State v. Cojoe

785 So. 2d 898, 2001 WL 540954
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 21, 2001
Docket2000-KA-1856
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 785 So. 2d 898 (State v. Cojoe) 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. Cojoe, 785 So. 2d 898, 2001 WL 540954 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

785 So.2d 898 (2001)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Ronald W. COJOE.

No. 2000-KA-1856.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

March 21, 2001.

*899 Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Juliet Clark, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, LA, for plaintiff/appellee.

Sherry Watters, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, LA, for defendant/appellant.

Court composed of Chief Judge BYRNES, and WALTZER and KIRBY, JJ.

BYRNES, Chief Judge.

STATEMENT OF CASE

On October 6, 1999, the appellant was charged with one count each of unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.[1] At his arraignment on October 26th he pled not guilty to both counts. On November 29th, a six-person jury found him guilty as charged on both counts. On December 10, 1999, the court sentenced the defendant on both counts to serve two years at hard labor, the sentences to run concurrently. On that same date, the court granted the appeal, denied the appellant's motion for reconsideration, and set the multiple bill hearing for January 5, 2000. The matter was reset a few times, and on February 4, 2000, the court found the defendant to be a multiple offender. The court vacated the original sentence and imposed a sentence of three years at hard labor without benefits of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The appeal record was lodged in this court on August 29th. The appellant filed his brief on September 11th, and the State responded on December 20, 2000.

FACTS

On July 15, 1999, Helen Cojoe returned to her home to discover her husband's Lincoln had been taken from her back yard. Ms. Cojoe testified that the car had been parked behind a fence before she left to visit her husband Alvin in the hospital that morning. When she returned from the hospital, she noticed the yard was empty and the lock had been broken off of the gate to the yard. Ms. Cojoe testified she called the police to report the theft. Soon thereafter, her granddaughter, Tanya Encalarde, called to tell her that the car was parked at Tanya's mother's house on Desire Street. Ms. Cojoe notified the police and asked that an officer meet her at the Desire Street house. She testified that when she arrived at the house, she asked Tanya's husband to disconnect the car's battery to insure the car could not be moved. Tanya then told her that the defendant Ronald Cojoe, Ms. Cojoe's son, was asleep inside the house. At that point, police officers arrived, entered the house, and arrested the defendant. Ms. Cojoe testified the officers then gave her keys to the car, as well as a ring of keys to her husband's trucks, which they had seized from the defendant.

Ms. Cojoe testified that her husband Alvin had been in the hospital for a few weeks at the time the defendant took the car, and Alvin had been in no condition to give the defendant permission to take the car because he had a tube down his throat and could not talk. She testified the car was Alvin's separate property. She also testified she did not give the defendant permission to take the car. On cross-examination, *900 she admitted the defendant would chauffeur Alvin places and that the defendant had keys to all of Alvin's cars and trucks. She also admitted the defendant had keys to the house she shared with Alvin. She stated her husband was still in the hospital at the time of trial.

Tanya Cojoe Encalarde testified that she is the defendant's daughter. She stated that the defendant and her mother Janice had divorced two years prior to the incidents in this case, and even though the defendant lived with Janice off and on after the divorce, he was not living with Janice in July, 1999. She did not know, however, where he was living because she had not heard from him for approximately two and a half weeks. Tanya testified her mother was in Texas. Tanya stated that before Janice left town, she asked Tanya to check with the alarm company because Janice had changed the locks on the doors and had left the keys with a cousin. Tanya testified that Janice told her she had changed the locks on the door to keep the defendant out of the house while she was away.

Tanya testified that on July 15th, she drove by her mother's house and saw her grandfather's car parked outside. She went to the front door and noticed a pane had been broken in the door. She notified the police. Then she and her husband went inside the house and found the defendant asleep in her mother's bedroom. She testified she called her grandmother and told her the car was parked at Janice's house. Tanya testified that when the defendant awoke, he told her he broke the glass in the door to get inside the house. She testified that when she told him he should have asked her to let him inside the house, he replied that he did not care if Janice would argue about his being there because he was tired of listening to her.

Tanya testified that she met with her grandmother outside the house. Tanya's husband was asked by her grandmother to disconnect the car's battery to keep it from being moved. At that point, the police arrived. She led the officers inside the house, where they arrested the defendant. Tanya stated that the defendant had some of his possessions in the house, but they were kept in the basement.

Janice Cojoe testified that she and the defendant had been married for many years, but they had divorced approximately two years prior to July, 1999. She testified the community property settlement gave her the right to live in the house, and she pays the mortgage on the house. She stated that the defendant lived with her off and on after the divorce, but she had put him out of the house in mid-June, 1999, and he was not living there on July 15th. She testified she had changed the locks on the door to keep him out of the house. She testified she spoke with the defendant a few days before leaving town and told him she was going to be out of town. She testified he did not ask her permission to go into the house while she was away, and she did not give him permission to enter the house in her absence. She testified the glass in the door was intact when she left town on July 14th. She testified she had some sort of restraining order placed on him prior to this incident. She admitted some of the defendant's clothing and furniture remained in the house.

The officer who responded to the residence burglary call at Janice's house testified there were no men's clothing in the bedroom where he found the defendant. He testified the defendant was asleep when he arrived, and the officer awoke him and arrested him. He stated the defendant made no statements at his arrest. However, the officer who was investigating *901 the car theft testified that after he arrived at the house, the defendant admitted he did not have permission to be inside the house.

Ronald Cojoe denied entering his exwife's house without permission, and he also denied taking his father's car without permission. He insisted that although he and his wife were divorced, they lived together off and on after the divorce. He stated that although his ex-wife had put him out of the house a few weeks prior to his arrest, he did not know she had permanently banned him from the house. He denied that she had gotten a restraining order against him. He maintained the mortgage to the house was in his name, along with a second mortgage which he and his sister had gotten on the house, but he admitted his ex-wife had received the house in the community property settlement. He stated he still had clothes, furniture, and a computer at her house.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
785 So. 2d 898, 2001 WL 540954, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cojoe-lactapp-2001.