the trial court amply complied with La. C. Cr. P. art. 894.1.
The defendant did not file a motion for reconsideration of this sentence.
The offense of attempted aggravated rape is punishable by imprisonment at hard labor for not less than 10, nor more than 50 years without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. La. R.S. 14:27 and La. R.S. 14:42. The offense of home invasion is punishable by imprisonment at hard labor for not more than 25 years and a fine not to exceed $5,000.00. La. R.S. 14:62.8(B)(1).
The defendant received concurrent sentences of 35 years at hard labor without benefits for the attempted aggravated rape conviction, and 10 years at hard labor, the first five without benefits, for the home invasion conviction.
The defendant had exposure on these two crimes, for up to 50 years at hard labor and 25 years at hard labor, without benefits.
This is, in fact, a harsh sentence. Given these facts, however, and the defendant's classification as a fifth-felony offender, it is not excessive.
La. R.S. 14:62.8(B)(1) provides that whoever commits the crime of home invasion shall be fined not more than $5,000.00 and shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not more than 25 years. The defendant was sentenced to 10 years at hard labor, with the first five years to be served without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for the home invasion conviction. Since he was sentenced
Pursuant to La. C. Cr. P. art. 882(A), an illegal sentence may be corrected at any time by the court that imposed the sentence or by an appellate court on review. However, as this court has recognized, this court is not required to take such action. See State v. Jones, 42,531 (La.App.2d Cir.11/7/07), 968 So.2d 1247; State v. Griffin, 41,946 (La.App.2d Cir.5/2/07), 956 So.2d 199.
The state did not object to the error and the defendant was not prejudiced because of the omission. We decline to remand on this issue.
At the attempted aggravated rape sentencing, the trial court did not tell the defendant of the sex offender notification and registration requirements, as outlined in La. R.S. 15:542-543.1. As a result, we must remand. State v. Scott, 42,997 (La.App.2d Cir.2/13/08), 975 So.2d 782.
The defendant's convictions and sentences are AFFIRMED. We remand to the trial court for the sole purpose of compliance with La. R.S. 15:542-543.1.
In State v. Davies, supra, this court concluded that any rational trier of fact could have found that the defendant was guilty of attempted aggravated rape where he picked up two juvenile girls in his vehicle, asked both girls to have sex with him, threatened that he would kill them if they refused, held a knife to one victim's throat, fondled the victim and touched her breast, and threatened both victims while holding a bat.
In State v. Jenkins, 456 So.2d 174 (La.App. 2d Cir.1984), writ denied, 460 So.2d 1043 (La.1984), this court concluded that any rational trier of fact could have found that the defendant was guilty of attempted aggravated rape where he lured the victim to a nearby cemetery, grabbed her by her waist, threw her to the ground, threatened to kill her if she refused to have sex with him, choked her, pulled off her pants and underwear, raped her initially under a tree, beat her, raped her again behind a tombstone, punched her, and bit her jaw.
In State v. Bailey, 585 So.2d 1245 (La.App. 2d Cir.1991), this court concluded that any rational trier of fact could have found that the defendant was guilty of attempted forcible rape where he grabbed the victim from behind in a dark alley, positioned himself on top of her, choked her and pinched her face until she became unconscious, ripped off her pants and underwear, and unbuckled his trousers.
In State v. Doby, 540 So.2d 1008 (La.App. 2d Cir.1989), writ denied, 544 So.2d 398 (La. 1989), this court concluded that any rational trier of fact could have found that the defendant was guilty of attempted forcible rape where he grabbed the victim from behind in a library, placed an ammonia-soaked rag over her nose and mouth, pushed her onto the floor, positioned himself on top of her, and forced her legs apart.