State Of Louisiana v. Tyrail Levare Tate

CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 13, 2024
Docket2024KA0344
StatusUnknown

This text of State Of Louisiana v. Tyrail Levare Tate (State Of Louisiana v. Tyrail Levare Tate) 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 Of Louisiana v. Tyrail Levare Tate, (La. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

A M 9 MI a 0 1

VERSUS

TYRAIL LEVARE TATE

V 13 2024 Judgment Rendered:

ON APPEAL FROM THE TWENTY- FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, DIVISION B IN AND FOR THE PARISH OF TANGIPAHOA STATE OF LOUISIANA DOCKET NUMBER 2200674

HONORABLE CHARLOTTE HUGHES FOSTER, JUDGE PRESIDING

Lieu T. Vo Clark Attorney for Defendant -Appellant Louisiana Appellate Project Tyrail Levare Tate Mandeville, Louisiana

Scott M. Perrilloux Attorneys for Appellee District Attorney State of Louisiana Brett Sommer Assistant District Attorney Amite, Louisiana

BEFORE: WOLFE, MILLER, AND GREENE, 77. GREENE, I

On April 11, 2022, the defendant, Tyrail Levare Tate, was charged by grand jury indictment with second degree murder ( Count 1) and being a convicted felon in

possession of a firearm ( Count 2),' violations of La. R. S. 14: 30. 1 and 14: 95. 1,

respectively. The defendant pled not guilty to the charges. Following a jury trial in

October of 2023, he was found guilty as charged on both counts. The defendant filed a

motion for new trial and motion for post -verdict judgment of acquittal, both of which the

trial court denied. For the second degree murder conviction, the defendant was

sentenced to life imprisonment to be served without benefit of parole or probation. For

the felon in possession of a firearm conviction, the defendant was sentenced to twenty

years at hard labor, and the trial court ordered the sentences to be served concurrently with one another.2 The defendant now appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the convictions on both counts, and we

affirm the sentence on count two and affirm the sentence on count one as amended. We

remand for correction of the minutes and commitment order.

FACTS

Tim Kinchen ( Mr. Kinchen) lived at a residence in Tickfaw, Louisiana, along with the defendant, Merry Gill ( Ms. Gill, the defendant's girlfriend), and Tiffany Schultz ( Ms.

Schultz, the victim). On the morning of January 12, 2022, Mr. Kinchen left for work.

When he returned home that evening, all the doors were locked and no one responded to his knocks. Mr. Kinchen walked around the home, peered through an opening in the window, and observed Ms. Schultz slumped over a recliner with a pool of blood around

her head. Mr. Kinchen returned to his cousin, who was waiting in his truck, and instructed him to call 911.

I

According to the indictment, the defendant was previously convicted on June 11, 2019 of simple burglary in Tangipahoa Parish ( case number 1802772).

2 There is a discrepancy between the minutes and the sentencing transcript with respect to the imposition of a hard labor sentence on count one and as to the restriction of benefits on both counts. It is well settled that in the event of a discrepancy between the minutes and the transcript, the transcript prevails. See State v. Lynch, 441 So. 2d 732, 734 ( La. 1983); State v. Bennett, 2020- 0028 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 7/ 24/ 20), 309 So. 3d 739, 739 n. 1. The trial court's failure to order count one served at hard labor, to restrict suspension of sentence for the second degree murder sentence, and its failure to restrict benefits and impose a fine for the felon in possession of a firearm sentence are addressed in our patent error review below.

P Officer Lee Mack Sullivan with the Tickfaw Police Department {" TPD' } responded

to the scene. Officer Sullivan gained entry to the home by kicking in the front door. He

checked Ms. Schultz, who was deceased. No one else was inside the home, and Officer

Sullivan observed no signs of forced entry. The defendant was developed as a suspect

in the case, and he was later arrested.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

In his first assignment of error, the defendant argues the evidence is insufficient

to convict him of second degree murder, asserting the circumstances instead support a

finding of manslaughter. In his second assignment of error, the defendant argues

because the evidence is insufficient to convict him of second degree murder, the trial

court should have granted his motion for new trial and his motion for post -verdict

judgment of acquittal. As the assignments of error are interrelated, they will be

addressed together.3 The defendant is not challenging the conviction on count two. A conviction based on insufficient evidence cannot stand, as it violates due

process. See U. S. Const. amend. XIV, La. Const. art. I, § 2. The question of the

sufficiency of the evidence is properly raised by a motion for post -verdict Judgment of

acquittal. See La. Code Crim. P. art. 821. The constitutional standard for testing the

sufficiency of the evidence, as enunciated in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 99 S. Ct.

2781, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560 ( 1979) and adopted by the Louisiana Legislature in enacting La.

Code Crim. P. art. 821, requires that a conviction be based on proof sufficient for any rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution,

to find the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The Jackson

standard of review is an objective standard for testing the overall evidence, both direct

and circumstantial, for reasonable doubt. When analyzing circumstantial evidence, La.

R. S. 15: 438 provides that the trier of fact must be satisfied that the overall evidence

excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. State v. Delco, 2006- 0504 ( La.

App. 1st Cir. 9/ 15/ 06), 943 So. 2d 1143, 1146, writ denied, 2006- 2636 ( La. 8/ 15/ 07), 961

3 Appellate courts may review the grant or denial of a motion for new trial only for errors of law. See La. Code Crim. P. art. 858. Accordingly, the denial of the defendant' s motion for new trial, in part based on La. Code Crim. P. art. 851 ( 13)( 1), is not subject to review on appeal. State v. Anthony, 2023- 0117 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 11/ 3/ 23), 378 So. 3d 766, 770 n. 3, writ denied, 2024- 00027 ( La. 5/ 21/ 24), 385 So. 3d 242.

3 So. 2d 1160. When a case involves circumstantial evidence and the jury reasonably

rejects the hypothesis of innocence presented by the defense, that hypothesis falls, and

the defendant is guilty unless there is another hypothesis that raises a reasonable doubt.

See State v. Marston, 2000- 0589 ( La. 3/ 16/ 01), 780 So. 2d 1058, 1062 ( per curiam).

The defendant was found guilty of second degree murder, which is defined as the

killing of a human being when the offender has a specific intent to kill or inflict great

bodily harm. See La. R. S. 14: 30. 1( A)( 1). Specific criminal intent is " that state of mind

which exists when the circumstances indicate that the offender actively desired the

prescribed criminal consequences to follow his act or failure to act." La. R. S. 14: 10( 1).

Because it is a state of mind, specific intent need not be proven as a fact, but may be

inferred from circumstances surrounding the offense and the defendant's actions. State

v. Mickelson, 2012- 2539 ( La. 9/ 3/ 14), 149 So. 3d 178, 182. Specific intent may be

formed in an instant.

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
State v. LeBoeuf
943 So. 2d 1134 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
State v. Delco
943 So. 2d 1143 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
State v. Leger
936 So. 2d 108 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2006)
State v. Williams
800 So. 2d 790 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2001)
State v. Lynch
441 So. 2d 732 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Price
952 So. 2d 112 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
State v. Marston
780 So. 2d 1058 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2001)
State v. Augustine
555 So. 2d 1331 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1990)
Leger v. Louisiana
127 S. Ct. 1279 (Supreme Court, 2007)
State v. Charles
787 So. 2d 516 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
State of Louisiana v. Eric Dale Mickelson
149 So. 3d 178 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2014)
State of Louisiana v. Keith C. Kisack
236 So. 3d 1201 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2017)
Hall v. United States
138 S. Ct. 1175 (Supreme Court, 2018)

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State Of Louisiana v. Tyrail Levare Tate, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-louisiana-v-tyrail-levare-tate-lactapp-2024.