State of Louisiana v. Willie R. Sanders, Jr.

CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 3, 2021
DocketKA-0020-0359
StatusUnknown

This text of State of Louisiana v. Willie R. Sanders, Jr. (State of Louisiana v. Willie R. Sanders, Jr.) 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. Willie R. Sanders, Jr., (La. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT

20-359

STATE OF LOUISIANA

VERSUS

WILLIE R. SANDERS, JR.

**********

APPEAL FROM THE NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF RAPIDES, NO. 344,581 HONORABLE LOWELL C. HAZEL, DISTRICT JUDGE

CANDYCE G. PERRET JUDGE

Court composed of John D. Saunders, Van H. Kyzar, and Candyce G. Perret, Judges.

CONVICTION AFFIRMED; SENTENCE AFFIRMED IN PART AND VACATED IN PART. Peggy J. Sullivan Louisiana Appellate Project Post Office Box 2806 Monroe, LA 71207-2806 (318) 855-6038 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT: Willie R. Sanders, Jr.

Phillip Terrell, Jr. District Attorney Catherine L. Davidson Assistant District Attorney Post Office Box 7358 Alexandria, LA 71306-7358 (318) 473-6650 COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE: State of Louisiana PERRET, Judge.

Defendant, Willie R. Sanders, Jr., was charged by bill of information with

one count of aggravated assault with a firearm, a violation of La.R.S. 14:37.4, and

possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a violation of La.R.S. 14:95.1. The

latter charge was nolle prossed by the State. Defendant was tried and found guilty

of aggravated assault with a firearm, and on March 16, 2020, he was sentenced to

serve six years at hard labor. Although he was ordered to pay a $10,000.00 fine, in

lieu of the fine, the judge ordered Defendant to serve one year to run concurrently

with the six-year sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm the conviction but

amend the sentence to vacate that portion of Defendant’s sentence requiring him to

serve one year in default of payment of the fine.

FACTS:

The facts of this case are discussed fully in Assignment of Error Number

One.

ERRORS PATENT:

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed for

errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find that

there is one error patent regarding the sentence imposed.

After ordering Defendant to serve six years at hard labor for his conviction

of aggravated assault with a firearm, the trial judge ordered Defendant to pay a

$10,000.00 fine. Noting that Defendant was indigent and in jail, the trial judge

ordered Defendant to serve “a year in lieu of the fine.” The trial judge ordered the

year to run concurrently with the six-year-hard-labor sentence. Further explaining,

the trial judge stated: BY THE COURT:

All right. You have, you have a def - - well the default’s gonna be a year, and I’m just gonna have him serve the default time, and that’s gonna run concurrent with the six year sentence.

.... I’m gonna give you the one year for the default and the six years for the aggravated assault and then, they’re, they’re gonna run concurrent.

In addition to the trial judge’s notation that Defendant was indigent, we note

that Defendant was represented by the Public Defender’s office at trial and is

represented by the Louisiana Appellate Project on appeal. This court has found

this to be presumptive evidence of indigence. See State v. Mallette, 15-1131

(La.App. 3 Cir. 6/8/16), 193 So.3d 603, writ denied, 16-1301 (La. 6/16/17), 221

So.3d 837; State v. Holloway, 10-74 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/6/10), 47 So.3d 56.

In State v. Major, 03-249, pp. 2-3 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/2/05), 898 So.2d 548,

550-51, this court explained:

It is well-settled that “[a]n indigent person may not be incarcerated because he is unable to pay a fine which is part of his sentence. Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 103 S.Ct. 2064, 76 L.Ed.2d 221 (1983).” State v. Zabaleta, 96-2449, p. 1 (La.3/7/97), 689 So.2d 1369. The need for incarceration raises an issue when fines or costs are not paid, because La.Code Crim.P. art. 884 requires that, when a trial court imposes a fine or costs, it must also impose a specified term of imprisonment in the event Defendant defaults on payment of the fine or costs. Because an indigent person may not be incarcerated for failure to pay a fine, the supreme court has vacated “the portion of . . . [a] sentence which provides for a jail term in the event of default of payment of a fine . . . .” Zabaleta, 689 So.2d 1369.

Since Defendant is indigent, the trial court was not authorized to order

default time for Defendant’s failure to pay the fine. However, we note it can be

argued that the one year imposed as default time is not an “additional” one year

since it is ordered to run concurrently with the six-year-hard-labor sentence. In

State v. Essex, 618 So.2d 574, 578 (La.App. 2 Cir. 1993), the court found no

correction was needed when the trial court ran the default time concurrently with

2 the hard labor sentence. See also State v. Smith, 47,890 (La.App. 2 Cir. 5/22/13),

114 So.3d 1229, (the court found no correction was needed when the defendant

was not represented by the Indigent Defender’s office at the time of sentencing and

since the parish jail time was ordered to run concurrently with the twenty-five-year

sentence, with credit for time already served).

Contrarily, other cases have ordered the default time for an indigent

defendant be deleted even when it is ordered to run concurrently with the

underlying sentence. See State v. Warren, 28,889, 28,890 (La.App. 2 Cir.

12/11/96), 712 So.2d 500; State v. Pratt, 50,152 (La.App. 2 Cir. 12/30/15), 184

So.3d 816, writ denied, 16-123 (La. 1/25/17), 215 So.3d 262; State v. Holloway,

10-74 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/6/10), 47 So.3d 56; State v. Breakfield, 44,605 (La.App. 2

Cir. 9/23/09), 21 So.3d 1014. Since these cases are the majority, with one of the

cases being from our own circuit, we hereby delete the portion of Defendant’s

sentence requiring him to serve one year in default time.1

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE:

Defendant claims the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to convict

him of aggravated assault with a firearm. Specifically, Defendant contends that the

victim, Ms. Humphrey, did not testify that Defendant attempted to commit a

battery nor that he intentionally placed her in reasonable apprehension of receiving

a battery. Defendant acknowledges that Ms. Humphrey testified that she was

scared, but he points out that she was not scared to the point of leaving. He

contends that her unsupported testimony, contradicted at trial by his testimony, was

insufficient to support his conviction for aggravated assault with a firearm.

1 In briefing its response to Defendant’s excessive sentence claim, the State notes that the one year default time may be improper considering Defendant is represented by the Louisiana Appellate Project. However, the State contends that even if improper, the imposition of the fine itself is not improper. 3 Aggravated assault with a firearm is defined in La.R.S. 14:37.4 as “an

assault committed with a firearm.” An assault is defined in La.R.S. 14:36 as “an

attempt to commit a battery, or the intentional placing of another in reasonable

apprehension of receiving a battery.” A battery is defined in pertinent part as “the

intentional use of force or violence upon the person of another[.]” La.R.S. 14:33.

At trial, Aaliyah Humphrey, the victim, testified that her cousin, Aneyka

Gentle, and her cousin’s one year old baby were at her house prior to their

encounter with Defendant. At Ms. Gentle’s request, Ms. Humphrey drove Ms.

Gentle and the baby to Taco Bell to get something to eat. After ordering food at

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Bearden v. Georgia
461 U.S. 660 (Supreme Court, 1983)
State v. Dixon
900 So. 2d 929 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2005)
State v. Barling
779 So. 2d 1035 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
State v. BREAKFIELD
21 So. 3d 1014 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
State v. Richardson
425 So. 2d 1228 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Telsee
425 So. 2d 1251 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Cook
674 So. 2d 957 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1996)
State v. Sepulvado
367 So. 2d 762 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
State Ex Rel. Graffagnino v. King
436 So. 2d 559 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Smith
846 So. 2d 786 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2003)
State v. Duncan
420 So. 2d 1105 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
State v. Lisotta
726 So. 2d 57 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)
State v. Etienne
746 So. 2d 124 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
State v. Moody
393 So. 2d 1212 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
State v. Essex
618 So. 2d 574 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1993)
State v. Major
898 So. 2d 548 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2005)
State v. Zabaleta
689 So. 2d 1369 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1997)
State v. Batiste
594 So. 2d 1 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1991)
State v. Freeman
801 So. 2d 578 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)

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