State Ex Rel. Jf

851 So. 2d 1282, 2003 La.App. 3 Cir. 0321, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2253, 2003 WL 21804713
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 6, 2003
Docket03-0321
StatusPublished

This text of 851 So. 2d 1282 (State Ex Rel. Jf) 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. Jf, 851 So. 2d 1282, 2003 La.App. 3 Cir. 0321, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2253, 2003 WL 21804713 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

851 So.2d 1282 (2003)

STATE in the Interest of J. F.

No. 03-0321.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

August 6, 2003.

*1283 G. Paul Marx, Lafayette, LA, for Defendant/Appellant, J. F.

Michelle Breaux, Assistant District Attorney, Michael Harson, District Attorney, Lafayette, LA, for Appellee, State of Louisiana.

Court composed of BILLIE COLOMBARO WOODARD, JIMMIE C. PETERS, and MICHAEL G. SULLIVAN, Judges.

PETERS, J.

This appeal arises from J. F.'s[1] adjudication as a delinquent for having committed the offense of forgery, which, if committed by an adult, would be a violation of La.R.S. 14:72. For the following reasons, we affirm the adjudication. However, we vacate in part the disposition and remand the matter to the trial court with instructions.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

By a petition filed July 31, 2002, the State of Louisiana (state) charged J. F., a minor born March 7, 1986, with having committed the offense of forgery by writing and cashing checks totaling $530.00 on the MidSouth National Bank (bank) checking account of Roland J. Picard, II. The record describes the four checks at issue as follows:

Check Number 0551 in the amount of $160.00, undated, made payable to J. F., endorsed by J. F., and paid by the bank on February 11, 2002.
Check Number 0552 in the amount of $150.00, dated February 19, 2002, made payable to J. F., endorsed by J. F., and paid by the bank on February 20, 2002.
Check Number 0553 in the amount of $90.00, dated February 22, 2002, made payable to J. F., endorsed by J. F., and paid by the bank on February 22, 2002.
Check Number 0554 in the amount of $130.00, dated February 25, 2002, made payable to J. F., endorsed by both J. F. and another individual identified in the record only as "Andre," and paid by the bank on February 26, 2002.

All four checks bear Mr. Picard's purported signature as maker. However, the signatures are forgeries.

*1284 Mr. Picard testified at the August 21, 2002 adjudication hearing that he used the account upon which the checks were written sporadically and only in conjunction with rental property he owned. According to Mr. Picard, when the bank notified him that the four forged checks caused his account to be overdrawn, he had not personally written a check on the account for around three months. Although he had no direct knowledge concerning how the checks left his possession, he testified that he normally kept all the checks on a shelf in his bedroom, in plain view. He shared that home with his wife and stepson, Aaron James Adams (Aaron), was aware that Aaron and J. F. were acquainted, and was aware that J. F. had visited in his home on occasion.

Aaron, who was seventeen years old at the time of the adjudication hearing, testified that he became acquainted with J. F. through school and that J. F. had visited in his home on occasion, including in February of 2002. According to Aaron, his stepfather became aware that some checks were missing around the time of one of J. F.'s visits. However, he had no independent knowledge concerning how the checks were taken and did not see J. F. take them.

The February 26 bank transaction was recorded by the bank's security camera. According to Lafayette City Police Detective Chastity Arwood,[2] she watched the surveillance video and observed J. F. and another male enter the bank, approach the teller, provide identification, and endorse the back of a check. Detective Arwood testified that when she interviewed J. F., he admitted writing and cashing all four checks. He explained to Detective Arwood that he did so for two friends who had since moved to Florida. According to Detective Arwood, J. F.'s mother identified the handwriting on the front of the checks as that of her son.

J. F. testified on his own behalf and admitted endorsing and cashing the four checks. However, he denied signing Mr. Picard's name to the front of the checks and denied informing Detective Arwood that he had completed the front of the checks. Rather, J. F. asserted that he had cashed the checks at the request of two friends—Brock, age twenty-one, and Caleb, age twenty. According to J. F., Brock and Caleb informed him that the checks, which were provided to him already filled out, were from their grandfather for work they had performed for him. They asked him to cash the checks only because they had no Louisiana identification documents.

J. F. testified that he cashed the checks on different days and that someone named Andre accompanied him on one day. While he had no difficulty cashing the other three checks with only his school identification document, the teller required that Andre show his driver's license and endorse the check the day Andre accompanied him.

J. F.'s mother testified that she told Detective Arwood only that the signature on the back of the checks "could be" her son's but that she made no comment to the detective concerning the writing on the front of the checks.

Immediately after completion of the evidence at the adjudication hearing, the trial court adjudicated J. F. as a delinquent for having committed the forgeries. A dispositional hearing held October 30, 2002, resulted in the trial court imposing the following disposition:

*1285 I'm going to order that he be committed to the Department of Corrections for a period of one (1) year on the forgery count. I'm going to revoke his probation in Docket Number JC20020220. I'll order that he serve his suspended sentence of six (6) months on the one (1) count of marijuana and six (6) months on the one (1) count of possession of drug paraphernalia. Each of these sentences are to run concurrent, with a referral to the STOP/LITE Program. Upon completion of the secure portion of the program, he is to be released to the custody—released from the Department of Corrections' custody. Special condition is he is to—the parents are to pay restitution in the amount of five hundred thirty dollars ($530) to Mid[S]outh Bank. While in custody, the Court will recommend that any drug counseling programs that are available in those facilities be made available to him, as well as that he continue working and he complete a GED program.

J. F. has appealed, asserting three assignments of error.

Assignment of Error Number One

In his first assignment of error, J. F. argues that the trial court erred in admitting his statement to Detective Arwood without requiring the state to establish that it was voluntarily made. Detective Arwood testified that J. F. specifically told her he had endorsed the checks and that he had completed every blank on the checks.

J. F. did not object to Detective Arwood's testimony concerning his statement, and the record contains no previously filed motion to suppress the statement. The Louisiana Children's Code does not contain a provision regarding a juvenile's failure to make a contemporaneous objection. However, "[w]here procedures are not provided in [the Children's] Code, or otherwise by law, the court shall proceed in accordance with ... [t]he Code of Criminal Procedure in a delinquency proceeding...." La.Ch.Code art. 104(1). Applying La.Ch.Code art. 104(1), we find that La.Code Crim.P. art. 841(A) provides:

An irregularity or error cannot be availed of after verdict unless it was objected to at the time of occurrence. A bill of exceptions to rulings or orders is unnecessary.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
851 So. 2d 1282, 2003 La.App. 3 Cir. 0321, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2253, 2003 WL 21804713, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-jf-lactapp-2003.