State v. Butler

15 So. 3d 1091, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 662, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 991, 2009 WL 1463437
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 26, 2009
Docket08-KA-662
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 15 So. 3d 1091 (State v. Butler) 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. Butler, 15 So. 3d 1091, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 662, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 991, 2009 WL 1463437 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

MARION F. EDWARDS, Judge.

12Pefendant/appellant, Dwayne Butler (“Butler”), appeals his convictions and sentences on two counts of armed robbery in violation of La. R.S. 14:64, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of La. R.S. 14:95.1. For reasons that follow, we affirm both the convictions and the sentences and remand the matter to the trial court for corrections of the commitment as instructed infra.

Butler was originally charged with the three crimes by bill of information. He entered a plea of not guilty to all three counts. Several defense motions were filed, including a motion to sever count three from the two armed robbery charges. The motions were denied.

Butler proceeded a to jury trial on all three counts and was found guilty. In due course, Butler was sentenced to serve forty-nine and one-half years at hard |3labor on each count of armed robbery, and fifteen years at hard labor on the possession of a firearm charge. All sentences were imposed without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, and were made to run concurrently with the other sentences.

Subsequently, the State filed a multiple bill of information pursuant to La. R.S. 15:529.1. Butler pled guilty to the charge of being a multiple offender. The trial court vacated the original sentence on count one (armed robbery) and imposed an enhanced sentence of forty-nine and one-half years without benefit of parole, probation, and suspension of sentence. The enhanced sentence was made to run concurrently with other sentences Butler was serving. This appeal followed.

FACTS

On August 22, 2006, at approximately 1:30 p.m., Debra Lindsey (“Ms. Lindsey”) went into the Rent-A-Center in Marrero to make a payment on a bill. An individual wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, later identified as Butler, came in behind her. Lakesha Smith (“Ms. Smith”), an employee of Rent-A-Center, assumed Ms. Lindsey and Butler were together, but discovered shortly afterward that they were not. Ms. Lindsey paid in cash and then turned around to leave. Butler followed Ms. Lindsey and robbed her. Butler told her, “Let me get that out you.” After Ms. Lindsey saw that Butler had a gun, she gave him all the money she had in her pocket, which she believed was over $200.

Butler returned to the counter, showed Ms. Smith a gun, and demanded money. Ms. Smith gave Butler money, which she testified was less than $400, and he left. After he ran out of the store, Ms. Smith pressed the panic button and called 911 to report the robbery. When Ms. Smith went to lock the front door, she observed Ms. Lindsey crying in her car. Ms. Lindsey had returned to her car and called 911. Ms. Lindsey gave the police a physical description of the robber and |4told police he was wearing a white T-shirt and jean shorts. The incident was captured by the Rent-A-Center’s surveillance cameras, and still photographs were compiled from the surveillance CD.

On the date of the incident, Patricia Charles (“Ms. Charles”) was working at a Subway restaurant across the street from the Rent-A-Center. Lieutenant Bruce Harrison (“Lieutenant Harrison”) of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office was canvassing the area after the robbery and went to the Subway. He spoke with Ms. Charles, who told police that a male with a white T-shirt and blue shorts had walked into the store earlier and had just stood by *1095 the fountain drinks. Ms. Charles recalled that, while he was in the restaurant, he spoke to a female deputy wearing a Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office uniform who came in every day to get a salad. After customers left and the male remained in the restaurant without ordering anything, Ms. Charles picked up the phone, and he ran out.

The police later learned the deputy who was at the Subway was Barbara Duskin. They spoke with her, and she recalled having a conversation with Butler while she was in line on the day of the robbery at Subway at approximately 1:20 p.m. She identified Butler by name and described him as wearing a white T-shirt and blue jean shorts.

After learning the perpetrator’s name, a photographic lineup was prepared. The victims were separately shown the lineup on the same day as the robberies. Both Ms. Smith and Ms. Lindsey identified Butler as the person who robbed them. An arrest warrant was prepared for Butler, and officers went to Butler’s home, knocked on the door, and announced, “Police.” Before anyone opened the door of the house, the police heard a loud noise coming from the rear of the house, which proved to be Butler attempting to climb through the window. Lieutenant Harrison |r,ran to the back and yelled for Butler to drop the gun he had in his hand. After a brief struggle, Butler dropped the gun and was handcuffed.

Sergeant John Carroll of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office showed a still photograph of the robber inside of the RenWA-Center to Butler’s mother, grandmother, and a family friend. They identified Butler. The officers were given consent to search the house, but no evidence was recovered.

At the detective bureau, after Butler was advised of his rights, he stated that he committed the robbery and explained he did it to pay off a drug debt. He also identified himself in the surveillance photograph.

At trial, the State also presented evidence of Butler’s prior conviction on a charge of distribution of cocaine in support of the convicted felon in possession of a firearm charge. It was stipulated that Deputy Asha Simon, a fingerprint expert, examined fingerprints taken from Butler when he was convicted of the distribution of cocaine charge, compared it to the fingerprints taken two days earlier, and found a match.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

In brief to this Court, Butler assigns three errors for our review. In the first, he argues that his challenges for cause seeking to reject certain possible jury members were wrongfully denied. The arguments in this assignment relate to two specific jury panel members, Fredric Watson (“Mr. Watson”) and Ismer Akinci (“Mr. Akinci”). The defense attorney challenged both jurors for cause, arguing that neither juror could follow the law, and they were incapable of being fair and impartial. Both challenges were denied by the trial court. Consequently, the defense used peremptory challenges to remove the two jurors.

The defense complaint against the prospective jurors is that the whole tone of their answers indicated that they expected the defendant to testify and would | r,hold it against him if he did not. Butler argues he used all of his allotted peremptory challenges, two of which were used on these jurors.

The State agrees that Butler exhausted all of his peremptory challenges but responds that, after Mr. Watson was instructed on the law, he stated he could follow the law and would not be biased against a defendant who chose not to testify. The State further contends that, al *1096 though Mr. Akinci initially stated a defendant should testify at trial, after being instructed on the law he stated he would follow the law and not hold defendant’s decision not to testify against him. The State adds that the other responses reflected the jurors’ ability to be impartial, and there was no evidence they were incapable of being unbiased or fair jurors.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 So. 3d 1091, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 662, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 991, 2009 WL 1463437, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-butler-lactapp-2009.