State of Louisiana v. Kenneth J. Session, 332 So.3d 729

Background

Kenneth Session was charged with molestation of a juvenile and sexual battery of a victim under 13; first trial ended in a hung jury; retried on sexual battery only and convicted by unanimous jury.
Victim C.R. was about eight at the time of the offenses and testified in detail at trial; corroborating family witnesses testified about similar misconduct.
The State proffered other-acts evidence under La. C.E. art. 412.2 (prior sexually assaultive behavior / lustful disposition toward minors).
Defense raised multiple assignments of error on appeal contesting admission of other-acts/hearsay evidence, jury-selection procedures (Batson timing, bench conferences, challenge for cause), and prosecutor statements in opening/closing.
Sentence: 50 years at hard labor (30 years to be served without probation, parole, or suspension); conviction and sentence affirmed on appeal.

Issues

Issue	State's Argument	Session's Argument	Held
Admission of Witness 2 (La. C.E. art. 412.2 other-acts)	Testimony of a minor-victim showing similar sexually assaultive behavior is probative and admissible; trial court did balancing under Art. 403	Admission was unfairly prejudicial because witness 2 was 17 (not similar to 8-year-old victim), incident was isolated, and delayed reporting made it unreliable	No abuse of discretion; probative value outweighed prejudice; harmless if error otherwise
Admission of other-acts testimony without prior notice / "opened the door"	Defense elicited testimony on cross that invited inquiry about grandmother questioning; State could elicit responsive testimony on redirect	Testimony was unresponsive and State lacked proper notice under Art. 412.2 so evidence should have been excluded	Court found defense opened the door; admission permissible; harmless error given overall evidence
Hearsay within hearsay (grandmother heard from another)	Even if hearsay, defense opened the door during cross; no contemporaneous hearsay objection made	Testimony contained double-hearsay and violated Confrontation Clause / hearsay rules	Issue not preserved (no hearsay objection); alternatively opened door; any error harmless
Batson challenge procedure/timing	Trial court properly found Batson objection untimely after jury sworn; allowed State to proffer race-neutral reasons for record appellate purposes	Court erred by not allowing Session to respond to State’s proffer and by procedurally mishandling Batson	Batson challenge was untimely; no prima facie showing so burden never shifted; no reversible error
Bench conferences / ex parte juror questioning	Bench conferences about juror unavailability were routine and not excluding defendant from core proceedings	Judge’s private, off-the-record bench questioning of jurors violated defendant’s right to be present for jury examination	No contemporaneous objection was made at trial; issue not preserved for appeal
Denial of challenge for cause (Juror 44 claimed past sexual abuse)	Juror 44 stated she could be impartial and follow law; trial court reasonably denied cause challenge	Juror’s experience and comments made her unable to be impartial; denial forced exhaustion of peremptories and warrants reversal	No abuse of discretion found; defendant did not exhaust all 12 peremptories (no presumed prejudice); denial of cause not reversible
Courtroom closure during closing argument	Doors were briefly closed as a courtesy to prevent in-and-out traffic; public access was not denied	Closing argument was conducted with courtroom closed, violating public-trial right	No contemporaneous objection; record shows doors closed only to prevent disturbance, public access available; no reversible error
Prosecutor’s opening/closing statements (prejudice; facts not in evidence; community-safety appeals)	Statements were reasonable inferences from evidence (multiple victims, repeated conduct); argument did not improperly inflame jury	Prosecutor vouched, argued facts not in evidence and appealed to community safety/future dangerousness	Court found argument within wide latitude; not "thoroughly convincing" that comments influenced verdict; no reversible error

Key Cases Cited

Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (recognizes impermissible race-based peremptory strikes)
Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18 (harmless-error standard for constitutional errors)
State v. Wright, 79 So.3d 309 (La.) (admissibility of prior sex-related acts under Art. 412.2; abuse-of-discretion review)
State v. Rose, 949 So.2d 1236 (La.) (definition and scope of "unfair prejudice" in balancing test)
State v. Parker, 963 So.2d 497 (La. App. 2 Cir.) (distinguishing misconduct with adults vs. minors under other-acts rules)
State v. Davis, 351 So.2d 771 (La.) (unresponsive testimony on cross does not open the door)
State v. Juniors, 915 So.2d 291 (La.) (presumed prejudice when erroneous denial of cause and peremptory challenges exhausted)
State v. Tucker, 181 So.3d 590 (La.) (Batson challenge untimely after jury sworn)
State v. Martin, 645 So.2d 190 (La.) (standard for reversing based on improper closing argument)