State v. Burton

116 So. 3d 863, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1321, 2013 WL 1912605, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 907
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 8, 2013
DocketNo. 2012-KA-1321
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 116 So. 3d 863 (State v. Burton) 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. Burton, 116 So. 3d 863, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1321, 2013 WL 1912605, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 907 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

EDWIN A. LOMBARD, Judge.

_JjThe Appellant, Lawrence E. Burton, appeals the re-imposition of a sentence, on remand, of thirty (30) years and an additional five (5) year sentence, to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension, for a violation of La.Rev.Stat. 14-M.&.1 Finding that the district court did not err, we affirm.

The facts of this matter were previously set forth by our court in State v. Burton, 09-0826 (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/14/10), 43 So.3d 1073.2 The facts pertinent to our review of the instant appeal are detailed herein.

Burton was arrested on June 2, 2008, charged with one count of La.Rev.Stat. 14:64.3, armed robbery where a firearm was used in the commission of the robbery, [866]*866and one count of La.Rev.Stat. 14:27(64.3), attempted armed robbery with a firearm. At trial, Burton was found guilty of one count of La.Rev.Stat. 14:64.3, and was later sentenced to serve thirty (30) years in the custody of the 1 ^Louisiana Department of Corrections without benefits to be served consecutively with any other sentences. However, the district court did not mention the enhancement provision found in La.Rev.Stat. 14:64.3, requiring that defendants found guilty thereof be sentenced to serve an additional five years without benefit of probation, parole or suspension.

Burton appealed the conviction citing various assignments of error, including arguing that his thirty-year sentence was excessive; nevertheless, we affirmed Burton’s conviction. Id., p. 11, 43 So.3d at 1080. Additionally, this Court further chose to pretermit any ruling on the excessive sentence assignment of error upon learning that the sentence itself made no reference to the firearm enhancement provision found in La.Rev.Stat. 14:64.3. Id, p. 2, 43 So.3d at 1076. We held that the omission rendered the sentence illegally indeterminate, and vacated the sentence of thirty years and remanded the case for resentencing. Id. (citing State v. Weaver, 38,322 (La.App. 2 Cir. 5/12/04), 873 So.2d 909, State v. McGinnis, (La.App. 3 Cir. 4/30/08) 981 So.2d 881, and State v. Price, 04-812 (La.App. 5 Cir. 3/1/05), 909 So.2d 612).

In March 2012, the trial court dismissed the State’s multiple bill and the case was closed. On April 18, 2012, the trial court convened a hearing for the purpose of resentencing Burton in accordance with this Court’s ruling. The trial court then sentenced Burton to serve: 1) thirty (30) years with the Louisiana Department of Corrections without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, and 2) an additional five years with the Department of Corrections without benefit of probation, parole or suspension, in accordance with the firearm enhancement. The total sentence of thirty-five (35) years is to be served concurrently with any other sentences he may be serving.

| aBurton timely appealed the trial court’s corrected sentence. Thereafter, Burton filed a pro se brief. In total, he raises three (3) assignments of error:

1) The trial court erred in going beyond the remand order and increasing the term of the sentence, after appeal;
2) The trial court erred in imposing an unconstitutionally excessive sentence under the circumstances of the offense and the offender, as to the pre-termitted issue from the original appeal, and
3) In his pro se brief, Burton argues that the district court did not have subject matter jurisdiction in this case where the State instituted prosecution against appellant for a non-offense.

The first assignment of error raised by Burton is that the trial court erred in going beyond the remand order and increasing the term of the sentence, after appeal. Burton argues that that the trial court misinterpreted the order of this Court in his prior appeal. He maintains that we never instructed the trial court to resentence him; rather, he avers that our Court asked only that the trial court state whether the firearm enhancement mandated by La.Rev.Stat. 14:64.3 of five years had been included in his thirty year sentence. The district court, he argues, erred in adding five years to his sentence pursuant to the firearm statute.

Article 882 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure, entitled Correction of illegal sentence; review of illegal sentence, provides in pertinent part:

[867]*867A. An illegal sentence may be corrected at any time by the court that imposed the sentence or by an appellate court on review.
B. A sentence may be reviewed as to its legality on the application of the defendant or of the state:
(1) In an appealable case by appeal; or
(2) In an unappealable ease by writs of certiorari and prohibition.

1¿Burton relies upon State v. Fraser, 484 So.2d 122, 124-125 (La.1986), in which the Supreme Court addressed article 882 and the issue of post-appellate sentence enhancement in opining:

Article 882 A, as amended, merely authorizes an appellate court to correct an illegal sentence on review. Nothing in the amendment suggests that an appellate court may correct an illegally lenient sentence of which the prosecutor has not complained. Article 882 B still requires an application for review of an illegal sentence by either the defendant or the prosecutor. Of course, the appellate court may correct a patent error when the matter is otherwise properly before the court on appeal, but there is no codal or statutory authority for an appellate court to search the record for patent sentencing errors to the detriment of the only party who sought review by the appellate court. [Emphasis added].

In Fraser, the Supreme Court further reasoned that an appellate court is prohibited, on an appeal taken by the defendant, from imposing a sentence more severe than the sentence from which the appeal was taken. Id. Burton argues essentially that when a defendant “alone seeks review of a conviction and sentence, the court of appeal should review only those issues raised by the defendant and any patent errors favorable to defendant” because when a court of appeal reviews a sentencing error that is unfavorable to a defendant it provides “a chilling effect on defendant’s exercise of his right to appeal.” State v. Napoli, 437 So.2d 868 (La.1983) (citing State v. Goodley, 398 So.2d 1068 (La.1981)).

Burton further argues that the State did not move to correct the trial court’s sentence as illegally lenient. With regard to the duty of the State to object timely to illegally lenient sentences, Burton cites State v. Washington, 522 So.2d 628, 634 (La.App.

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Bluebook (online)
116 So. 3d 863, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1321, 2013 WL 1912605, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-burton-lactapp-2013.