Opinion ID: 1831450
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Abercrombie, 375 So.2d at 1175.

Text: However, Abercrombie does not compel a similar conclusion here because in the present case, there was evidence from which a rational trier of fact could infer that respondent knew the difference between right and wrong at the time he assaulted K.B. under circumstances similar to the sexual assault on his own daughter. According to K.B., respondent lured her to his house, pulled her inside as he locked the door behind her, and told her that if she screamed he would kill her. He then took her to his bedroom, stripped off her clothes, and began raping her and licking her up and down, while she pleaded with him to let her up because she wanted to go home to her mother. Respondent replied, No, if I let you go see your mom, your momma going to call the police.... If you holler, I'm going to take your body and throw it in the backyard. A rational trier of fact could infer from K.B.'s testimony that respondent's conduct on that occasion showed an awareness that what he was doing was both morally wrong (hence his concern that she would tell her mother) and legally wrong (hence his concern that the mother would go to the police) and that he was therefore legally sane at the time he committed the offense. [5] The incident with K.B. was therefore probative in the present case not only because it revealed respondent's sexual propensities for juvenile females (a prohibited purpose under Kennedy ) but also because it revealed his capacity to understand the moral as well as legal culpability of his acts, despite (arguably) suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and moderate mental retardation, conditions which also persisted, and which by their very nature had to persist if the diagnosis were accurate, when he committed the charged crime against L.C. under similar circumstances. The incident with K.B. thus gave a fact finder a rational evidentiary basis for concluding that some degree of moral awareness, and not simply an awareness based on his previous confinement at hard labor that he might be punished, led respondent to bar access to his home before sexually assaulting his daughter and that he had therefore been legally sane at the time of the offense because he understood that his conduct was wrong. Evidence inadmissible for one purpose may be admissible for another purpose. La.C.E. art. 105; State v. Nash, 475 So.2d 752, 756 (La.1985). The trial court therefore did not err in admitting evidence of the assault K.B., and as the fact finder at trial, the court had no duty to charge itself as to the limited admissibility of the evidence. State v. Aldridge, 450 So.2d 1057, 1059 (La.Ap. 1st Cir.1984) ([A] judge in a bench trial is not required to give reasons in support of his verdict, nor is he even required to charge himself on the applicable law, since he is presumed to know it, unless one of the parties timely requests that he do so and provides him with the requested written charges.). The decision of the court of appeal is therefore reversed, respondent's conviction and sentence are reinstated, and this case is remanded to the district court for execution of sentence. DECISION OF THE COURT OF APPEAL REVERSED; CONVICTION AND SENTENCE REINSTATED; CASE REMANDED. TRAYLOR, KNOLL and WEIMER, JJ., concur and assign reasons. KNOLL, J., concurring. I concur in the result reached by the majority. I write separately to express my disagreement with State v. Kennedy , XXXX-XXXX (La.4/3/01), 803 So.2d 916. While I was a member of this court when Kennedy was decided, I did not participate in the Kennedy decision because I was recused. I agree with the conclusion reached by Justice Traylor's dissent in the Kennedy decision. TRAYLOR, J., concurring. I concur in the result reached in the majority decision. I believe, however, that evidence of the defendant's prior rape of a thirteen year old child should be admissible for the reasons set forth in my dissent in State v. Kennedy, 00-1554 (La.4/3/01), 803 So.2d 916. Kennedy should be overruled. WEIMER, J., concurring. The result reached by the majority that the evidence of the defendant's prior sexual misconduct is admissible, is correct. I concur because I agree with the conclusion reached by Justice Traylor in his dissent in State v. Kennedy, 00-1554 (La.4/3/01), 803 So.2d 916. I would overrule the majority opinion in Kennedy.