State of Louisiana v. Wilbur D. Byrd

• Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
• Decided: May 10, 2023
• Docket: 55,031-KA
• Status: Published

Opinion

Judgment rendered May 10, 2023. Application for rehearing may be filed within the delay allowed by Art. 922, La. C. Cr. P.

No. 55,031-KA

COURT OF APPEAL SECOND CIRCUIT STATE OF LOUISIANA

*****

STATE OF LOUISIANA Appellee

versus

WILBUR D. BYRD Appellant

Appealed from the First Judicial District Court for the Parish of Caddo, Louisiana Trial Court No. 379,060

Honorable Christopher T. Victory, Judge

LOUISIANA APPELLATE PROJECT Counsel for Appellant By: Edward K. Bauman

JAMES E. STEWART, SR. Counsel for Appellee District Attorney

BRITTANY B. ARVIE TOMMY J. JOHNSON Assistant District Attorneys

Before PITMAN, STONE, and ROBINSON, JJ. PITMAN, C. J.

Defendant Wilbur D. Byrd appeals his conviction and sentence after a

jury found him guilty of violating La. R.S. 14:95.1, possession of a firearm

by a convicted felon; the trial court sentenced him to ten years’ hard labor

without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence and fined him

$2,500. For the following reasons, Defendant’s conviction and sentence are

reversed.

FACTS

On November 9, 2020, Defendant was charged by bill of information

with Count 1, possession of a firearm or carrying a concealed weapon by a

convicted felon, a violation of La. R.S. 14:95.1, to-wit: a handgun, after

having been previously convicted of possession of marijuana-third offense

on October 27, 2009, in the First Judicial District Court, Caddo Parish,

Louisiana, in Docket No. 280,132. He was also charged with Count 2, theft

of a firearm, a violation of La. R.S. 14:67.15.

A motion for a speedy trial was filed and a jury trial commenced on

December 16, 2021. The state’s first witness was Corporal John McCain of

the Caddo Sheriff’s Office, a crime scene investigator and fingerprint expert.

Cpl. McCain testified that he took Defendant’s fingerprints the day of the

trial and compared and matched them to the fingerprints taken in Caddo

Parish Docket No. 280,132, State v. Byrd, in which Defendant was charged

and pled guilty to possession of marijuana-third offense. At the time of that

guilty plea, the crime was a felony. The fingerprints were admitted into

evidence as were the bill of information and the court minutes from Docket

No. 280,132, dated October 27, 2009. The minutes stated that Defendant

was sentenced that day to pay a fine of $1,200 and court costs, or in default, to serve 60 days in the parish jail, and, in addition, to be confined at hard

labor for a period of 4 years and committed to the Louisiana Department of

Corrections. The state did not present any evidence of the date Defendant

completed his sentence, probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

The facts gleaned at trial reveal that Defendant and Shontell Thomas

were involved in a 20-year on-and-off-again relationship. The last time

Thomas allowed Defendant back in her home, he had been homeless.

Defendant convinced Thomas that she needed to be armed, so they went to

Academy Sporting Goods, and Defendant purchased two handguns for her.

Defendant paid for the guns, but Thomas testified they were registered in her

name. Thomas also testified that she pawned one of the guns and placed the

other one high in her bedroom closet.

In early October 2020, about two months after the purchase of the

guns, Thomas found out that Defendant had been womanizing, and she

demanded that he move out of the house. He packed all of his belongings in

his car and left. Thomas stated that she noticed her gun was missing that

day, so she called him and asked him to return it. He refused, so she planned

to go to his place of employment, Halco in Caddo Parish, and recover it. On

October 11, 2020, Thomas drove to the Halco parking lot, located

Defendant’s car and then called the police to report her gun as stolen. The

officer who arrived informed her of the limitations on the actions she could

take but also told her that she would question Defendant about the gun.

Thomas watched from her car as the officer approached Defendant as

he exited his work premises. Defendant gave the police officer permission

to search the car, and the officer found the gun on the floorboard of the car.

The gun was produced at trial, and Thomas identified it as her gun. 2 The jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged on Count 1,

possession of a firearm by a convicted felon but acquitted Defendant on

Count 2, theft of the firearm.

On January 27, 2022, Defendant filed a motion for post-verdict

judgment of acquittal and claimed that the evidence was insufficient for the

trier of fact to have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a

reasonable doubt. On February 9, 2022, the state filed a memorandum on

sentencing and discussed the prior conviction in Docket No. 280,132, upon

which the instant conviction was based. The state did not address the fact

that it had not proven the date of Defendant’s completion of sentence and

supervision but simply stated that if any jurors felt that marijuana use was

not a serious crime, they should not consider that as a fact bearing on

Defendant’s guilt or innocence. The state noted that Defendant had another

conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, from January

2017, in Docket No. 342,197, which, had it been used as the predicate

conviction, would have been within the ten-year prescriptive period. The

minutes of that case were submitted with the memorandum. The state also

noted that Defendant had a prior conviction from 2008 in Docket No.

266,961 for possession of a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance with

intent to distribute. It attached the minutes from that case as well. The trial

court ultimately denied the motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal.

Sentencing took place on February 10, 2022. The trial court noted

that the sentencing range for violation of La. R.S. 14:95.1 was not less than

5 nor more than 20 years without benefit of parole, probation or suspension

of sentence and a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000. It

considered La. C. Cr. P. art. 894.1, found aggravating circumstances and 3 noted the prior 2017 conviction for attempted possession of a firearm by a

convicted felon and the 2008 conviction for possession of marijuana third

offense. It sentenced Defendant to 10 years’ hard labor without benefit of

probation, parole or suspension of sentence and fined him $2,500.

Defendant appeals his conviction and sentence.

DISCUSSION

Defendant seeks review of his conviction and sentence and claims

insufficiency of the evidence under Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.

Ct. 2781, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1979), and that the state failed to establish that

the ten-year prescriptive period under La. R.S. 14:95.1 had not elapsed.

Defendant argues that the state failed to prove an essential element of

the crime of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He asserts that the

state failed to produce evidence of the date of his completion of sentence

after he was released for the crime in Docket No. 280,132. Further, the

state’s attempt to raise evidence of the later crime he committed in 2017,

which would have fallen within the ten-year prescriptive period and which

was presented to the trial court for purposes of sentencing alone, could not

be bootstrapped with the evidence presented at trial to the jury. He contends

that the jury was not presented with evidence of the later crime when they

reached the conclusion that Defendant was guilty of the crime that was

before it. He argues that the jury could not have reached a competent verdict

of guilty based on the evidence presented by the state, which did not include

the essential element of the crime.

The state’s brief acknowledges that it only proved the date of the

conviction and sentence imposed in Docket No. 280,132, a period greater

than ten years, and that it did not prove the date of the completion of the 4 sentence. Had it presented the evidence of the date of Defendant’s release, it

might have met the requirements of proving La. R.S. 14:95.1(C). The state’s

brief states, “The court should reverse the conviction of count 1, possession

of a firearm or carrying a concealed weapon by a convicted felon.”

At the time of the offense, La. R.S. 14:95.1 stated in pertinent part as

follows:

A. It is unlawful for any person who has been convicted of, . . . any violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law which is a felony, . . . to possess a firearm or carry a concealed weapon.

B. Whoever is found guilty of violating the provisions of this Section shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than five nor more than twenty years without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence and be fined not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars.

C. The provisions of this Section prohibiting the possession of firearms and carrying concealed weapons by persons who have been convicted of, or who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity for, certain felonies shall not apply to any person who has not been convicted of, or who has not been found not guilty by reason of insanity for, any felony for a period of ten years from the date of completion of sentence, probation, parole, suspension of sentence, or discharge from a mental institution by a court of competent jurisdiction. (Emphasis added.)

To support a conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted

felon, the state must prove: (1) the possession of a firearm; (2) a previous

conviction of an enumerated felony; (3) absence of the ten-year statutory

period of limitation; and (4) general intent to commit the offense. State v.

Robinson, 52,315 (La. App. 2 Cir. 11/14/18), 260 So. 3d 717, citing State v.

Castor, 50,512 (La. App. 2 Cir. 4/13/16), 194 So. 3d 668. Absence of the

ten-year prescriptive period is an essential element of the offense. Id. A

convicted felon who completed his sentence and supervision is not

prohibited from possessing firearms. Id. As such, the state has the burden 5 of proving that the ten-year prescriptive period has not elapsed when

charging a defendant under La. R.S. 14:95.1. Id.

In proving every element of the offense, the state must prove not only

the felony conviction but the date of completion of the punishment. Id.

Evidence of the initial sentence imposed is not sufficient to establish the date

of completion of punishment. Id. In other words, in order to prove that the

ten-year cleansing period has not elapsed, the state must present evidence of

the date of termination of sentence. Id. When the state’s case is devoid of

evidence of an essential element of the charged offense, the defendant’s

conviction and sentence must be set aside. Id., citing State v. Raymo,

419 So. 2d 858 (La. 1982).

In this case, the state failed to present any evidence of the date of

completion of sentence, probation, parole or suspension of sentence. The

jury could not have reached a competent verdict of guilty of attempted

possession of a firearm by a convicted felon without being presented with

this information. Defendant’s conviction and sentence must be set aside.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the conviction and sentence of Defendant

Wilbur D. Byrd for violation of La. R.S. 14:95.1 are hereby reversed.

REVERSED and RENDERED.