State ex rel. Hayes

536 So. 2d 1294, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2828, 1988 WL 141460
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 20, 1988
DocketNo. KJ 88 0722
StatusPublished

This text of 536 So. 2d 1294 (State ex rel. Hayes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Hayes, 536 So. 2d 1294, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2828, 1988 WL 141460 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

LANIER, Judge.

This is a juvenile proceeding in which it is asserted that the juvenile is a delinquent child for committing simple burglary, a violation of La.R.S. 14:62. An adjudicatory hearing was held, and the juvenile was adjudicated a delinquent child. A subsequent dispositional hearing was held, and the juvenile was committed to the custody of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections until his eighteenth birthday. This devolutive appeal followed.1

[1295]*1295FACTS

In the late afternoon on September 17, 1986, Richard C. Broussard, a security guard for the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, was dispatched to the University Terrace Elementary School on West Roosevelt Street in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Broussard proceeded to the school and commenced a routine security check. When he got in back of the school's kitchen, he heard a noise coming from the back of the kindergarten section of the school. Broussard went to the kindergarten section of the school to investigate. When he arrived there, he observed two juvenile males in a classroom handing things out. of the classroom to a third juvenile male on a bicycle. Broussard approached about ten feet from the boys when they observed him and yelled “Police.” All three boys then fled. Broussard pursued and caught the boy on the bicycle. He was subsequently identified as Troy Stevenson. Broussard was unable to identify the other two boys.

Officer Vance McGutherie of the Baton Rouge City Police Department (BRCPD) was dispatched to investigate the burglary. When he arrived at the school, he met Broussard, who had Stevenson in custody. McGutherie inspected the south side of the school and found the glass broken out of a classroom door. Entry into the classroom was apparently accomplished by reaching through the door after the glass was broken out and unlocking the door from the inside. McGutherie found pens, pencils and staple guns at the scene. McGutherie asked Stevenson his name, and Stevenson spontaneously volunteered the information that “he didn't do it” and that Louis Payne and “Ducky” were involved.

McGutherie took custody of Stevenson from Broussard, brought him to the BRCPD’s detective office and turned him over to Sergeant James M. Smith of the BRCPD. Smith contacted Stevenson’s mother and grandmother, and they came to the detective office. In the presence of Stevenson’s mother and grandmother, Smith advised him of his Miranda rights. Smith questioned Stevenson about the other two juvenile males who were involved in the burglary. Stevenson identified them as Louis Payne and “Ducky.” Smith gave the following testimony2 at the trial:

Q. Alright now, how were you able to locate (unintelligible) ...
A. The grandmother said — I think it was the grandmother, said she knew of a kid by the name of Ducky and she took me over and showed me the address where he lived and I was unable to contact Ducky at that time and I went and recontacted the original accused — the first one they brought in and contacted him and his folks and they showed me where Louis Payne lived and I went and contacted him and his moma and advised them why I was there. I charged him with that and later on I found Ducky and charged him.
Q. Alright, is Louis Payne in Court today?
A. Uh, I don’t recognize him right off, no sir.
Q. Do you recall the — or did you note in your report the location where you were directed to find him?
A. For Louis Payne?
Q. Yes.
A. I think it was 129 Tyler Street.
Q. That is your report?
A. Yes sir. Okay, right here. 214 Tyler, is where Louis lives. 129 Harrison is where Ducky lived.
Q. Okay. Alright, did Troy Stevenson, the juvenile that was originally arrested, did he, himself, indicate to you or help indicate to you where Ducky lived?
A. Yes sir. He didn’t know the numerical address, but he knew the address, 1 mean the street itself.
Q. The location. How about — did he know the house?
A. He didn’t know the numerical address of it.
[1296]*1296Q. I mean he knew, this house or that house?
A. Oh yes, oh yes sir.
[[Image here]]
Q. Officer, you mentioned a little earlier that your identification of these individuals who were pointed out to you by Troy Stevenson, you thought that maybe it had been noted in another report ...
A. That’s correct.
Q. I would ask that you look at your report in reference to this offense and check and see.
A. The detective learned that the black male subject, Ducky, is Edward D. Hayes of 129 West Harrison and his mother’s name is Barbara Hayes.
Q. Where did you obtain that information, do you recall?
A. During the course of the investigation.
Q. Alright, was this the place that was pointed out to you by the Stevenson people?
A. Yes sir.

SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE

(Assignments of Error Numbers 1, 2 and 3)

The juvenile contends the trial court committed error (1) when it denied his motion for a directed verdict after the state rested, (2) when it found him guilty based on insufficient evidence, and (3) when it adjudicated him a delinquent child. He asserts that the state has failed to prove that he was the individual named Edward Hayes who participated in the burglary. The state has not filed a brief in response to these claims.

When the state charges a child with a delinquent act, it has the burden of proving each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. La.C.J.P. art. 73. In State v. Taylor, 410 So.2d 224, 225 (La.1982), a reasonable doubt was defined as follows:

A reasonable doubt is not a mere possible doubt. It should be an actual or substantial doubt. It is such a doubt as a reasonable man would seriously entertain. It is a serious doubt, for which you could give good reason.

The state must prove not only that an offense (delinquent act) was committed but that it was the defendant child who committed the offense. Cf. State v. Freetime, 334 So.2d 207 (La.1976); State v. Jackson, 444 So.2d 351 (La.App. 1st Cir.1983).

The petition3 filed by the state alleges that the offense was committed by Edward Hayes, age 11 (date of birth July 18, 1975), whose address is 125 West Harrison Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and whose parent is Barbara Hayes of that same address. Broussard, the school board security guard, testified he was unable to identify either of the boys who ran away from the scene of the burglary (and whom he did not catch). Broussard was not asked to identify the defendant child in court. Officer' McGutherie did not see either of the two boys who ran away from the scene of the burglary.

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Related

State v. Curtis
338 So. 2d 662 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
State in Interest of Cox
461 So. 2d 658 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
State v. Taylor
410 So. 2d 224 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
State v. Counterman
475 So. 2d 336 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1985)
State v. Freetime
334 So. 2d 207 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
State v. Horton
487 So. 2d 602 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
In the Interest of H. M.
411 So. 2d 1176 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1982)
State v. Jackson
444 So. 2d 351 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1983)
In the Interest of McGuire
446 So. 2d 460 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
State v. Counterman
491 So. 2d 86 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
State v. Counterman
501 So. 2d 766 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
536 So. 2d 1294, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2828, 1988 WL 141460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-hayes-lactapp-1988.