State v. Chaney

537 So. 2d 313, 1988 WL 141458
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 20, 1988
Docket88KA0686, 88KA0687
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 537 So. 2d 313 (State v. Chaney) 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. Chaney, 537 So. 2d 313, 1988 WL 141458 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

537 So.2d 313 (1988)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Ellillya CHANEY a/k/a Illya Chaney.
STATE of Louisiana
v.
Ellillya CHANEY a/k/a Illya Chaney.

Nos. 88KA0686, 88KA0687.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 20, 1988.
Writ Denied April 14, 1989.

Bryan Bush, Dist. Atty., Office of the Dist. Atty., Baton Rouge by Richard Sherburne, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Office of the Public Defender, Baton Rouge by Jack Nossaman, Asst. Public Defender, for defendant-appellant.

Before WATKINS, CRAIN and ALFORD, JJ.

*314 WATKINS, Judge.

Illya Chaney (a/k/a Ellillya Chaney) was charged by bill of information with simple burglary, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:62. He pled not guilty, was tried by jury and was found guilty as charged. Defendant was subsequently charged, adjudged and sentenced as a Second Felony Habitual Offender. The court sentenced defendant to a twenty-four year term of imprisonment at hard labor, to be served consecutively to any sentence presently being served. He has appealed, urging eight assignments of error:

1. The trial court erred by overruling defense counsel's objection to Officer Lively's testimony at trial, stating his opinion as to "what is usual or unusual regarding fingerprints."
2. The trial court erred by allowing defendant to be fingerprinted in open court at the habitual offender hearing.
3. The trial court erred by allowing state exhibit number 5 to be introduced into evidence at defendant's habitual offender hearing.
4. The trial court erred by allowing the state to recall Mr. Piedrahita to testify at the habitual offender hearing.
5. The trial court erred by allowing state exhibits 9 and 10 into evidence at the habitual offender hearing.
6. The trial court erred when it adjudged defendant a habitual offender.

7. The evidence was insufficient to convict defendant.

8. The trial court erred by imposing an excessive sentence and failing to comply with the sentencing guidelines contained in LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 894.1.

In brief, defendant expressly abandoned assignments one through six, stating that they lacked merit.

The record reflects that the instant offense occurred on April 7, 1987, at approximately 3:00 a.m. in the parking lot outside a private social club located on North Boulevard in Baton Rouge. A Toyota van belonging to Mary Gayle Mitchell, a member of the club, was broken into and entered by three men. The point of entry was apparently the van's left front door. The glass window of the door had been smashed to pieces. Mitchell determined that a fur coat (for which she had paid $115.00), an empty cassette holder and a check were missing from the van.

The record reveals that the instant offense was in progress when state witnesses, Jesse Chase and his girlfriend, Jacqueline Payne, exited the door of the club which leads to the parking lot. The testimony given by Chase and Payne revealed that three men were inside or partially inside the van. Two of the men broke and ran from the scene toward North Boulevard. Chase pursued the third man who Payne described as crippled. The third man tried to run and got inside another car parked in the parking lot. Lenville Small, the operator of the social club, had been alerted by Chase as to the instant offense; and he used his car to block the car occupied by the third man. Thereupon, the third man got out of the car and was apparently prevented from leaving by the witnesses and/or others.

Payne and Chase made in-court identifications of defendant as the third man. Additionally, Small testified that it was Illya Chaney that he had blocked with his car, although he learned defendant's name only after the instant offense.

Lenville Small telephoned the police. Baton Rouge City Police Officer Rosalind Marshall received a call informing her of the instant offense and that a suspect was in custody. In response, she went to the crime scene. According to Marshall, defendant had rags wrapped around his hands and was walking with a limp. Consistent with testimony given by Chase and Payne, Marshall stated that defendant had a wooden cane (which he apparently used to aid him in walking). Marshall advised defendant of his Miranda rights, but she did not question him. Defendant, however, told Marshall that he "didn't do it," that he had been walking home from his girlfriend's house when two people asked him if he wanted a ride in a car, that he accepted the offer, that when they arrived at the scene they got out of the car, and that his purpose in getting out was to "use the *315 bathroom." Defendant told Marshall that he urinated and apparently pointed out to her the location where he allegedly urinated near a fence on a cement surface having no area of open ground. Marshall checked the location carefully, but she neither found a "urine spot," nor did she detect the odor of urine.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 7:

By means of this assignment, defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of simple burglary. Defendant's argument centers around his assertion that the state failed to prove his identity as the perpetrator. Defendant also argues that the evidence "at best" establishes a reasonable inference of guilt but that it is not sufficient to exclude all reasonable hypotheses of innocence.[1]

Initially, we note that, in order to challenge a conviction on the basis of insufficiency of the evidence, defendant should have proceeded by way of a motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal. See LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 821. Nevertheless, we will consider a claim of insufficiency of the evidence which has been briefed pursuant to a formal assignment of error.

The standard of review for the sufficiency of the evidence to uphold a conviction is whether or not, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational trier of fact could conclude that the state proved the essential elements of the crime and defendant's identity as the perpetrator of that crime beyond a reasonable doubt. See LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 821; State v. Johnson, 461 So.2d 673 (La.App. 1st Cir.1984); State v. Korman, 439 So.2d 1099 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1983). Where the key issue is a defendant's identity as the perpetrator, rather than whether or not the crimes were committed, the state is required to negate any reasonable probability of misidentification. State v. Holts, 525 So.2d 1241 (La.App. 1st Cir.1988).

When circumstantial evidence is used to prove the commission of the offense, LSA-R.S. 15:438 mandates that "assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypotheses of innocence." This is not a purely separate test from the Jackson standard to be applied instead of a sufficiency of the evidence test whenever circumstantial evidence forms the basis of the conviction. Ultimately, all evidence, both direct and circumstantial, must be sufficient under Jackson to satisfy a rational juror that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Due process requires no greater burden. State v. Garcia, 483 So. 2d 953 (La.1986).

LSA-R.S. 14:62 provides in pertinent part as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
537 So. 2d 313, 1988 WL 141458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-chaney-lactapp-1988.