State v. Bridges

444 So. 2d 721
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 10, 1984
Docket83-KA-442
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 444 So. 2d 721 (State v. Bridges) 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. Bridges, 444 So. 2d 721 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

444 So.2d 721 (1984)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Wayne BRIDGES.

No. 83-KA-442.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

January 10, 1984.

*722 John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., Gerald Alonzo, William C. Credo, III, Asst. Dist. Attys., Gretna, for plaintiff-appellee.

Joseph J. Tosh, Gretna, for defendant-appellant.

Before BOUTALL, CURRAULT and DUFRESNE, JJ.

CURRAULT, Judge.

In a two count bill of indictment filed December 18, 1981, defendant Wayne Bridges was charged with armed robbery (LSA-R.S. 14:64) and second degree murder (LSA-R.S. 14:30.1). The second count was dismissed on October 5, 1983. Along with co-defendant, Kamurt Bridges, he was arraigned on January 20, 1982, at which time a plea of "not guilty" was entered on Wayne Bridges' behalf. On September 8, 1982, following pretrial motions, a twelveperson jury was selected and trial commenced on the armed robbery count of the indictment. On September 10, 1982, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of armed robbery. Following post-trial motions, on November 22, 1982, the defendant was sentenced to twenty-five years at hard labor. It is from this conviction and sentence Wayne Bridges appeals.

At approximately 4:30 p.m. on the evening of November 20, 1981, three black males entered a Shoe Town off Jefferson Highway in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Present in the store were the store manager, Jesse Tate; two cashier-salesgirls, Martha Mitchell and Melanie Grego; a security guard, Mr. Desmeaux; and two unidentified stock persons. One of the black males moved toward the sock counter. When approached by the store manager, he asked if the socks came in any colors other than those displayed, whereupon Mr. Tate responded that he would go to the back of the store to get another box of socks. After Mr. Tate left the area, the subject then selected one pair of socks from the display and approached the cash register. The cashier, Martha Mitchell, rang up the sale. As she opened the register to deposit the two dollars proffered by Kamurt and give him change, he shoved her aside and grabbed the money from the cash drawer. While the subject was at the register, the two confederates, one of whom was identified as Wayne Bridges, disarmed the security guard. The three men, waving the stolen gun, then fled from the store.

Based upon the descriptions received from persons in the store and from Vincent Grego (husband of the cashier, Melanie), who observed the perpetrators standing in the street prior to the robbery, photo lineups were prepared. Wayne Bridges was included in one of the lineups not only because of his physical description but also because a Debbie Waldron named Wayne Bridges as a person she had seen approximately one week earlier break into a car in the Shoe Town area.

Wayne Bridges was identified by Melanie Grego and her husband, Vincent Grego. A third person was also identified but was found to have been in jail at the time of the robbery.

A subsequent search of Wayne Bridges' residence revealed a "bebop" cap similar to that worn by one of the perpetrators of the offense.

At trial, alibi defenses were presented for both Wayne Bridges and his co-defendant. Mrs. Bertha Bridges, mother of both defendants, testified that on the day of the robbery Wayne Bridges had gone to Mississippi to attend a party. Both Pat Bridges, the sister of the defendants and Altha Rogers, a fifteen year old friend of Mrs. Bridges from Mississippi, corroborated the alibi testimony.

Defendant appeals the conviction, asserting the four assignments of error filed in *723 an original and supplemental brief as follows:

(1) That the trial court committed reversible error in denying defendant's motion for acquittal;

(2) That the trial court committed reversible error in sentencing the defendant to a term of twenty-five years at hard labor, which sentence is excessive;

(3) That the grossly incomplete trial transcript was submitted by the clerk of court, which created reversible error; and

(4) That the trial court committed reversible error in denying defense counsel's motion for a new trial.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

Appellant failed to brief the first assignment of error. In this regard, the jurisprudence has consistently held that assignments of error neither briefed nor argued are to be considered abandoned. State v. Perry, 420 So.2d 139 (La.1982); State v. Williams, 418 So.2d 562 (La.1982); State v. Lewis, 416 So.2d 921 (La.1982). For this reason, Assignment of Error No. 1 will not be addressed.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 2

On the second assignment of error, defendant-appellant urges that the twentyfive year sentence for armed robbery is excessive. Appellant asserts that the trial court failed to follow the guidelines for sentencing set forth in LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 894.1 and that the sentence far exceeds the penalties imposed for similar offenses. As authority for this two-pronged argument, the defense cites State v. Sepulvado, 367 So.2d 762 (La.1979) and State v. Telsee, 425 So.2d 1251 (La.1983).

State v. Sepulvado, supra, and its progeny have held that although a sentence falls within statutory limitations, there can still exist a violation of the defendant's constitutional right against excessive punishment. For that reason, the court held that it is incumbent upon the trial court to consider not only the aggravating factors of the offense, but the mitigating factors determined by a review of the defendant's previous history and that the guidelines set forth in Article 894.1 provide the appropriate criteria by which a sentence can be reviewed for excessiveness even within statutory limits. On the other hand, State v. Lanclos, 419 So.2d 475, 477-478 (La. 1982) held that a trial court's failure to comply with Article 894.1 does not automatically render a sentence invalid as "compliance with its provisions is not an end in itself." The court further held that remand is unnecessary if the record clearly shows an adequate factual basis for the sentence imposed. In State v. Telsee, supra, cited by appellant, the court determined that the goal of Article 894.1 is to tailor the sentence to the defendant and to the specific crime. The nature of the offender and his offense must be determined and then a comparison of this punishment with that imposed for similar offenses in the same jurisdiction and in others. However, the approach set forth in Telsee appears to have lost some predominance in the determination of an appropriate sentence.

In the decisions promulgated on September 3, 1983 by the Louisiana Supreme Court, three cases were reviewed for excessive sentence and the Telsee approach was not applied. In State v. Joseph, 437 So.2d 280 (La.1983), the defendant's sentence of fifty years was affirmed after a review of the facts of the case and of the defendant's prior history. The court found that the sentence was not excessive on its face and within the trial court's discretion.

The two other cases deal with simple burglary[1] and manslaughter[2]; however, in the review of the sentence, the approach taken by the court was that the facts supported the sentence and there was no abuse of discretion by the trial court.

A twenty-five year sentence for armed robbery was upheld in State v. Square, 433 So.2d 104 (La.1983), although this was the *724 twenty-three year old defendant's first conviction since the court again found no abuse of the wide discretion afforded the trial court.

In State v. Smith, 433 So.2d 688 (La.

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Bluebook (online)
444 So. 2d 721, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bridges-lactapp-1984.