State v. Davis

224 So. 3d 1211, 17 La.App. 5 Cir. 81, 2017 WL 2807009, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1175
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided June 29, 2017·No. NO. 17-KA-81·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

CHEHARDY, C.J.

hOn appeal, defendant’s appointed appellate counsel has filed an Anders brief on defendant’s behalf asserting that there is no basis for a non-frivolous appeal. Further, defendant has filed a pro se supplemental brief alleging one assignment of error. For the following reasons, we affirm defendant’s convictions and sentences.

Facts and Procedural History

Because defendant pled guilty, the facts were not fully developed in the record. However, during the guilty plea colloquy, the State provided the following factual basis for the guilty plea:

On April 22nd, 2013, Lashawn Davis, Charlie Gumms, Davante Robertson, and Frankie Hookfin decided they would travel to the Lapalco Apartments with multiple firearms for the purpose of making a violent attack upon Vincent Jones using the firearms in their possession. All four men understood the purpose for their visit to the Lapalco Apartments.
Following their arrival an attack was perpetrated upon the apartment where Vincent Jones was located using an assault rifle and a handgun. Five people were shot during this attack.
Lashawn Davis engaged in conduct that furthered the aims of an enterprise by engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity and conspired with members of the Enterprise to distribute controlled dangerous substances that included cocaine, heroin and marijuana. This conduct which occurred between 2006 and 2015 including participating in the operation of a narcotics distribution network on the Westbank of Jefferson Parish wherein Enterprise members obtained [1214] controlled dangerous substances, including cocaine, heroin and marijuana, from associates and Enterprise members who transported the drugs into the New Orleans-metropolitan New Orleans area. This drug product was then sold on the streets for the profit of Enterprise members.
Members of the Enterprise who engaged in this activity on a daily basis, other than when one or more of them were in jail, included Lashawn Davis, Charlie Gumms, and other persons charged in the indictment.

On February 26, 2016, the Jefferson Parish grand jury indicted LaShawn Davis, defendant-herein, and twenty other co-defendants on thirty criminal counts for acts committed in furtherance of a narcotics distribution network in Jefferson I ^Parish, operated by a street gang known as the “Harvey Hustlers.” Specifically, defendant was charged with eight counts, including one count of racketeering, in violation of La. R.S. 16:1852; one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, in violation of La. R.S. 40:979 and La. R.S. 40:967(A); one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and marijuana, in violation of La. R.S. 40:979 and La. R.S. 40:966(A); and five counts of attempted second degree murder, violations of La. R.S. 14:27 and La. R.S. 14:30.1.

On March 9, 2015, defendant filed motions to suppress evidence, confession, and identification. Defendant pled not guilty to the charged offenses at his arraignment on March 16, 2015.

On November 30, 2015, defendant withdrew his prior pleas of not guilty, and pled guilty as charged. In accordance with the plea agreement, the court sentenced defendant as follows: for racketeering, twenty years imprisonment at hard labor; for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor; for conspiracy to distribute heroin,1 twenty years imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence; and for five counts of attempted second degree murder, twenty years imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence on each count. The court ordered that all of defendant’s sentences be served concurrently.

That same day, the State filed a multiple offender bill of information on count two alleging defendant to be a second felony offender. After defendant stipulated to the allegations of the multiple offender bill of information, the trial court vacated defendant’s sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and imposed an enhanced sentence of twenty years imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation or suspension of sentence pursuant to La. R.S. 15:529.1, concurrent with his other sentences.

[iiOn December 28, 2016, defendant filed an application for post-conviction relief requesting an out-of-time appeal, which was granted by the trial court on January 6, 2017. This appeal follows.

Anders brief

Under the procedure adopted by this Court in State v. Bradford, 95-929 (La. App. 5 Cir. 6/25/96), 676 So.2d 1108, 1110-11,2 appointed appellate counsel has filed a [1215] brief asserting that she has thoroughly reviewed the trial court record and cannot find any non-frivolous issues-.to raise on appeal. Accordingly, pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967) and State v. Jyles, 96-2669 (La. 12/12/97), 704 So.2d 241 (per curiam), appointed counsel requests permission to withdraw as counsel of record.

In Anders, supra, the United States Supreme Court stated that appointed appellate counsel may request permission to withdraw if she finds her case to be wholly frivolous after a conscientious examination of it.3 The request must .be accompanied by “ ‘a brief referring to anything in the record that might arguably support the appeal’ ” so as to provide, the reviewing court “with a basis for determining whether appointed counsel have fully performed their duty - to support their clients’ appeals to the best of th.eir ability” and to assist the reviewing court “in making the critical determination whether the appeal is indeed so frivolous that counsel should be permitted to withdraw.” McCoy v. Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, Dist. 1, 486 U.S. 429, 439, 108 S.Ct. 1895, 1902, 100 L.Ed.2d 440 (1988)(quotation omitted).

In Jyles, supra, the Louisiana Supreme Court stated that an Anders brief need not tediously catalog every meritless pretrial motion or objection made at trial with a detailed explanation of why the motions or objections lack merit. The Lsupreme court explained that an Anders brief must demonstrate by full discussion and analysis that appellate counsel “has cast an advocate’s eye over the trial record and considered "whether any ruling made by the trial court, subject to the contemporaneous objection rule, had a significant, adverse impact on shaping the evidence presented to the jury for its consideration.” Id.

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State v. Davis, 224 So. 3d 1211, 17 La.App. 5 Cir. 81, 2017 WL 2807009, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1175 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

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