Court Opinion

ID: 9395953
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-18 22:05:51.274069+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:12.861916
License: Public Domain

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

                              STATE OF LOUISIANA

                                COURT OF APPEAL

                                  FIRST CIRCUIT

                                    2022 KA 0938

                              STATE OF LOUISIANA

                                       VERSUS

                             TRE' ANTHONY JAMES

                                                Judgment Rendered:       MAY 18 2023

Jew

                     On Appeal from the 23rd Judicial District Court
                           In and for the Parish of Ascension
                                   State of Louisiana
                                 Trial Court No. 39, 734

                       Honorable Cody M. Martin, Judge Presiding

  Jeff Landry                                  Attorneys for Appellee,
  Attorney General                             State of Louisiana

  J. Taylor Gray
  Grant Lloyd Willis
  Matthew B. Derbes
  Assistant Attorneys General
  Baton Rouge, Louisiana

  Lieu T. Vo Clark                             Attorney for Defendant/ Appellant,
  Mandeville, Louisiana                        Tre' Anthony James

               BEFORE; WELCH, PENZATO, AND LANIER, JJ.
PENZATO, J.

       The defendant, Tre' Anthony James, was charged by grand jury indictment

with two counts of first degree rape, violations of La. R.S. 14: 42.              He pled not

guilty and, following a jury trial, he was found guilty as charged on count 1.            On

count 2, he was found guilty of the responsive offense of second degree rape, a

violation of La. R.S. 14: 42. 1.      The defendant filed a motion for new trial as to both

counts,   which was granted.         The State filed an application for supervisory writ.

This court granted the State' s writ, reversed the trial court ruling granting a new

trial, reinstated the convictions on both counts, and remanded for sentencing.            The

State filed a habitual offender bill of information.              Following a hearing on the

matter, the defendant was adjudicated a second -felony habitual offender.'            For the

first degree rape       conviction, the trial court sentenced the defendant to life

imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of

sentence.     For the second degree rape conviction, the trial court imposed an

enhanced sentence of twenty years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of

parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.               The sentences were ordered to run

concurrently.     The defendant now appeals, designating one assignment of error.

We affirm the convictions and sentences.

                                              FACTS

       J. W.2 was an inmate at the Ascension Parish Jail, housed in the same dorm as

the defendant and Kaglin Green.'            According to J. W., on the night of January 10,

2017, he was at a table in the dayroom, a common area in the dorm. The following

is J. W.'s account of what then occurred.               Green approached J. W. and, when J. W.

told Green he would not give Green his food portions the next day, Green " choked

 The defendant has a prior conviction for simple burglary.

2 The victim is referred to herein by his initials. See La. R.S. 46-.1944( W).

3 In his testimony, J. W. refers to Green as " Cash."

                                                   2
out" J. W. Green held J. W. down over the table, with his arms behind his back and

face on the table. The defendant then held J. W. down while Green went to the cell,

obtained a razor blade, and gave it to the defendant. The defendant cut open the

lower back of J. W.'s jumpsuit. The defendant and Green pulled down J. W.'s pants

and underwear and put plastic gloves over their penises. The defendant lubricated

the glove with lotion and anally raped J.W.' Later that same night, Green anally

raped J. W.     While apparently no struggle was involved, J.W. relented after Green

repeatedly asked him to have sex because J. W. felt resisting would have been

futile.

          The following is J. W' s account of what occurred the following day, January

11, 2017.     J. W. was reading in his bunk.   The defendant told J. W. he wanted to talk

to him in the dayroom. J. W. went to the dayroom. The defendant repeatedly asked

J. W. to have sex, but J. W. refused. The defendant asked, "      I' m not going to have to

do what they do in the back., huh? 5 The defendant then suggested that J.W. could

give up, or the defendant could "just take it every night until he leaves" jail.        J. W.

felt he did not have a choice, so he " gave in."      The defendant did not use a glove

during this incident.

          The defendant did not testify at trial.

                               ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

          In his sole assignment of error, the defendant argues the trial court should

have granted his motion for new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence

that arose when, at Green' s subsequent trial, J. W. testified inconsistently from his

testimony at the defendant' s trial.      In response, the State argues that, pursuant to

the law of the case doctrine, the defendant is procedurally foreclosed from arguing

a Green was indicted as a principal to first degree rape for his alleged participation in this
incident.

5 J. W. explained this meant if a person refused, he would be taken to the back, beaten into
unconsciousness and raped.

                                               3
this issue on appeal because this court already adjudicated the issue when it

granted the State' s writ.    As discussed below, we find that the State' s response has

merit.

         The law of the case doctrine embodies the rule that an appellate court

ordinarily will not reconsider its own rulings on a subsequent appeal in the same

case.    The reasons for the law of the case doctrine are to avoid relitigating the same

issue;   to promote consistency of result in the same litigation;      and,   to promote

efficiency and fairness to both parties by affording a single opportunity for the

argument and decision of the matter at issue.       State a Chandler, 2017- 0962 ( La.

App. I Cir. 12121/ 17), 240 So. 3d 950, 952.         The doctrine applies to all prior

rulings or decisions of an appellate court or the Supreme Court in the same case,

not merely those arising from the full appeal process.     Brumfield v Dyson, 418 So.

2d 21, 23 ( La. App. 1 Cir.), writ   denied, 422 So. 2d 162 ( La. 1982). The law of the

case doctrine is not an inflexible law, thus appellate courts are not absolutely bound

by it and may exercise discretion in its application.    The doctrine is not applied in

cases of palpable error or where, if the law of the case were applied, manifest

injustice would occur. Chandler, 240 So. 3d at 952- 53.

         In the instant matter, following his conviction, the defendant filed a motion

for post judgment verdict of acquittal and motion for new trial, which the trial

court denied.     Thereafter, Green was tried for his role in the January 10,      2017

incident.   Following Green' s acquittal, the defendant filed a second motion for post

judgment verdict of acquittal and motion for new trial, alleging newly discovered

evidence stemming from Green' s trial. The defendant argued that J.W. testified

inconsistently in the two trials. The matter was set for hearing, and, following the

hearing, the trial court took the matter under advisement.

         On October 8,       2020, the trial   court signed a judgment granting the

defendant' s motion for new trial.      In its accompanying reasons for judgment, the

                                               4
trial court stated:

              This Court is of the opinion that an injustice is surely done to a
       defendant who is found guilty of First Degree Rape, which carries a
       life sentence, when there are such glaring discrepancies in the victim' s
       statements, and the defense was not notified of relevant evidence of
       another alleged rape by a different perpetrator before trial, which may
       have allowed it to form a more adequate defense.          It is impossible to
       know whether the jury relied on the alleged fact that Green assisted
        the defendant] in the January 10' rape to find him guilty of First
       Degree Rape, but if the basis of the conviction was the jury' s finding
       that two or more offenders participated in the act, then the conviction
       should be overturned based on the victim' s subsequent retraction of
       his statements at the trial of Kaglin Green. Likewise, it is impossible
       to know whether the jury found [ the defendant] guilty of First Degree
       Rape based on him having a dangerous weapon ( i. e., a razorblade),
       but if that was the basis for the verdict, then the conviction should be
       overturned based on the victim' s admission in Green' s trial that he
       never actually saw the razorblade. The inconsistency in the victim' s
       statements creates sufficient doubt to cause one to question whether a
       just verdict was reached by the jury for First Degree Rape.           As such,
                                                                         11th,
       the Motion for New Trial is granted as to the January                     2017
       incident.

             Similarly, the victim' s inconsistent statements regarding the
                   10th,

       January      2017 incident, along with the revelation during trial that
       the victim was also penetrated by another perpetrator during the
       relevant time period, leads this Court to believe that the ends ofjustice
       would be served if the Defendant were also granted a new trial for the
                 t",
       January 11 2017 incident. As such, the Defense' s Motion for New
       Trial as to both counts in the November S, 2018 indictment is granted.
        R 165- 66)

       The State filed an application for supervisory writ, which was granted by

this court.   State a James, 2020- 1199 ( La. App. 1 Cir. 2118121), 2021 WL 640062

 unpublished),     cert. denied, 2021- 00400 ( La. 6/ l/ 21), 316 So. 3d 834. In reversing

the trial court' s granting of a new trial, this court specifically found:

       There are six circumstances under which a defendant can be convicted
       of first degree rape.'     See La. R. S. 14: 42( A).Even discounting the
       two circumstances noted in the district court' s ruling, the victim' s
       uncontroverted testimony established he resisted the act to the utmost,
       but his resistance was overcome by force. Thus, the defendant' s
       conduct appears to meet at least one of the remaining circumstances
       for first degree rape. Furthermore, the court failed to identify any
       legal error regarding the jury verdict on count two. Therefore, the
       State' s writ is granted, the ruling granting a new trial on both counts is
       reversed, the convictions on both counts are reinstated, and this case is
       remanded to the district court for sentencing on both counts.
6 In 2022, the law was amended, and a seventh circumstance was added.

                                              1
       The defendant filed a writ of certiorari with the Louisiana Supreme Court,

which was denied, along with an application for reconsideration. State v ..Tames,

2021- 00400 ( La. 611121), 316 So. 3d 834.

       In this instant appeal, the defendant argues that the trial court' s October 8,

2020 ruling was based on J. W.'s inconsistent statements creating sufficient doubt in

whether a just verdict was reached by the jury in the defendant' s trial.           Thus, the

defendant argues that as the trial court' s ruling did not grant a new trial based on

newly discovered evidence that goes to the credibility of the victim in a retrial, this

court did not have the opportunity to address that legal basis for a new trial.

However, on appeal, the defendant fails to identify any additional facts or evidence

that   were   not   previously   considered      by   this   court   that   would    warrant

reconsideration of this court' s writ disposition.     See State v Williams, 2014- 0630

La. App. 4 Cir. 12118114),   158 So. 3d 107, 111.

       Finally, based upon our review of the record, as well as the applicable law,

we conclude that the previous decision of this court as expressed by the granting of

the State' s writ was not clearly, palpably or manifestly erroneous.        See Brumfield,

418 So. 2d at 23.   Moreover, there is no indication that if the law of the case were

applied in this instance, manifest injustice would occur. See Chandler, 240 So. 3d

at 953.

       Thus, we decline to reverse our previous opinion that the trial court abused

its discretion by granting the defendant' s motion for new trial.

CONVICTIONS AND SENTENCES AFFIRMED.

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