State in Interest of Rlk

666 So. 2d 427, 1995 WL 764510
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 19, 1995
Docket95 KJ 1277
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 666 So. 2d 427 (State in Interest of Rlk) 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 in Interest of Rlk, 666 So. 2d 427, 1995 WL 764510 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

666 So.2d 427 (1995)

STATE of Louisiana in the Interest of R.L.K., Jr.

No. 95 KJ 1277.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 19, 1995.
Writ Denied January 26, 1996.

*428 Walter Reed, Franklinton, William R. Campbell, Jr., New Orleans, for Plaintiff-Appellee, State.

James Looney, Franklinton, for Defendant-Appellant, Richard Lee King, Jr.

*429 Before CARTER, PITCHER, JJ., and CRAIN[1], J. Pro Tem.

CRAIN, Judge Pro Tem.

The State filed a petition alleging that R.L.K., Jr., a fifteen year old child, should be adjudicated delinquent and/or in need of supervision based upon the commission of theft of livestock, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:67.1.[2] After an adjudication hearing, the trial court found that R.L.K., Jr. had committed the offense as charged. He was adjudicated a delinquent and committed to the custody of the Florida Parishes Detention Center for three months. The trial court also ordered that R.L.K., Jr. be placed on probation for two years with the special condition that his mother pay $1,125.00 in restitution to the victim. R.L.K., Jr. has appealed, alleging two assignments of error, as follows:

1. The evidence was insufficient to support the instant adjudication.
2. The trial court erred in imposing an improper disposition.

FACTS

On December 26, 1993, R.L.K., Jr. and a co-perpetrator, Floyd Hulin, Jr. (hereinafter referred to as "Hulin"),[3] committed theft of a domesticated deer. The following facts were revealed at the adjudication hearing. In December of 1993, the victim, Lila Knight, owned three pet deer which were kept in a pen at her residence located on La. Hwy. 16 in Enon, Louisiana. On December 26, 1993, the victim and her husband discovered that someone had killed two of the deer sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. A doe named Daisy was alive and still inside the pen. A two and one-half year old buck named Lightning had been shot and killed, but it was inside the pen. The other deer, a three and one-half year old, ten or eleven point buck named Rusty, was missing. The victim and her husband observed a large hole in the pen and two sets of human footprints leading from the hole in the pen to a spot on the far side of a nearby bridge, where they discovered some tire marks. The victim surmised that Rusty had been killed and dragged from the pen, through a creek, and up the other side of the bridge before being loaded onto a truck parked on the bridge.

Several State witnesses observed Hulin's two-tone GMC pickup truck parked on the side of the road near the victim's residence on the morning of the incident. Other witnesses testified that, at various times during the day on December 26, Hulin and R.L.K., Jr. were driving around showing people a nice ten or eleven point buck which Hulin had killed that day. The testimony of Hollis Stogner established that R.L.K., Jr. and Hulin were hunting together that morning. Stogner observed State Exhibit 1, a picture of Rusty, the ten or eleven point buck missing from the victim's deer pen, and stated that it closely resembled the deer which Hulin killed on December 26. Stogner indicated that the deer Hulin and R.L.K., Jr. showed to him had a single gunshot wound to the neck and had been killed with a rifle.

R.L.K., Jr. presented an alibi defense at the adjudication hearing. Although neither R.L.K., Jr. nor Hulin testified, R.L.K., Jr.'s mother, sister, and the sister's boyfriend all testified that R.L.K., Jr. was at home all night and until 9:30 a.m. on December 26. Although the sister and her boyfriend left at approximately 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. that morning, R.L.K., Jr.'s mother indicated that *430 R.L.K., Jr. was with her all day on December 26. Additionally, Hulin's father, Floyd Hulin, Sr., testified that, although he took the two tone GMC pickup truck and killed a spike deer on the morning of December 26, his son (Hulin) stayed at home in bed that morning.

However, on rebuttal Lt. Donald Sharp of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office testified that Floyd Hulin, Sr., made conflicting statements during the investigation of this incident. He first indicated that his son (Hulin) and R.L.K., Jr. were together at his residence on December 25 and 26 and that they did not go anywhere. Yet, he subsequently admitted that at approximately 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. on December 26, his son (Hulin) did go to pick up a meat grinder from Joe Hulin because they had killed some hogs.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. ONE:

In this assignment of error, R.L.K., Jr. contends that the trial court erred in adjudicating him a delinquent based upon a finding that he had committed theft of livestock.

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. On appeal, the applicable standard of review is whether or not, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. This standard of review applies to juvenile proceedings in which a child is adjudicated a delinquent. See La.Ch.C. art. 883; State in the Interest of Giangrosso, 395 So.2d 709, 714 (La.1981).

LSA-R.S. 14:67.1 provides, in pertinent part:

A. Theft of livestock is the misappropriation or taking of livestock belonging to another, either without the consent of the other to the misappropriation or taking, or by means of fraudulent conduct, practices, or representations. An intent to deprive the other permanently of the livestock is essential. It shall not be necessary to prove defendants killed the animal; the mere taking of meat from the animal shall constitute theft hereunder. Transportation of livestock to a slaughterhouse or an auction sale barn and assignment in a record book in a name other than that of the owner shall also be theft of livestock. An intent to deprive the owner permanently of funds derived from sale is essential.
B. "Livestock" means any animal, hybrid, mixture, or mutation of the species of horses, mules, donkeys, asses, cattle, swine, sheep, goats, domesticated deer, buffalo, bison, beefalo, or oxen.

As the trier of fact, the court was free to accept or reject, in whole or in part, the testimony of any witness. State v. Marshall, 479 So.2d 598, 603 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1985). Furthermore, where there is conflicting testimony about factual matters, the resolution of which depends upon a determination of the credibility of the witnesses, the matter is one of the weight of the evidence, not its sufficiency. State v. Marshall, 479 So.2d at 603. In finding that R.L.K., Jr. committed theft of livestock, which was the basis for his adjudication as a delinquent, the trial court obviously accepted the testimony of the State's witnesses and rejected the alibi testimony of R.L.K., Jr.'s relatives. On appeal, this Court will not assess the credibility of witnesses or reweigh the evidence to overturn a fact finder's determination of guilt. State v. Creel, 540 So.2d 511, 514 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 546 So.2d 169 (La. 1989).

In his brief to this Court, R.L.K, Jr. does not contest the fact that someone committed the offense of theft of livestock. Instead, he argues that the evidence was entirely circumstantial and that it failed to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. R.L.K., Jr. states:

There is no dispute that Mrs.

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

Related

State Of Louisiana v. Samaria Bell
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State Of Louisiana in the Interest of A.S.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
State of Louisiana in the Interest of C.R. Vs.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2021
In re State
242 So. 3d 1233 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State ex rel. K.G.
88 So. 3d 1205 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
State v. PORTIE
22 So. 3d 213 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
Johnson v. Escude
971 So. 2d 529 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2007)
Bobby Johnson v. Jerome Escude
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2007
State v. Devare
860 So. 2d 191 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2003)
State Ex Rel. Jf
851 So. 2d 1282 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2003)
State ex rel. J. F.
851 So. 2d 1282 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2003)
State ex rel. J.S.
808 So. 2d 459 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
666 So. 2d 427, 1995 WL 764510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-in-interest-of-rlk-lactapp-1995.