State Ex Rel. Smith v. Phelps

345 So. 2d 446
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedApril 11, 1977
Docket58457
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 345 So. 2d 446 (State Ex Rel. Smith v. Phelps) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Smith v. Phelps, 345 So. 2d 446 (La. 1977).

Opinion

345 So.2d 446 (1977)

STATE of Louisiana ex rel. Simon SMITH, Jr.
v.
C. Paul PHELPS, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary.

No. 58457.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

April 11, 1977.
Rehearing Denied May 13, 1977.

*447 Robert Glass, New Orleans, for plaintiff-relator.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Don K. Carroll, Dist. Atty., S. E. Lee, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for defendant-respondent.

SUMMERS, Justice.

Simon Smith, Jr., was charged on June 2, 1973 by affidavit in the Mayor's Court of the town of Winnsboro in Franklin Parish with aggravated assault, displaying dangerous *448 weapons in a public place and disturbing the peace. The Winnsboro ordinances upon which these charges are based provide in pertinent part as follows:

"Article 5. Assault:
"The attempt to commit a battery, or the intentional placing of another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery is assault ...." Ordinance No. 473.
"... it shall be unlawful for any person to draw, display, present or exhibit with intent to commit any crime or misdemeanor, or to intimidate any person, a pistol, gun, knife or any other dangerous weapon within the corporate limits of the Town of Winnsboro ..." Ordinance No. 332.
"Article 13. Disturbing the Peace:
"Is the doing of any of the following in such a manner as would forceably disturb or alarm the public:
(1) Engaging in a physical encounter; or
(2) Using of any unnecessarily loud, offensive, or insulting language; or
(3) Appearing in an intoxicated condition;
(4) Engaging in any act in a violent and tumultuous manner by any three or more persons; or
(5) Interruption of any lawful assembly of people;
or
(6) Commission of any act in such a manner as to unreasonably disturb or alarm the public." Ordinance No. 473.

After trial in the Mayor's Court on June 25, 1973 Smith was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of $35 or serve 30 days imprisonment for assault; $75 or 60 days for displaying a dangerous weapon; and $35 or 30 days for disturbing the peace, plus 30 days in jail. There was no transcript of these proceedings; no application for writs was taken from the conviction and sentence; and, the sentence having been executed, the matter became final.

Thereafter, on January 29, 1974 the District Attorney charged Simon Smith, Jr., by bill of information with kidnapping Shirley Ann White in violation of Section 45 of Title 14 of the Revised Statutes, which provides in pertinent part:

"A. Simple kidnapping is;
(1) The intentional and forcible seizing and carrying of any person from one place to another without his consent; or
. . . . .
"B. Whoever commits the crime of simple kidnapping shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars or be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both."

In a trial by jury in the Fifth Judicial District Court on April 8, 1974 defendant was found guilty as charged and sentenced to imprisonment for four years at hard labor and incarcerated in the State Penitentiary.

When Smith complained that his appeal from the conviction of April 8, 1974 in the district court had not been perfected, we granted an out-of-time appeal. He also applied to the district court for a writ of habeas corpus based upon a contention that his trial in the district court for kidnapping placed him in jeopardy for the second time, because it was based upon the same offenses for which he was tried and convicted in the municipal court. When the application was denied in the district court, Smith applied here on August 28, 1975, and consideration of the application for habeas corpus was consolidated with the out-of-time appeal. We affirmed the conviction on appeal. However, finding that the trial judge had denied the application for habeas corpus without a hearing to determine the evidence, issues and testimony which were the basis for the convictions in the municipal court, the case was remanded for this purpose to the district court for an evidentiary hearing on Smith's application for a writ of habeas corpus. State v. Smith, 323 So.2d 797 (La.1975).

On remand an evidentiary hearing was held in the district court on March 22, 1976 to determine whether the evidence, issues and testimony in the municipal court trial of June 25, 1973 were such that double *449 jeopardy occurred when Smith was tried for kidnapping on April 8, 1974. Considerable difficulty was experienced in an effort to reconstruct the evidence and testimony offered almost three years before at the municipal court trial. However, the witnesses who testified at the June 25, 1973 trial, and who were available, testified at the hearing. Smith was present, represented by counsel and testified.

After hearing the witnesses the trial judge decided:

"If in the city court there was any evidence of kidnapping it was not an essential part of the charge for which he was being tried in the city court. In the assault charge, an assault is not an essential element of the kidnapping charge. The gravamen of the kidnapping is the asportation of one person against his will to another place—the transportation of one person against his will from one place to another. That was not an essential element of the assault charge. When the gun was pulled in the store that could constitute an assault. That was all that was necessary. In my opinion double jeopardy would not apply in this case.
For these reasons the application for habeas corpus is denied."

Smith then applied here for review of the trial court ruling, and the case has been briefed and argued.

A review of the evidence adduced at the hearing to reconstruct the municipal court record on the charges of assault, displaying a dangerous weapon and disturbing the peace and the evidence heard in the district court on the kidnapping charge results in the following findings:

In mid-afternoon on June 2, 1973 Shirley Ann White, the estranged common-law wife of the defendant Simon Smith, Jr., was shopping in the T. G. & Y. store in the town of Winnsboro. She was accompanied by her mother Iola Grimble and her sister Carolyn Thomas. Carolyn was waiting in the car outside while Shirley Ann and her mother were at a jewelry counter in the store. Smith entered the store and confronted Shirley Ann. In a conversation which ensued Smith demanded that Shirley Ann come with him, and when she refused he grabbed her around the neck, drew his pistol and pointed it at her head as he forced her through the front door and out into the parking lot where his car was parked. When Shirley Ann's mother sought to intercede, Smith pointed the gun at her and threatened to shoot if "anyone moved." When this disturbance began the store manager was summoned by the clerks, but before Smith could be detained he had succeeded in forcing Shirley Ann outside, all the while maintaining his hold as he backed to his car in order that he might watch for and guard against possible pursuers. The store manager then phoned the police.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Lowe
999 So. 2d 194 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
State of Louisiana v. Henry Bryan Lowe
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008
State v. Burnett
768 So. 2d 783 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2000)
City of Baton Rouge v. Ross
654 So. 2d 1311 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1995)
State v. Neal
550 So. 2d 740 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
State v. Caillouet
528 So. 2d 1108 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
345 So. 2d 446, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-smith-v-phelps-la-1977.