State v. Brown

421 So. 2d 854
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided October 18, 1982·No. 81-KA-3182·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

421 So.2d 854 (1982)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Noland BROWN.

No. 81-KA-3182.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

October 18, 1982.
Rehearing Denied November 19, 1982.

*855 William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Speedy O. Long, Dist. Atty., Dan B. Cornett, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

J.P. Mauffray, Jr., Jena, for defendant-appellant.

WARD, Justice Pro Tem.[*]

Noland E. Brown was charged by a bill of information with simple burglary of the Jena Pharmacy, Inc., a violation of La.R.S. 14:62.1. At arraignment, Brown entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. After a trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged, and Brown now appeals that conviction. Although defense counsel made thirteen assignments of error in which he asked for reversal, for the purpose of this discussion the assignments are grouped into seven arguments. Before discussing counsel's arguments, however, a brief description of the burglary and the circumstances of Brown's arrest is appropriate.

The burglary must have occurred between five p.m. on December 31, 1979, and eight a.m. on January 2, 1980, because Sidney Max Parker, owner of the Jena Pharmacy, closed his business at the end of the day on December 31, 1979, New Year's Eve, and the pharmacy remained closed until after the New Year, when Parker reopened his business on January 2, 1980, and discovered the burglary. A back door had been forced open, and Mr. Parker found that some controlled dangerous substances were missing from his store. Officers who were called to investigate were unable to solve the burglary until, during the course of investigating other pharmacy burglaries in the area, police arrested three suspects: Melvin Whatley, Timmy Robertson, and Billy Kennedy. Whatley and Robertson confessed to committing the burglary of the Jena Pharmacy, and they implicated Brown as one of the perpetrators. Based on this information, State Trooper Larry Morphis obtained an arrest warrant and arrested Brown at his home on July 8, 1980. During trial, Whatley, Robertson and Kennedy testified, and they all described how they drove around the City of Jena on New Year's Eve until after midnight, when Brown and Robertson entered the Jena Pharmacy through the back door in the early morning hours of January 1, 1980. They described how Brown and Robertson returned to the automobile with drugs in their possession and how the drugs were later divided among the four.

During trial, Brown's counsel made several motions for a judgment of acquittal. He argues now, in Assignments of Error Numbers 1 and 2, that the Trial Judge committed error when he denied those motions.

We believe, however, that the Trial Judge was correct. La.C.Cr.P. Art. 778.[1]

*856 Even if the Trial Judge believed Brown's motions were well founded, he did not have the authority to render a judgment of acquittal, and, therefore, he did not commit error when he refused to do so.

Next, in Assignments of Error Numbers 3 and 4, defense counsel argues that the State failed to prove that the offense occurred on the date named in the bill of information. Relying on Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), he contends, therefore, that the evidence is insufficient to support a guilty verdict and that the Trial Judge erred when he did not render a judgment of acquittal. As we have previously explained, the Trial Judge in a jury trial does not have authority to render a judgment of acquittal. Nonetheless, the Trial Judge was correct when he denied the motion. Jackson v. Virginia, supra, holds that fundamental concepts of due process require that a guilty verdict must be set aside unless a rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, could reasonably conclude that defendant's guilt had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Here, the bill of information charged the crime occurred "on or about the night of December 31, 1979, or the morning of January 1, 1980." Brown's accomplices, Whatley, Robertson and Kennedy, testified that on that night they had been driving around Jena using drugs and that sometime shortly after midnight, Brown and Robertson broke into the pharmacy to obtain drugs. Applying the standards of Jackson v. Virginia, supra, to the evidence in the instant case, we believe that the evidence was not only sufficient, we believe that it was overwhelming to prove that Brown entered the pharmacy in the early morning of January 1, 1982, and stole drugs which were controlled dangerous substances. Moreover, the standards of Jackson v. Virginia are applicable only to essential elements of a crime, and the date and time are not essential elements of the crime of burglary.

Other matters raised in Assignments of Error Numbers 3 and 4 do not warrant further discussion.

Counsel for Brown next argues in Assignments of Error Numbers 5 and 6 that the Trial Court erred in permitting the jury to hear testimony giving the content of an oral incupatory statement made by defendant because the State had failed to give notice of its intent to introduce the statement. La.C.Cr.P. Art. 768 states:

If the state intends to introduce a confession or inculpatory statement in evidence, it shall so advise the defendant in writing prior to beginning the state's opening statement. If it fails to do so a confession or inculpatory statement shall not be admissible in evidence.

Defendant made a specific request for this information in his motion for discovery and asked to be informed of "the existence of all oral confessions and statements of any nature made by the defendant, which the State intends to offer in evidence at trial...." Prior to trial, the State's attorney informed Brown's counsel by letter of Brown's inculpatory statement:

"You have requested a copy of the recorded statement given by Noland E. Brown. Mr. Brown did not give a recorded statement. When the defendant was arrested and advised of his Miranda rights by Trooper Larry Morphis, defendant was advised he was under arrest for the burglary of a pharmacy. The name of the pharmacy involved was not mentioned. After Brown was arrested, his wife entered the room and asked what was going on. Brown answered, `They said I broke into the Jena Pharmacy, I mean a pharmacy in Jena, but I have three or four witnesses that can prove I was at home that night.' When Morphis asked Brown how he knew he was being arrested for the burglary of the Jena Pharmacy, he replied that he had meant a pharmacy in Jena. When Morphis asked Brown how he could provide witnesses *857 saying that he was at home on the night of the burglary when he had stated that he had no knowledge of the incident and had not been told by Morphis the date of the incident Brown only replied, `I'm not guilty.'
This should comply with your motion for discovery."

Brown's counsel argues that although he had been informed of the existence of the statement, it was not admissible in evidence because he had not been informed that the State intended to introduce it as evidence.

We decline to interpret Article 768 in such a pedantic manner. The State's attorney clearly indicated in his letter that the information transmitted was in response to Brown's motion for discovery, and any reasonable person would have concluded that the State intended to introduce the statement in evidence.

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State v. Brown, 421 So. 2d 854 (La. 1982).

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