State v. Cogswell

918 So. 2d 590, 2005 WL 3579330
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 30, 2005
Docket05-510
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 918 So. 2d 590 (State v. Cogswell) 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. Cogswell, 918 So. 2d 590, 2005 WL 3579330 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

918 So.2d 590 (2005)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Donald COGSWELL, Jr.

No. 05-510.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

December 30, 2005.

*591 Ronald Augustin Rossitto, District Attorney — 14th Judicial District Court, Catherine Lynn Bartholomew, Carla Sue Sigler, Ric Oustalet, Assistant District Attorneys, Lake Charles, Counsel for: Plaintiff/Appellee — State of Louisiana.

Phyllis Elaine Mann, Alexandria, Counsel for: Defendant/Appellant — Donald Cogswell, Jr.

Court composed of ULYSSES GENE THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge, BILLY HOWARD EZELL, and J. DAVID PAINTER, Judges.

*592 THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge.

A jury convicted the Defendant, Donald Cogswell, Jr., of two counts of malfeasance in office, violations of La.R.S. 14:134, two counts of obscenity, violations of La.R.S. 14:106, one count of sexual battery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:43.1, and one count of attempted sexual battery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and 14:43.1. He appeals his convictions.

For the following reasons, we reverse the Defendant's convictions for malfeasance in office on the bases of double jeopardy and insufficient evidence and order the entry of a judgment of acquittal. We vacate the three-year sentences at hard labor on the two counts of obscenity. The sentences are indeterminate, and we are compelled to remand for resentencing so that the trial court may specify whether the sentences are to run concurrently or consecutively to each other. We affirm the convictions and sentences for sexual battery and attempted sexual battery.

ISSUES

We shall consider whether:

(1) the malfeasance in office convictions and the convictions for sexual battery and attempted sexual battery constitute double jeopardy;
(2) the evidence was insufficient to convict the Defendant of malfeasance in office; and,
(3) the Defendant had conflict-free representation.

FACTS

On the morning of August 12, the victim, J.A.[1], left a bar located on McNeese Street and was driving home. She was immediately pulled over by Defendant, who told her she had illegally stopped in the pedestrian walkway at a traffic light. He checked her license, proof of insurance, and vehicle registration. The Defendant then exposed his erect penis and told her to "grab it." After she touched him, he ordered her to pull up her shirt. She complied, but pulled her shirt down when he reached to touch her breast. He then asked her to go behind a store for a "quicky." When she refused, he wrote her two tickets and left.

On the morning of August 13, Defendant pulled the victim, S.C., over shortly after she left a bar located on Common Street. He told her he stopped her for speeding and had her move into a parking lot. The victim performed a field sobriety test at the behest of the Defendant who then told her that he was going to call for a DUI unit. While she was sitting in her car, he approached her and exposed his penis and repeatedly asked, "What are we going to do about this?" He then grabbed her by the back of her head and attempted to force her to perform oral sex. When she resisted his attempt, he left.

Double Jeopardy

Defendant argues that he was subjected to double jeopardy in violation of La.Code Crim.P. art. 591 when he was convicted of malfeasance in office and the sexual crimes. There is merit to this assertion.

Defendant was convicted of two counts of malfeasance in office, in violation of La.R.S. 14:134, which provides in the applicable parts that a public officer commits malfeasance in office when he performs "any duty lawfully required of him ... in an unlawful manner." Defendant was also convicted of one count of obscenity and one *593 count of sexual battery as to one of the victims, and one count of obscenity and attempted sexual battery as to the other victim. As the facts adduced at trial indicated, after Defendant made late night traffic stops of the two women during the course of his employment as a patrol officer, he then committed the sexual acts against them. The identical conduct was the basis for both the malfeasance convictions and the convictions for the sexual offences.

In State v. Vaughn, 431 So.2d 763 (La.1983), the accused was charged with one count of malfeasance in office and one count of theft. The Louisiana Supreme Court found that the unlawful manner by which Vaughn violated his affirmative duty as a police officer was to have committed theft when he took a suspect's gun, then sold the gun back to him. Vaughn was charged with malfeasance in office and theft of the gun. Both counts cited the unlawful and fraudulent taking of the money as the sole basis for the two counts. The Louisiana Supreme Court stated:

In State v. Knowles, 392 So.2d 651, 654 (La.1980), the Court citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), outlined the following criteria for examining violations of double jeopardy:
"... The applicable rule is that where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not..."
This rule is constitutionally required by the States. Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977), and is embodied in La.C.Cr.P. 596:
"Double jeopardy exists in a second trial only when the charge in that trial is: (1) Identical with or a different grade of the same offense for which the defendant was in jeopardy in the first trial, whether or not a responsive verdict could have been rendered in the first trial as to the charge in the second trial; or (2) Based on a part of a continuous offense for which offense the defendant was in jeopardy in the first trial."
Louisiana uses both the "Blockburger test" and the "same evidence test". State v. Steele, 387 So.2d 1175 (La.1980); State v. Doughty, 379 So.2d 1088 (La.1980); State v. Didier, 262 La. 364, 263 So.2d 322 (1972) and State v. Hayes, 412 So.2d 1323 (La.1982). When a defendant is charged with separate statutory crimes they need not be identical in elements or in actual proof to be the same within the meaning of the constitutional prohibition. State v. Hayes, 412 So.2d at 1325.
The Louisiana Supreme Court explains the "same evidence" test in State v. Steele, 387 So.2d 1175, (La.1980) as follows:
"If the evidence required to support a finding of guilt of one crime would also have supported conviction of the other, the two are the same offense under a plea of double jeopardy, and a defendant can be placed in jeopardy for only one. The test depends on the evidence necessary for conviction, not all the evidence introduced at trial ...
The `same evidence' test is somewhat broader in concept than Blockburger the central idea being that one should not be punished (or put in jeopardy) twice for the same course of conduct." Id. at 1177.
Double jeopardy provisions protect an accused not only from a second prosecution *594

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Bluebook (online)
918 So. 2d 590, 2005 WL 3579330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cogswell-lactapp-2005.