State of Louisiana v. Fahim A. Shaikh, 236 So. 3d 1206

On April 17, 2014, 13-year-old A.G. ran from home; Fahim Shaikh picked her up, bought her food, took her to his apartment, and later returned her to a friend’s house.
At the apartment Shaikh hugged and kissed A.G. on the cheek, rubbed her thigh, slapped her rear end, professed love, invited her to spend the night, and helped her dye her hair; he did not touch her genitals.
Deputies, posing as A.G., arranged a meeting by text and arrested Shaikh after he tried to flee. A jury convicted him of simple kidnapping (La. R.S. 14:45) and indecent behavior with a juvenile (La. R.S. 14:81).
Trial court sentenced Shaikh to five years at hard labor (two years suspended) for kidnapping and seven years at hard labor (three years suspended) for indecent behavior.
The court of appeal vacated the indecent-behavior conviction for insufficiency and found the five-year kidnapping sentence excessive, suggesting two years; the State sought review.
The Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated the indecent-behavior conviction and the five-year kidnapping sentence (with suspension intact), and remanded for the court of appeal to consider Shaikh’s claim that the indecent-behavior sentence is excessive.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for indecent behavior (lewd or lascivious act with intent to arouse)	Evidence of thigh rubbing, rear slap, professed love, invitation to spend the night, hugging/kissing show lewdness and intent	Conduct was non-sexual comforting of a runaway; kissing/hugging alone insufficient; no genital touching or explicit sexual acts	Reversed court of appeal; jury could rationally find lewd/lascivious conduct and intent; conviction reinstated
Excessiveness of five-year kidnapping sentence	State: trial court acted within broad sentencing discretion; suspension reduced actual exposure; sentence not grossly disproportionate	Court of appeal: five years (max, partly suspended) longer than similar cases; no evidence defendant prevented A.G. from leaving or had criminal history	Reversed court of appeal; sentence reinstated as not a manifest abuse of discretion
Remedy for pretermitted sentencing claim on indecent-behavior count	State: remand to address defendant’s appellate claim that indecent-behavior sentence is excessive	Defendant: court of appeal already vacated conviction so did not address sentence	Supreme Court remanded to court of appeal to consider the pretermitted excessive-sentence claim for indecent behavior

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency review: whether a rational trier of fact could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt)
State v. Bonanno, 384 So.2d 355 (La. 1980) (excessive sentence test: gross disproportionality and needless suffering)
State v. Cann, 471 So.2d 701 (La. 1985) (review of sentencing: trial court has broad discretion; reversal requires manifest abuse)
State v. Prejean, 45 So.2d 627 (La. 1950) (definitions and meaning of "lewd" and "lascivious")
State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676 (La. 1984) (reasonable-hypothesis-of-innocence standard in sufficiency review)