State v. Ordonez, 215 So. 3d 473

In May 2006, eleven-year-old M.K. alleged defendant Freddy Ordonez (then 46) touched her vagina with his fingers while she was in his daughter's bedroom. She reported the incident the same day; family members confronted defendant and police were called.
Defendant was charged with sexual battery (La. R.S. 14:43.1). The prosecution was dismissed in 2009 for inability to locate the victim, reinstated in 2013, quashed for speedy-trial violation, and that quashal was reversed on appeal; trial followed.
A six-person jury convicted Ordonez of sexual battery after a two-day trial; the district court denied his post-verdict judgment of acquittal.
The court sentenced him to four years at hard labor without parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, with credit for time served, and (erroneously) imposed one year of probation to follow.
On appeal, Ordonez challenged the sufficiency of the evidence. The appellate court reviewed the evidence under Jackson v. Virginia and deferred to the jury’s credibility determinations.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence to support sexual battery conviction	State: M.K.’s testimony that Ordonez touched her vagina is sufficient to prove sexual battery beyond a reasonable doubt	Ordonez: Victim’s testimony is uncorroborated, contradicted by other witnesses, and internally inconsistent, so insufficient	Court: Affirmed conviction — victim’s testimony alone, if believed, suffices; jury credibility determinations control
Legality of post-release probation term	State: Sentence included a probation term (imposed by trial court)	Ordonez: Probation is illegal under statute prohibiting probation for sexual battery at time of offense	Court: Amended sentence to delete the one-year probation term as illegal and affirmed sentence as amended

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency review)
State v. Neal, 796 So.2d 649 (Louisiana sufficiency principles)
State v. Caffrey, 15 So.3d 198 (deference to trier of fact on credibility and weight)
State v. Bruce, 169 So.3d 671 (victim’s testimony alone can support sexual-offense conviction)
State v. Bailey, 875 So.2d 949 (trier of fact resolves conflicting testimony)
State v. Dixon, 982 So.2d 146 (single witness testimony may suffice if believed)
State v. Gonzalez, 173 So.3d 1227 (victim’s testimony of digital vaginal contact supports sexual battery conviction)
State v. Perkins, 83 So.3d 250 (similar holding on sufficiency for sexual battery)
State v. Bazley, 60 So.3d 7 (procedural note on post-verdict acquittal motions)
State v. Long, 106 So.3d 1136 (procedures for transmitting amended commitment)
State v. Oliveaux, 312 So.2d 337 (errors patent review authority)
State v. Weiland, 556 So.2d 175 (errors patent review authority)