Rape case, three-years-old, turns into felony abuse plea

Three years after allegedly raping a woman who he allegedly threatened with a weapon, then falsely imprisoning her, a Eunice man pleaded guilty to domestic abuse by strangulation.
He was sentenced to two years in jail, with credit given for time served after that arrest and after his arrest on a subsequent charge of stalking his victim, a total of 11 months.
Details of the case against Dustin Heinen, 33, and of the circumstances leading to the change in the charges and his plea are not part of the public record in St. Landry Parish.
The 27th Judicial District Court wraps sex-offense cases in secrecy not given to other charges, a policy seemingly unique to the district.
Heinen was initially charged in June 2011. The case also included allegations that he threatened to kill his victim if she went to the police.
Three months later, in October 2011, Heinen was charged with allegedly stalking the woman and with violating a protective order prohibiting any contact with her.
The case bounced around the court dockets until January of this year, when the stalking charge was dismissed in front of Judge James Doherty by the state on the basis of insufficient evidence.
No details of that decision are available in the court record, due to the secrecy order, and lawyers on both sides are prohibited from talking about it, again under the same gag prescription.
Heinen, according to the bare minute record available, was back in court in April, pleaded to domestic abuse battery by strangulation. Judge Donald Hebert gave him the two years previously mentioned.
On May 2, the charge of violating a protective order was dismissed in Doherty’s court at the request of the victim, according to the minutes.