State v. Brown

694 So. 2d 435, 1997 WL 163616
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided April 9, 1997·No. 96-KA-1002·Published·Cited by 34 cases

Opinion

694 So.2d 435 (1997)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Eric J. BROWN.

No. 96-KA-1002.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

April 9, 1997.

*436 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Assistant District Attorney, Gretna, for plaintiff-appellee.

Laurie A. White, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

Before GAUDIN, DUFRESNE and CANNELLA, JJ.

GAUDIN Judge.

Eric J. Brown was indicted by a Grand Jury in Jefferson for first degree murder, LSA-R.S. 14:30, and armed robbery, LSA-R.S. 14:64. The first degree murder charge was later reduced by the state to second degree murder, LSA-R.S. 14:30.1. Following a four-day jury trial that started on April 30, 1996. Brown was convicted as charged on both counts. We affirm his conviction and also his sentences, life imprisonment for second degree murder and 30 years for armed robbery.

The crimes Brown was convicted of occurred on August 25, 1994 in Kenner, Louisiana. On that day, a woman named Valencia Peabody left her apartment for work leaving her boyfriend, Carmelo Salminen, asleep in the master bedroom and Brown, a friend of Salminen, asleep on a downstairs sofa. Brown had spent the night in the apartment.

When Peabody returned to the apartment during her lunch break, she noticed that Salminen's vehicle was gone. She went inside and found that Salminen had been shot and was dead.

Responding to Peabody's complaint, police officers arrived on the scene within minutes. They found the upstairs area of the apartment ransacked and they learned that various items were missing, including three guns, a briefcase, a safe and a tote bag. There were no signs of forced entry.

A neighbor, Ruth McKinnies, testified at trial that at approximately 9:00 a.m. she had observed Brown exit the apartment and drive Salminen's vehicle up to the front door. Brown then began loading the vehicle with items taken from the apartment.

Later that day, the police received a report that the briefcase had been located in a dumpster behind a Taco Bell shop at 3117 Loyola Avenue in Kenner. When the officers arrived there to retrieve the briefcase, they observed Salminen's vehicle nearby in the parking lot across from the apartment of Brown's sister.

Subsequently, a warrant for Brown's arrest was issued along with a search warrant for the apartment of his sister. While searching the apartment, officers found Brown hiding in a closet.

An autopsy revealed that Salminen was fatally shot in the back of the head at a distance ranging from two to five inches and that the time of death was between 8:49 and 10:49 a.m..

Following his convictions, Brown assigned on appeal these district court errors:

I. Appellant has been subjected to double jeopardy in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, 15 of the Louisiana Constitution as he was tried and convicted of second degree murder with an underlying offense of armed robbery and armed robbery.
II. The appellant was denied his right to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, § 2 of the Louisiana Constitution as there was insufficient evidence to support the verdict.
III. The verdict of guilty as charged of second degree murder must fail because it does not convey the intention of the jury under La. C.Cr.P. art 810 which violates appellant's due process rights as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the *437 United States Constitution and Article I, § 2 of the Louisiana Constitution.
IV. The appellant was denied his right to a fair trial in violation of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, § 16 of the Louisiana Constitution.
V. Appellant requests review of the entire record for errors patent. LSA C.Cr.P. art 920(2).

ASSIGNMENT NO. 1

Citing State v. Marshall, 660 So.2d 819 (La.1995), Brown argues that he was subjected to double jeopardy because he was convicted of second degree murder with an underlying offense of armed robbery as well as armed robbery. In Marshall, the Louisiana Supreme Court held that double jeopardy is present when an accused is convicted of (1) attempted first degree murder with armed robbery the underlying felony and (2) the armed robbery.

Brown's case, however, is distinguishable from Marshall and similar jurisprudence.

In pertinent part, second degree murder is described as the killing of a human being:

(1) when the offender has a specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm, or
(2) when the offender is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of various listed crimes, including armed robbery. Specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm is not a requisite.

At the outset of Brown's trial, the state announced that it was proceeding under alternate theories of second degree murder, as described in (1) and (2) above.

The trial judge ably instructed the jury on both theories of second degree murder. Because one of the convictions was for armed robbery, Brown contends that armed robbery was necessarily the underlying offense for the second degree murder conviction.

The jury was not polled regarding this; however, Brown's two convictions can be upheld on appeal if there is sufficient evidence to support second degree murder as a specific intent crime. In State v. Vergo, 594 So.2d 1360 (La.App. 2 Cir.1992), writs denied at 598 So.2d 373 (La.1992), the court said this at page 1364:

"A jury is not constitutionally required to agree on a single theory to convict a defendant where it is instructed as to alternate theories. Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624, 111 S.Ct. 2491, 115 L.Ed.2d 555 (1991), rehearing denied. Therefore, Vergo's conviction can be upheld if there is sufficient evidence based on any of the alternate theories with which the jury was charged."

Brown shot Salminen in the back of the head from two to five inches, a fact plainly indicating a specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm. The facts and circumstances of this killing, along with the trial judge's instructions on the elements and requirements of both sections of the second degree murder statute, as previously quoted, support a conviction under the specific intent section notwithstanding the inability of this Court to determine, from the cold record, the intent of the jury. The jury's intent, however, appears well expressed in and through its verdicts.

See also State v. Robinson, 598 So.2d 407 (La.App. 5 Cir.1992), in which this Court said at page 410:

"Discharging a firearm aimed directly at the victim is indicative of intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm."

ASSIGNMENT NO. 2

In this assignment of error, Brown contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for armed robbery because Salminen was shot and killed while he slept; thus, there was no proof that the elements of armed robbery were present. The elements of armed robbery are a taking of anything of value from the person of or in the immediate control of another by use of force or intimidation while armed with a dangerous weapon. Specifically, Brown argues that there is no evidence to show when Salminen was shot in relation to the taking and, further, there is no proof that force or intimidation, if any, was emp

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