State v. Arnold

124 So. 3d 592, 2013 La.App. 3 Cir. 218, 2013 WL 5926206, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2282
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 6, 2013
DocketNo. 13-218
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 124 So. 3d 592 (State v. Arnold) 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 v. Arnold, 124 So. 3d 592, 2013 La.App. 3 Cir. 218, 2013 WL 5926206, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2282 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

GREMILLION, Judge.

| TDefendant, Albert L. Arnold, was convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine and conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine after police executed a search warrant at his residence and found items that are used to manufacture methamphetamine, the remnants of two methamphetamine cooks, residue of methamphetamine in Defendant’s bedroom, and methamphetamine that had been in the possession of Defendant’s son, Joshua Arnold.

Defendant was charged by bill of information with one count of manufacturing of methamphetamine, a violation of La.R.S. 40:967, and one count of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, a violation of La.R.S. 14:26 and La.R.S. 40:967. Defendant was tried by a jury and convicted as charged.

Defendant was sentenced to serve twenty-two years at hard labor for manufacturing methamphetamine, with the first ten years of the sentence to be served without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, and to eight years at hard labor for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine. The trial court ordered the sentences to run concurrently but consecutively to the sentence Defendant was then serving. A motion to reconsider sentence was denied.

Defendant now appeals and asserts the following four assignments of error: 1) The evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he manufactured methamphetamine; 2) The evidence was insufficient to prove he conspired with Joshua Arnold and Matilda Holmes to manufacture methamphetamine; 3) The trial court erred in permitting the prosecution to introduce several items of evidence during trial which were directly connected to another individual who was not on trial; and 4) The trial court failed to sufficiently [ aconsider ■ and weigh the factors set forth in La.Code Crim.P. art. 894.1, resulting in the imposition of excessive sentences.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NUMBERS ONE AND TWO

In his first assignment of error, Defendant contends that the evidence, when viewed under the Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), standard, was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he manufactured methamphetamine on or about December 21, 2011. In his second assignment of error, Defendant contends that the evidence, when viewed under the Jackson standard, was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he conspired with Joshua Arnold and [595]*595Matilda Holmes to manufacture methamphetamine on or about December 21, 2011.

In reviewing the sufficiency of evidence, an appellate court must determine that the evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, or a mixture of both, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier-of-fact that all of the elements of the crime have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676, 678 (La.1984). Additionally, when circumstantial evidence forms the basis of the conviction, the evidence, “assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove ... must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.” La.Rev.Stat. 15:438; see State v. Jacobs, 504 So.2d 817, 820 (La. 1987)(all direct and circumstantial evidence must meet the Jackson v. Virginia test); State v. Porretto, 468 So.2d 1142, 1146 (La.1985) (La.Rev.Stat. 15:438 serves as an evidentiary guide for the jury when considering circumstantial evidence).

State v. Sosa, 05-213, pp. 6-7 (La.1/19/06), 921 So.2d 94, 99.

Defendant was convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine, a violation of La. R.S. 40:967 (footnotes omitted), which states, in pertinent part:

A. Manufacture; distribution. Except as authorized by this Part or by Part VII-B of Chapter 5 of Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally:
|s(l) To produce, manufacture, distribute, or dispense or possess with intent to produce, manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled dangerous substance or controlled substance analogue classified in Schedule II [.]

In State v. Bernard, 441 So.2d 817, 820 (La.App. 3 Cir.1983), writ denied, 445 So.2d 439 (La.1984), this court held: “In spite of the words that ‘it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally ... ’ to do the prohibited acts, the statute requires no more than general criminal intent. LSA-R.S. 14:11; State v. Banks, 307 So.2d 594 (La.1975).”

[Gjeneral criminal intent is ... present “when the circumstances indicate that the offender, in the ordinary course of human experience, must have adverted to the prescribed criminal consequences as reasonably certain to result from his act or failure to act.” La.Rev.Stat. § 14:10(2). “In general intent crimes, criminal intent necessary to sustain a conviction is shown by the very doing of the acts which have been declared criminal.” State v. Holmes, 388 So.2d 722, 727 (La.1980).

State v. Oliphant, 12-1176, pp. 11-12 (La.3/19/13), 113 So.3d 165, 172.

Defendant was also convicted of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine. Criminal conspiracy is defined as follows:

Criminal conspiracy is the agreement or combination of two or more persons for the specific purpose of committing any crime; provided that an agreement or combination to commit a crime shall not amount to a criminal conspiracy unless, in addition to such agreement or combination, one or more of such parties does an act in furtherance of the- object of the agreement or combination’.

La.R.S. 14:26(A). In State v. Smith, 07-847, p. 3 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1/30/08), 974 So.2d 881, 884, we stated:

In the instant case, the State had the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Defendant conspired to manufacture methamphetamine and that either the Defendant or the co-conspira[596]*596tor acted in furtherance of manufacturing methamphetamine. Additionally, as noted in State v. Zeno, 99-69, pp. 6-7 (La.App. 5 Cir. 8/31/99), 742 So.2d 699, 704-05:
| ^Specific intent is an essential element of conspiracy. State v. Ellis, 94-599 (La.App. 5 Cir.5/30/95), 657 So.2d 341, 361, writs denied, 95-2095 (La.12/8/95), 664 So.2d 421 and 95-1639 (La.1/5/96), 666 So.2d 300. Specific intent is defined as “... 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). The determination of specific criminal intent is a question of fact and may be inferred from circumstances and actions of the defendant. State v. Armant, 97-1256 (La.App. 5 Cir.5/27/98), 719 So.2d 510, 517, writs denied, 98-1884 (La.11/20/98), 729 So.2d 3 and 98-1909 (La.11/20/98), 729 So.2d 4.

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Bluebook (online)
124 So. 3d 592, 2013 La.App. 3 Cir. 218, 2013 WL 5926206, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-arnold-lactapp-2013.