Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Napoleon MOORE
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1972-11-28
Citations: 278 So. 2d 781
Docket Number: No. 52720
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Napoleon MOORE.
Judges: BARHAM, J., dissents and will assign reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 278
Pages: 781–790

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Napoleon MOORE.
No. 52720.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Nov. 28, 1972.
Dissenting Opinion Dec. 4, 1972.
On Rehearing May 7, 1973.
Dissenting Opinion May 17, 1973.
Dissenting Opinion June 8, 1973.
Murphy W. Bell, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Harry H- Howard, Asst. Atty. Gen., LeRoy A. Hartley, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Sargent Pitcher, Jr., Ossie B. Brown, Dist. Attys., Ralph L. Roy, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
Defendant, Napoleon Moore, was tried by jury for the crime of aggravated rape (R.S. 14:42). The defendant was found guilty without capital punishment and sentenced to life imprisonment in the State Penitentiary. On this appeal, the accused relies on two bills of exceptions involving the state's use of another, separate incident of aggravated rape which allegedly occurred September 14, 1971 in Foster Hall on the Louisiana State University campus. The crime for which the defendant was tried occurred September 18, 1971 in the Life Science Center Building also on the same campus.
Both bills of exceptions pertain to the same issue, that is, the allegation that the defendant was denied a fair trial and due process of law by reason of the prosecution's introduction of extensive evidence relating to the prior extraneous crime (the .aggravated rape of September 14th), although no prior conviction for this act had been achieved against the defendant. In his first bill, defense counsel objected to the Assistant District Attorney's assertion in his opening statement of his intent to offer evidence of the prior assault to proof up the charge for which the defendant was on trial, and asked for a mistrial which the trial judge denied. The second bill was taken to a denial of defendant's Motion for a New Trial on essentially this same ground, including objections to later references throughout the trial to this same prior extraneous crime.
Also in his motion for a new trial, defense counsel listed additional grounds but does not argue them in his brief, therefore we may consider them abandoned. Consequently, we address ourselves to his major specification of error concerning the State's use of the prior offense in the prosecution of this case.
Under the provisions of La.R.S. 15:-441, 445 and 446, and recent jurisprudence, this Court has repeatedly held that in sexual offenses, such as rape, evidence of similar acts of the defendant is admissible especially when as here the offense referred to occurred closely related by time, method and in the same neighborhood as the offense charged. State v. Crook, 253 La. 961, 221 So.2d 473 (1969); State v. Hills, 259 La. 436, 250 So.2d 394 (1971); and State v. Smith, 259 La. 515, 250 So.2d 724 (1971).
The defendant was positively identified at the trial by the victim of the first rape (R-182, R-186-188) which allegedly occurred September 14th. He was also positively identified by the victim of the rape four days later for which he is here prosecuted.
We do not find the defendant's contention tenable. These bills are without merit.
For these reasons, the conviction and sentence are affirmed.
BARHAM, J., dissents and will assign reasons.
TATE, J., concurs and assigns reasons.
DIXON, J., dissents.