State v. Cobb

144 So. 3d 17, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1593, 2014 WL 1258543, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 838
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 27, 2014
DocketNo. 2013 KA 1593
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 144 So. 3d 17 (State v. Cobb) 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. Cobb, 144 So. 3d 17, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1593, 2014 WL 1258543, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 838 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

CRAIN, J.

|?The defendant, John Cobb, was charged by grand jury indictment with three counts of theft of over $500, violations of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:67(B)(1).1 He pled not guilty and, following a jury trial, was found guilty on all counts. On each count, the trial court imposed a suspended sentence of five years imprisonment at hard labor, and placed the defendant on supervised probation for a period of five years, which time was ordered to run concurrent. A $1,000 fine was imposed on each count, with the fines ordered to run consecutive. On count one, the defendant was additionally sentenced to perform 180 days of public service and to make restitution to a maximum indemnity of $15,000. Finally the defendant was ordered to pay court costs as to each count. The defendant now appeals, arguing the insufficiency of the evidence to convict and ineffective assistance of counsel. We affirm the convictions and sentences imposed on counts one and two. We reverse the conviction and sentence imposed on count three.

FACTS

In 2006, the members of Union Bethel Family Church,2 located in West Feliciana Parish, undertook construction of a new sanctuary. The church could not afford to hire a contractor; therefore, the members determined they would perform much of the work themselves. The church members agreed to designate the defendant, who was both a church member and a member of the church’s Board of Directors, as the church’s “subcontractor.” A document memorializing that agreement was signed by the church’s pastor, a representative of the Board of Directors, and the church’s Deacon Chairman, which specified that the defendant’s services were to be rendered at no cost to the church. The defendant was solely in | ^charge of the construction project.

In 2009, a church member was notified that the church’s bank account was overdrawn. After receiving copies of checks drawn on the church’s account, the church [21]*21member became convinced that the church’s finances were not being handled appropriately and notified law enforcement. Sergeant Lance Kennedy with the Louisiana State Police began investigating the matter. During the course of his investigation, Sergeant Kennedy subpoenaed records, interviewed witnesses, including the defendant, and discerned that the defendant entered into the following schemes to enrich himself:

$80,000.00 Donation

In December of 2008, a check in the amount of $80,000 was issued to the church by Feliciana’s Enrichment Center, Inc. The defendant presented the check to Highlands Bank in St. Francisville, and received a cashier’s check in the amount of $15,000 payable to E.C. Construction, and a cashier’s check in the amount of $65,000 payable to the church. The $15,000 cashier’s check was endorsed by both “E.C. Construction” and “J.C. Construction,” with $13,000 deposited into the defendant’s personal bank account and $1,265.30 used to make a payment on a loan owed by the defendant. The $65,000 cashier’s check was deposited into the church’s account at Bank of St. Francisville. At the same time, two checks, each in the amount of $25,000, were drawn on the church’s account. The first was payable to John B. Perry and included the notation “Contra[c]tor Services” and the second was payable to David Deloach and included the notation “Sub-Contra[c]tor.” Checks drawn on the bank’s account required two authorized signatures. Both of the $25,000 checks were signed by authorized signatories Carol Cobb (the defendant’s wife who was also the church’s secretary) and Louisa Jones (Carol Cobb’s mother who was also the church’s under-secretary).

|4The investigation revealed that the above described transactions were a scheme to pass insurance money received by the Enrichment Center through the church and into the hands of the Enrichment Center’s president, Oliver Wingfield, and vice-president, George Veal. Of the $80,000 donated by the Enrichment Center to the church, the church ultimately kept $15,000, Wingfield received approximately $23,500 from Deloach, and Veal received money from Perry.3 The balance of the donation, represented by the $15,000 cashier’s check payable to E.C. Construction, was negotiated by the defendant, with a portion deposited into his personal account and a portion used to make a personal loan payment.

Payment for Steeple Construction

The church issued a check dated May 27, 2009, to the defendant in the amount of $5,120.83 with the notation “Steeple (Mtrl & Labor).” The check was signed by Carol Cobb and Louisa Jones. On May 28, 2009, the defendant presented that check to Bank of St. Francisville, received $1,570.83 in cash, and deposited the $3,550 balance into his personal checking account. Sergeant Kennedy’s investigation revealed that the defendant paid laborers only $4,000 to build the church’s steeple in early 2010.

Payments to Jerome Gray

During the course of the construction project, the church began paying some individuals for their labor. Checks were issued to Jerome Gray for his work at the church, which Gray asked the defendant to cash. The investigation revealed eleven checks payable to Gray. Four of those checks bear the names of both Gray and the defendant as endorsers. During the [22]*22investigation, Gray denied signing those checks or receiving the money payable by them. The total amount of those checks | r,exceeded $500.

The defendant maintains that he did not misappropriate any church funds. On appeal the defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the three convictions and that his trial counsel was so ineffective as to undermine confidence in the jury’s verdicts.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

A conviction based on insufficient evidence cannot stand as it violates Due Process. See U.S. Const, amend. XIV; La. Const, art. I, § 2. 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, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). See La.Code Crim. Pro. art. 821(B); State v. Ordodi, 06-0207 (La.11/29/06), 946 So.2d 654, 660; State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305, 1308-09 (La. 1988). The Jackson standard of review, incorporated in Article 821, is an objective standard for testing the overall evidence, both direct and circumstantial, for reasonable doubt. When analyzing circumstantial evidence, Louisiana Revised Statute 15:438 provides that the factfinder must be satisfied the overall evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. See State v. Patomo, 01-2585 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/21/02), 822 So.2d 141,144.

Louisiana Revised Statute 14:67A provides:4

Theft is the misappropriation or taking of anything of value which belongs to another, either without the consent of the other to the misappropriation or taking, or by means of fraudulent conduct, practices, or representations. An intent to deprive the other permanently of whatever may be the subject of the misappropriation or taking is essential.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 So. 3d 17, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1593, 2014 WL 1258543, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 838, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cobb-lactapp-2014.