State v. Brock

855 So. 2d 939, 2003 WL 22219454
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 26, 2003
Docket37,487-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 855 So. 2d 939 (State v. Brock) 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. Brock, 855 So. 2d 939, 2003 WL 22219454 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

855 So.2d 939 (2003)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Richmond J. BROCK, Appellant.

No. 37,487-KA.

Court of Appeals of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

September 26, 2003.

*940 Louisiana Appellate Project, by Peggy J. Sullivan, Monroe, for Appellant.

Robert W. Levy, District Attorney, John L. Sheehan, Assistant District Attorney, for Appellee.

Before BROWN, MOORE and TRAYLOR (Pro Tempore), JJ.

MOORE, J.

A jury convicted the defendant of aggravated burglary, a violation of La. R.S. 14:60 punishable by imprisonment at hard labor for not less than one nor more than thirty years, and second degree kidnapping, a violation of La. R.S. 14:44.1 punishable by imprisonment not less than two nor more than forty years, the first two of which shall be without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Defendant received the maximum sentence of thirty and forty years for each crime to be served concurrently and without benefits during the first two years of the sentence. He now appeals alleging that the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions, and that the sentences are excessive. We affirm the convictions and sentences.

FACTS

The seventy-four-year-old victim, Mrs. Faye Rockett, was awakened at her home in Lillie, Louisiana, in the early morning *941 hours of April 9, 2000 by her dog barking and the crash of her back bedroom door being broken down. She went into the living room of her home, which was illuminated by a 60-watt lamp as well as light from an above-the-sink fluorescent light, where she encountered a man she later identified at trial as the defendant, Richmond Brock, a/k/a "Millie." The defendant grabbed Mrs. Rockett, put his hands over her face and twisted her head as though he were trying to break her neck. He demanded money while struggling with the victim. She directed him to her purse. During this time, Mrs. Rockett saw another man enter the room who was later identified as Antonio Johnson.

The defendant twisted the victim's wedding ring and dinner ring from her hands and took $120 from her billfold. He forced Mrs. Rockett out of the house and into the back seat of her own car. He got into the back seat with her while Johnson drove. About ten minutes later, Johnson pulled the vehicle over to the side of a gravel road, and the defendant pulled Mrs. Rockett out of the car, struck her in the head with a metal flashlight and pushed her into the roadside ditch. The defendant and his accomplice drove off in the vehicle. The vehicle was subsequently found in El Dorado, Arkansas.

Mrs. Rockett got out of the ditch and walked three miles in the near-freezing temperature until she came to a house and cried for help. The residents of the home assisted her and contacted the Union Parish Sheriff's Office. Mrs. Rockett spent two days in the hospital receiving treatment for her injuries.

After an investigation, the defendant was arrested and charged with aggravated burglary and second degree kidnapping. Near midnight on the night the offense was committed, the defendant and Antonio Johnson went to defendant's parent's home, which was located approximately one mile from the victim's home. The defendant had previously been to the victim's home, having delivered firewood to Mrs. Rockett one month prior to the crime, although Mrs. Rockett did not make this connection until after criminal proceedings against the defendant had begun. At trial, Mrs. Rockett and Antonio Johnson identified the defendant as the assailant and perpetrator of the burglary and kidnapping. Although the defendant claimed he was misidentified by Mrs. Rockett and Johnson was lying, the jury returned a verdict of guilty to both charges.

The court sentenced the defendant to the maximum sentence of thirty years for the aggravated burglary conviction and forty years for the second degree kidnapping conviction, the first two years of the sentence. The sentences were to be served concurrently. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

Defendant's first assignment of error alleges that the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions against him for aggravated burglary and second degree kidnapping. Specifically, he contends that he was not involved in this crime and that this is a case of misidentification.

The standard of appellate review for a sufficiency of the evidence claim is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Cummings, 95-1377 (La.2/28/96), 668 So.2d 1132; State v. Hunter, 33,066 (La.App.2d Cir.9/27/00), 768 So.2d 687, writs denied, XXXX-XXXX (La.10/26/01), 799 So.2d 1150, *942 2001-2087 (La.4/19/02), 813 So.2d 424. This standard, now legislatively embodied in La.C.Cr.P. art. 821, does not provide the appellate court with a vehicle to substitute its own appreciation of the evidence for that of the fact finder. State v. Robertson, 96-1048 (La.10/4/96), 680 So.2d 1165. The appellate court does not assess the credibility of witnesses or reweigh evidence. State v. Smith, 94-3116 (La.10/16/95), 661 So.2d 442.

The Jackson standard is applicable in cases involving both direct and circumstantial evidence. An appellate court reviewing the sufficiency of evidence in such cases must resolve any conflict in the direct evidence by viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. When the direct evidence is thus viewed, the facts established by the direct evidence and inferred from the circumstances established by that evidence must be sufficient for a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of every essential element of the crime. State v. Sutton, 436 So.2d 471 (La.1983); State v. Owens, 30,903 (La. App.2d Cir.9/25/98), 719 So.2d 610, writ denied, 98-2723 (La.2/5/99), 737 So.2d 747.

Where there is conflicting testimony about factual matters, the resolution of which depends upon a determination of the credibility of the witnesses, the matter is one of the weight of the evidence, not its sufficiency. State v. Allen, 36,180 (La. App.2d Cir.9/18/02), 828 So.2d 622, writs denied, 2002-2595 (La.3/28/03), 840 So.2d 566, 2002-2997 (La.6/27/03), 847 So.2d 1255.

In cases involving a defendant's claim that he was not the person who committed the crime, the Jackson rationale requires the state to negate any reasonable probability of misidentification in order to carry its burden of proof. State v. Powell, 27,959 (La.App.2d Cir.4/12/96), 677 So.2d 1008 (on rehearing), writ denied, 96-1807 (La.2/21/97), 688 So.2d 520. Positive identification by only one witness may be sufficient to support a defendant's conviction. State v. Davis, 27,961 (La. App.2d Cir.4/8/96), 672 So.2d 428, writ denied, 97-0383 (La.10/31/97), 703 So.2d 12; State v. Miller, 561 So.2d 892 (La.App. 2d Cir.), writ denied, 566 So.2d 983 (La.1990).

In this case, defendant does not contend that the elements of the crimes have not been proven. Rather, he argues that he is not the person who committed the crime. Defendant contends that the inconsistencies in Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
855 So. 2d 939, 2003 WL 22219454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brock-lactapp-2003.