Preview:

FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE NEWS RELEASE # 18 FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA The Opinion handed down on the 13th day of February, 2004, is as follows: BY KIMBALL, J.: 2003-KA-1760 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. CRISTHIAN INTERIANO (Parish of Jefferson) (Indecent Behavior With Juveniles) For the foregoing reasons, we find that the lower court erred in considering attenuated hypothetical applications of La. R.S. 14:81(A) in ruling the statute unconstitutional and we find a narrowing construction of the statute provides adequate notice to a person of ordinary intelligence and understanding of what conduct is proscribed and an adequate evidentiary standard for jurors to determine guilt or innocence. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's finding that La. R.S. 14:81(A) is unconstitutional and remand for further proceedings. DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT REVERSED; CASE REMANDED. CALOGERO, C.J., dissents and assigns reasons. KNOLL, J., concurs in the result with reasons.

02/13/04

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA 03-KA-1760 STATE OF LOUISIANA versus CRISTHIAN INTERIANO ON APPEAL FROM THE TWENTY-FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, FOR THE PARISH OF JEFFERSON, HONORABLE ROSS P. LADART, JUDGE KIMBALL, JUSTICE This case is before us on a direct appeal from a judgment by the district court which granted defendant's motion to quash his indictment and declared unconstitutional La. R.S. 14:81(A). This statute provides that "[i]ndecent behavior with juveniles is the commission of any lewd or lascivious act upon the person or in the presence of any child under the age of seventeen, where there is an age difference of greater than two years between the two persons, with the intention of arousing or gratifying the sexual desires of either person." For the reasons that follow, we find that the lower court erred in considering attenuated hypothetical applications of La. R.S. 14:81(A) in ruling the statute unconstitutional and we find a narrowing construction of the statute provides adequate notice to a person of ordinary intelligence and understanding of what conduct is proscribed and an adequate evidentiary standard for jurors to determine guilt or innocence. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's finding that La. R.S. 14:81(A) is unconstitutional and remand for further proceedings. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On April 14, 2002, investigators from the Kenner Police Department

1

questioned 19-year-old defendant, Cristhian Interiano,1 regarding a report they received from his 10-month-old daughter's pediatrician that the infant had tested positive for gonorrhea. Whether the defendant has ever tested positive for gonorrhea is disputed and his medical records were not placed into evidence. Nonetheless, during the initial interview, the defendant admitted that, from time to time, he would lie on the living room couch while masturbating and watching pornography, sometimes while his daughter played or slept on the floor nearby. On June 4, 2002, on the basis of his earlier admission, police arrested the defendant, and served him with a Louisiana Uniform Abuse Prevention Order the following day. The state subsequently charged him with indecent behavior with juveniles under La. R.S. 14:81(A), which provides: Indecent behavior with juveniles is the commission of any lewd or lascivious act upon the person or in the presence of any child under the age of seventeen, where there is an age difference of greater than two years between the two persons, with the intention of arousing or gratifying the sexual desires of either person. Thereafter, the defendant filed a motion to quash the indictment in which he claimed that La. R.S. 14:81(A) is unconstitutionally vague, overbroad, and ambiguous, as it fails to define the terms "lewd and lascivious" and "in the presence of." The defendant also contended that the statute, as applied, violates his Art. I,

Download 2003-KA-1760 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. CRISTHIAN INTERIANO.pdf

Louisiana Law