State v. Craig

123 So. 3d 1239, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 226, 2013 WL 5539312, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2050
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 9, 2013
DocketNo. 13-226
StatusPublished

This text of 123 So. 3d 1239 (State v. Craig) 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. Craig, 123 So. 3d 1239, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 226, 2013 WL 5539312, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2050 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

GREMILLION, Judge.

_|jln January 2009, the victim, Matthew Cannon, walked into his home in Grant Parish after work. While his home com[1241]*1241puter was wanning up, he entered his bathroom and brushed his teeth. After he finished, he walked toward his bedroom and noticed there were objects on his bed that he did not place there. He also saw that his gun cabinet had been emptied. He then looked to his right, into his son’s bedroom, and saw a masked man with a gun. The gunman fired from close range, and the victim dropped to the floor, thinking he had been shot.

Cannon then managed to scramble out of the house. The gunman also left the house, apparently by another exit. The victim saw the gunman outside and recognized him as Defendant because he had removed his mask. Defendant was Cannon’s neighbor. Defendant ran toward his family home while the victim ran to another neighbor’s house. The gunman shot at the victim one more time from his family’s driveway, then walked toward his house. The victim reached his other neighbor’s back door; they supplied him with a telephone, and he called 911.

The State filed a bill of information charging Defendant, Corey Joseph Craig, with aggravated burglary, a violation of La.R.S. 14:60; armed robbery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:64; attempted armed robbery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and La. R.S. 14:64; attempted first degree murder, a violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and La.R.S. 14:30; and obstruction of justice, a violation of La.R.S. 14:130.1, all in connection with the above described events.

Defendant moved for the appointment of a sanity commission; the trial court granted the motion and held a hearing. It found that Defendant had the mental capacity to assist his defense. The court arraigned him at that time. He subsequently waived his right to a jury trial.

| gAfter trial had begun, the court conducted another hearing on Defendant’s competency and found no reasonable ground for appointment of another sanity commission. Defendant took a writ of review, which this court denied. State v. Craig, 11-240 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/28/11) (an unpublished opinion). At the conclusion of the trial, the court found Defendant guilty of aggravated burglary, attempted armed robbery, and attempted first degree murder. He was found not guilty on the two remaining charges.

The court sentenced Defendant to thirty years at hard labor for aggravated burglary; thirty years at hard labor, with the first five years to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, for attempted armed robbery; and thirty years at hard labor, with the first ten years to be served without benefits, for attempted first degree murder.

Defendant now appeals, assigning five errors regarding his conviction and sentencing.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

In his first assignment of error, Defendant argues that the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to uphold his conviction for attempted armed robbery. The analysis for such a claim is settled and has been explained by this court:

When the issue of sufficiency of evidence is raised on appeal, the critical inquiry of the reviewing court is whether, after 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 proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, rehearing denied, 444 U.S. 890, 100 S.Ct. 195, 62 L.Ed.2d 126 (1979); State ex rel. Graffagnino v. King, 436 So.2d 559 (La.1983); State v. Duncan, 420 So.2d 1105 (La.1982); [1242]*1242State v. Moody, 393 So.2d 1212 (La.1981). It is the role of the fact finder to weigh the respective credibility of the witnesses, and therefore, the appellate court should not second guess the credibility determinations of the triers of fact beyond the sufficiency evaluations under the Jackson standard of review. See State ex rel. Graffagnino, 436 So.2d 559 (citing State v. Richardson, 425 So.2d 1228 (La.1983)). In order for this Court to affirm a conviction, however, the record must reflect that the state has satisfied its burden of proving the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

State v. Kennerson, 96-1518, p. 5 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/7/97), 695 So.2d 1367, 1371.

Armed robbery is defined by La.R.S. 14:64(A): “Armed robbery is the taking of anything of value belonging to another from the person of another or that is in the immediate control of another, by use of force or intimidation, while armed with a dangerous weapon.” Attempt is defined by La.R.S. 14:27(A):

Any person who, having a specific intent to commit a crime, does or omits an act for the purpose of and tending directly toward the accomplishing of his object is guilty of an attempt to commit the offense intended; and it shall be immaterial whether, under the circumstances, he would have actually accomplished his purpose.

In delivering its verdict on the offense at issue, the trial court stated:

The [SJtate has alleged that Mr. Craig had the specific intent to commit robbery. Mr. Craig’s statement to the police was that he intended to lie and wait for Mr. Cannon to come home, secure him, obtain his ATM card and his pin number, steal his truck, go to Mr. Cannon’s bank and take money and go from there. At a minimum, that is an attempt to commit Armed Robbery. The evidence also shows that once Mr. Craig entered the home, that he broke into a locked gun cabinet and removed various items.... With respect to the crime of Armed Robbery, it is the Court’s opinion that Mr. Craig did intend to commit Armed Robber[y]. I think he had — the state admitted notes that were found that indicated planning. I think the statement that was presented, or description that was presented, was a casing of the place. Mr. Craig was taking notes of Mr. Cannon’s goings and comings. Mr. Craig had assembled various items on the couch in the living room, apparently indicating that was where he planned to extract the pin number and information and ATM card from Mr. Cannon. It is clear to the Court that Mr. Craig intended to attempt and [sic] Armed Robbery of Mr. Cannon. The way the events occurred, the Court is not of the opinion that anything was actually taken from the immediate person of Mr. Cannon. Those items were all retrieved prior to Mr. Cannon entering the residence. However, it is clear that the [State] has proven an attempted [sic] to commit Armed Robbery.

^Defendant's specific claim is that the evidence did not demonstrate that he took any steps in furtherance of an armed robbery; thus, the conviction rested upon the trial court’s use of Defendant’s description of his plan to rob the victim. Part of that plan was to bind the victim with duct tape, but the record, including crime scene photographs, does not demonstrate that duct tape was found at the scene. Defendant notes the following long-standing jurisprudence:

In the trial of every criminal case the State, to warrant a legal conviction of an accused, must prove the corpus delicti, or the fact that a crime has been committed. Without such proof no convic[1243]*1243tion will be permitted to stand. Under-hill, Criminal Evidence, sec. 35, p. 42 (4th ed.1935), states the rule as follows:

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
State v. Gamble
504 So. 2d 1100 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
State v. Pittman
683 So. 2d 748 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
State v. Hebert
716 So. 2d 63 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)
State v. Kennerson
695 So. 2d 1367 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)
State v. Coleman
35 So. 3d 1096 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2010)
State v. Richardson
425 So. 2d 1228 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Dorthey
623 So. 2d 1276 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1993)
State v. Cook
674 So. 2d 957 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1996)
State v. Farhood
844 So. 2d 217 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2003)
State v. Cox
4 So. 3d 998 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
State v. Pyke
670 So. 2d 713 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
State v. Doughty
379 So. 2d 1088 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1980)
State v. Brown
108 So. 2d 233 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1959)
State v. Sepulvado
367 So. 2d 762 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
State Ex Rel. Graffagnino v. King
436 So. 2d 559 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Kahey
436 So. 2d 475 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Duncan
420 So. 2d 1105 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
State v. Goodley
820 So. 2d 478 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2002)
State v. Brooks
814 So. 2d 72 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
123 So. 3d 1239, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 226, 2013 WL 5539312, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2050, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-craig-lactapp-2013.