State v. Buie

477 So. 2d 157
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 8, 1985
DocketKA 85 0217
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 477 So. 2d 157 (State v. Buie) 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. Buie, 477 So. 2d 157 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

477 So.2d 157 (1985)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Sam BUIE and Wilbert Diggs.

No. KA 85 0217.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

October 8, 1985.

*159 William M. Quin, Amite, for plaintiff-appellee.

Andre Coudrain, Hammond, for defendant-appellant Sam Buie.

Barbara Cole, Hammond, for defendant-appellant Wilbert Diggs.

Before LOTTINGER, COLE and CRAIN, JJ.

LOTTINGER, Judge.

Defendants, Wilbert Diggs and Sam Buie,[1] were each charged by a single bill of *160 information with two counts of armed robbery in violation of La.R.S. 14:64. Defendants pled not guilty and were tried by jury. Buie was convicted of armed robbery on both counts, and Diggs was found guilty of armed robbery on count one and guilty on count two of simple robbery, a responsive verdict. See La.Code Crim.P. art. 814(A)(22). Buie was sentenced to serve consecutive sentences of thirty-five years at hard labor on count one and seven years at hard labor on count two, with both sentences to be served without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. Diggs was sentenced to serve consecutive sentences of seven years at hard labor for simple robbery and thirty-five years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for armed robbery.

Both defendants appeal their convictions and sentences, arguing in their briefs six assignments of error, which correspond to the six assignments of error formally urged of record by Buie. Diggs urged only three assignments of error of record. His three assignments correspond roughly to assignment numbers 1, 2 and 6 by Buie. However, Diggs argues in brief all six assignments of error urged of record by Buie.

The issue of whether or not assignments of error urged by one co-defendant may be presumed to have been urged by another was discussed, but not decided, in State v. Arbuthnot, 367 So.2d 296 (La.1979). Likewise, without deciding the issue, we will assume that assignments of error urged by Buie are available to Diggs.[2]

FACTS

On May 8, 1984, an alarm from Central Progressive Bank was received in the office of Sammy Broyles, Kentwood Chief of Police. He proceeded to the bank and was advised by the bank's manager that robberies had just been committed by two black males.

Shortly after the occurrence of the robberies, Kentwood policeman James Rhymes received a call to investigate the crimes. He proceeded to the bank, was informed of what occurred, and then began trying to locate the offenders. Bank personnel identified the robbers as two small black males. Rhymes received a description of a blue and a yellow vehicle as possibly involved in the robberies. In the course of his investigation, Rhymes saw a black and yellow Cadillac parked in the 13th Street area in front of Shirley Hall's house. Four or five persons were getting inside the vehicle, which fit the description of the vehicle possibly involved in the commission of the robberies. Since he was alone in his vehicle, Rhymes positioned his own vehicle at the end of the street and waited for the Cadillac to proceed. When it did, he got behind it. James Hall, in the back seat, turned around to look at Rhymes, who recognized him. After Hall turned back around, the other two men in the back seat continuously turned around, looking at Rhymes. After following the vehicle several blocks, Rhymes stopped the vehicle, approached it, and asked the driver to step out. The driver, Oliver Ross, informed the officer that, although he did not know them, he had been paid by the three men in the back seat to drive them to Hammond, Louisiana. Rhymes then moved the driver out of the way, raised the car seat forward and noticed a paper bag on the back floor board and a plastic shopping bag. The top of the paper bag was open. It was almost filled with currency, and on top was a Central Progressive Bank deposit receipt. Two hundred fifty dollars in bait money identified as belonging to the bank, was found among the currency in the paper bag. Law enforcement officers also recovered the guns used in the robberies. Defendants were arrested and advised of their constitutional rights.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

By means of this assignment, defendants contend that the trial court erred in overruling *161 their in-court identifications on the basis that the identifications were suggestive, not reliable, and violative of their rights to due process of law. In regard to this assignment, in Buie's brief, reference is to identification of him by the bank's manager, Gary Travis; and in Diggs' brief, reference is to identification of him by bank tellers, Tammy Cutrer and Donna Givens.

The bill of information charged defendants in count one with the armed robbery of Gary Travis, Phyllis Miller, Tammy Cutrer, and Donna Givens. In count two, defendants were charged with the armed robbery of Gary Travis.

The robberies occurred between about 1:15-1:25 p.m. on the afternoon of May 8, 1984. The trial was conducted on October 17-19, 1984. At the time of the commission of the crimes, no customers were in the bank. The only persons present, other than the robbers, were the three bank employees who made in-court identifications and a fourth bank employee, Phyllis Miller, who could not identify either of the robbers.

Tammy Cutrer, a "drive up teller" at the bank, testified that she was standing in the middle of the bank when she first became aware that a robbery was in progress. One of the robbers came in through the door and jumped over the counter. He had a stocking over his face and was holding a gun, pointing it at her and other bank employees. The robber handed Tammy a grocery bag and told her to give him all of her money. After she did so, he tied her hands and pushed her against a desk. She just laid there. The robber was standing in front of her, and she looked at his face.

Tammy further testified that the robber was in her and Donna Givens' area for 3 or 4 minutes. She stated that the stocking worn by the robber was a clear lady's stocking through which she could see his face. It did not distort his features to the extent that she could not identify him.

Tammy was asked to look at the counsel table and indicate whether or not she saw the robber. She identified Diggs. When asked if there was any question in her mind that Diggs was the robber, she responded, "No, sir, I know it is."

Donna Givens, a bank teller, was at her window when one of the robbers entered through the door and jumped over the counter. He was holding a gun. She fell on the floor and did not get up during the course of the robbery. The robber grabbed her hands and tied them behind her back.

When the robber came through the door, she looked straight at his face. He was wearing pantyhose over his face; eyeholes were cut out. The stocking did not distort his face. She testified that she did get a sufficient look at the robber to make an identification. She made an in-court identification of Diggs as the robber. She said there was no question in her mind.

Gary Travis, vice-president and manager of the bank, was seated in front of a desk in the lobby, working with another employee, Phyllis Miller, when one of the robbers came through the door. The robber went over the counter and told everyone not to move, that it was a "hold up".

A second robber entered and pointed a gun at Gary and Phyllis. The robber told Phyllis to get the money. Gary stayed seated until the robber told him to go with her. They went behind the teller cages where the robber gave Phyllis a bag and told her to fill it with all the money.

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Bluebook (online)
477 So. 2d 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-buie-lactapp-1985.