State v. Arrington

738 So. 2d 1087, 1999 WL 314921
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 21, 1999
Docket97-KA-2059
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 738 So. 2d 1087 (State v. Arrington) 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. Arrington, 738 So. 2d 1087, 1999 WL 314921 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

738 So.2d 1087 (1999)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Mitchell ARRINGTON.

No. 97-KA-2059.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

April 21, 1999.

*1088 William R. Campbell Jr., Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, LA, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant.

Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Theresa A. Tamburo, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, LA, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Court composed of Chief Judge ROBERT J. KLEES, Judge STEVEN R. PLOTKIN, Judge MOON LANDRIEU.

PLOTKIN, Judge.

On August 23, 1995, the defendant, Mitchell Arrington, was charged by bill of information with aggravated battery, a violation of La. R.S. 14:34. At his arraignment on August 28, 1995, the defendant entered a plea of not guilty. After a jury trial on January 17, 1996, the defendant was found guilty as charged. A multiple bill hearing was held on April 15, 1996. The defendant was adjudicated a second felony offender and sentenced to eight years at hard labor.

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

Ella Arrington, the defendant's wife, testified that the defendant attacked her with a knife on the evening of May 27, 1995. On that evening, she and defendant were at her house and were discussing a divorce. The victim stated that she had not gotten a divorce yet because she could not afford the cost. During this conversation, the defendant had been lying down on the sofa in the living room. The defendant got up from the sofa, walked towards the front door, closed the door and then walked back towards the victim. When the defendant got halfway towards her, the victim saw the knife in the defendant's hand. The victim grabbed the defendant's hand and attempted to hold onto the knife. However, the defendant was able to cut her in the neck. The defendant tried to stab her again. They struggled for about ten minutes. When the knife fell out of the defendant's hands, the defendant started choking the victim. The defendant was choking the victim when her neighbors arrived; they were able to pull the defendant off of her. The victim stated she did not provoke the defendant. She did not have a weapon and she did not threaten the defendant. At trial, the victim identified the knife that the defendant used to cut her. The tip of the knife had dried blood on it.

The victim further testified that a similar incident occurred in September of 1994. That time, the victim was working outside in the yard when the defendant yelled at her to come inside. The victim stated that she would not come inside until the defendant learned how to speak to her. The defendant got a knife off of the coffee table and came after her. The defendant caught the victim and dragged her into the house. He was attempting to stab the victim with the knife. The defendant threatened to kill her. When the police arrived, the defendant was sitting on her chest. The defendant was arrested for aggravated battery. He pled guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail. He got out of *1089 jail on March 28, 1995. Again, the victim stated she did not provoke the defendant.

Nikia Arrington, the defendant's daughter, testified that her father stabbed her mother in the neck. On the evening of May 27, 1995, Nikia was sitting in her bedroom when she heard her father knocking on the door. Her mother let her father into the house. The defendant went to the bathroom and then lay on the sofa in the living room. Nikia then went into her mother's bedroom. The defendant asked Nikia to go into her bedroom. She refused. The defendant got up, slammed the bedroom door, and got knife from the toolbox in the living room. The defendant tried to rip the telephone cord out of the wall as he approached Nikia's mother with the knife. Nikia's mother was trying to hold the defendant's hand with both of her hands to keep the knife away from her. Nikia was holding her father by the back of his shirt and trying to pull him off of her mother. When Nikia could not get the defendant off of the victim, she ran next door and sought help from her neighbors. Several of the neighbors came to help. Nikia saw the defendant purposely cut her mother with the knife. Nikia's mother did not have anything in her hands. The neighbors tried to get the defendant off of the victim. The defendant did not want to let the victim go. They had to rip the victim's shirt in order to get her away from the defendant. The neighbors took the victim and Nikia next door and called the police. When the police came, the officers could not find the defendant. The officers spoke with Nikia and her neighbors. A few minutes later, Nikia's brother came home from work. Her neighbors had called and told him about the incident. Nikia's brother, Jamoine, found the defendant hiding in their mother's closet. When the defendant and Jamoine started fighting, the neighbors called the police again.

Nikia spoke with the police officers after they arrived in response to the call about the attack on her mother. She told the officer that the defendant was trying to cut her mother in the neck with a knife. The defendant would come by the house every day. On the evening in question, her mother was playing Nikia's gameboy when the defendant approached her with the knife. Nikia's mother dropped the gameboy when she realized the defendant was coming after her. Nikia's mother slipped on the gameboy and fell. At that point, the defendant grabbed the victim by the neck. Her mother did not throw the gameboy at the defendant.

Nikia also testified as to a previous incident that occurred in 1994 when her father attacked her mother with a knife. One day in September of 1994, Nikia's mother was working outside in the yard when her father yelled at her mother to come inside. Nikia's mother refused to go inside. The defendant found a knife in the kitchen and went after Nikia's mother with the knife. He caught and dragged her inside the house. The neighbors called the police. When the police arrived, the defendant was on top of the victim trying to stab her. Nikia's mother did not do anything to provoke the defendant.

On May 27, 1995, New Orleans Police Officer Todd Thedy and his partner were dispatched to 2824 Banks Street in response to a call of a domestic disturbance. The officer was met at the residence by a young girl who informed the officers that her father had stabbed her mother. The mother had been taken to Charity Hospital for treatment. Officer Thedy interviewed the girl and several neighbors. After securing the scene, the officers went to Charity Hospital and spoke with the victim. The officers learned the defendant's name and subsequently obtained an arrest warrant. While the officers were obtaining the arrest warrant for the defendant, they overheard another police vehicle being dispatched to the same address. When Officer Thedy and his partner returned to the scene, they observed the defendant in an altercation with his adult son. The police officers that had been dispatched to handle this altercation had to separate the two men.

*1090 A search of the crime scene was conducted. A black plastic handled Phillips screwdriver and a four-inch steel blade utility knife with some dried blood on the tip of it were found. The knife was found partially under the sofa in the living room. The screwdriver was found next to a toolbox in the living room.

Officer Oliver Sandifer participated in the defendant's arrest. Sandifer and his partner responded to a call of a domestic disturbance at 2824 Banks Street. When they arrived at the scene, the officers observed two black males involved in a physical altercation. The defendant bit the other man, later determined to be his son, on the forehead.

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Bluebook (online)
738 So. 2d 1087, 1999 WL 314921, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-arrington-lactapp-1999.