State v. Collins

886 So. 2d 1149, 2004 WL 2290620
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 12, 2004
Docket04-KA-255
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 886 So. 2d 1149 (State v. Collins) 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. Collins, 886 So. 2d 1149, 2004 WL 2290620 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

886 So.2d 1149 (2004)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Christopher COLLINS.

No. 04-KA-255.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

October 12, 2004.

*1151 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Appellate Counsel, Andrea F. Long, Counsel of Record on Appeal, Kenneth Bordelon, Trial Counsel, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Martin E. Regan, Jr., Kris A. Moe, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant/Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges JAMES L. CANNELLA, MARION F. EDWARDS and WALTER J. ROTHSCHILD.

JAMES L. CANNELLA, Judge.

The Defendant, Christopher Collins, appeals from his two convictions of operating a vehicle while intoxicated (DWD), fourth offense, and operating a vehicle while his license was suspended, and his respective sentences For the reasons which follow, we affirm.

*1152 On June 1, 2002, Officer Jennifer Sedgebeer, with the Kenner Police Department, was on patrol when she came upon the scene of an automobile accident at the intersection of Williams Boulevard and Vintage Drive involving two vehicles. She stopped and investigated the accident. Two of the four occupants in one vehicle were hurt and an ambulance was called. Officer Sedgebeer then approached the Defendant, the driver of the second vehicle, to determine if he was injured. The Defendant indicated that he was not. She detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from the Defendant. She asked the Defendant if he had been drinking and he replied that he had consumed five beers and had become confused. Officer Sedgebeer conducted a field sobriety test consisting of the eye test which revealed nystagmus. The Defendant refused additional field sobriety tests[1] but Officer Sedgebeer noted on the observation sheet that the Defendant had slurred speech and was unable to stand. Officer Sedgebeer placed the Defendant under arrest and he was transported to jail. The Defendant subsequently refused to submit to the Intoxilyzer breath test.

The Defendant was charged in a bill of information on August 29, 2002 with Count one, third offense DWI in violation of La. R.S. 14:98(D), Count two, failure to yield the right of way in violation of La. R.S. 32:122, and Count three, operating a vehicle while license was suspended in violation of La. R.S. 32:415.[2] He pled not guilty and filed several pre-trial motions. Count one of the bill was subsequently amended on March 17, 2003 to charge the Defendant with fourth offense DWI in violation of La. R.S. 14:98(E). The Defendant was re-arraigned on the amended charge and again pled not guilty. Thereafter, the Defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence and a motion to quash the second, third and fourth DWI offenses, or predicate pleas, because he was not properly Boykinized.[3] These motions were denied after a hearing on April 29, 2003.

During a bench trial on July 9, 2003, following Officer Sedgebeer's testimony to the above facts, the Defendant presented three defense witnesses: his father, William Collins (Collins), a friend, Tony Strehle (Strehle), and a psychologist, Dr. Edward Shwery.[4] According to Strehle, he had been with the Defendant all day on the date of the accident and did not see him drinking alcohol. Both he and Collins stated that the Defendant had stopped drinking a year to a year and a half prior to the accident. Strehle testified that the Defendant had not been feeling well that day and had taken NyQuil and Tylenol cold medicine. He stated that the Defendant had taken NyQuil prior to leaving the lake to go home that night. Strehle further *1153 testified that the Defendant's truck smelled of beer because he and his friends had borrowed the truck the weekend before and had thrown beer cans in the bed of the truck. According to Strehle and Collins, the beer cans were still in the bed of the truck on the day of the accident.

Dr. Shwery, who examined the Defendant after the incident, testified that the Defendant suffered various mental problems including depression and anxiety. He stated that the Defendant suffers from panic attacks but could not state whether the Defendant's psychological makeup or a panic attack caused the accident at issue.

The trial court found the Defendant guilty of fourth offense DWI (count one) and driving with a suspended license (count three) and not guilty of failing to yield the right of way (count two). The Defendant was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor on the fourth offense DWI conviction, with sixty days to be served without parole, probation or suspension of sentence. The remainder of his sentence was suspended and he was placed on home incarceration for four years after serving the sixty days. He was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. For his driving with a suspended license conviction, the Defendant was sentenced to seven days incarceration at hard labor without parole, probation or suspension of sentence, which was ordered to run consecutive to his sentence on count one, and he was ordered to pay a $300 fine. It is from these two convictions and the corresponding sentences that the Defendant appeals. On appeal, the Defendant only assigns one error, challenging his conviction for DWI as a fourth offender.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

The Defendant argues that the trial court erred in failing to quash two of the three predicate offenses upon which the fourth offense DWI charge was based on the grounds that there was no showing that the predicate pleas were knowing and voluntary. The Defendant challenges the second and third predicate offenses which are based on convictions in Jefferson Parish and St. Tammany Parish, respectively.

Regarding the second predicate offense, the Defendant maintains that the State only provided a waiver of rights form and failed to provide minutes or a transcript of the plea. He contends that the waiver of rights form with nothing more is insufficient to show that he knowingly and intelligently waived his rights. As for the third predicate offense, the Defendant asserts that the guilty plea was based on an understanding that an earlier St. Charles DWI conviction could not be used against him in the future. Because the St. Charles DWI conviction was being used in this case as the first predicate offense, the Defendant argues that his guilty plea to the St. Tammany charge and resulting conviction was not knowingly and intelligently entered.

The law is well settled that there is a presumption of regularity that attaches to prior convictions in multiple offender DWI cases and the burden is on the defendant to show the prior plea is constitutionally deficient. State v. Nabak, 03-919 (La.App. 5th Cir.12/30/03), 864 So.2d 758, 760. When a defendant challenges the constitutionality of a predicate guilty plea involving the recidivist portion of the DWI statute, the State has the initial burden of proof to show the existence of a guilty plea and that the defendant was represented by counsel when the plea was entered. State v. Carlos, 98-1366 (La.7/7/99), 738 So.2d 556, 559. If the State meets this burden, the burden shifts to the defendant to produce affirmative evidence showing an infringement of his rights or a procedural irregularity in the *1154 taking of the plea. If the defendant carries his burden, the burden shifts back to the State to prove the constitutionality of the plea.[5]Id.

In proving the constitutionality of the plea, the State must produce either a "perfect" transcript of the Boykin

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
886 So. 2d 1149, 2004 WL 2290620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-collins-lactapp-2004.