State v. Deslatte

610 So. 2d 947, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 3690, 1992 WL 358368
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 20, 1992
DocketNo. 91 KA 1817
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 610 So. 2d 947 (State v. Deslatte) 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. Deslatte, 610 So. 2d 947, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 3690, 1992 WL 358368 (La. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

CRAIN, Judge.

Defendant, Eddie Paul Deslatte, Jr., was charged by bill of information with unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling and aggravated battery, violations of LSA-R.S. 14:62.3 and 34, respectively. Defendant entered pleas of not guilty and, after trial by jury, was found guilty as charged on both counts. Defendant was subsequently charged, adjudged and sentenced as a Second Felony Habitual Offender. The court sentenced defendant to twelve years at hard labor on each count to run concurrently. He has appealed, urging nine assignments of error. Assignments of error numbers six, seven and eight were not briefed on appeal and, therefore, are considered abandoned. Uniform Rules— Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-12.4.

The record reflects that the instant offenses occurred on November 9, 1990, in [949]*949Patterson, Louisiana, at the residence of Tanya Nicole Bogan. The victim lived at this location with her youngest sister and their mother, Karen Maria Gobert.

Tanya Bogan testified that, between 9:45 and 10:30 a.m., defendant entered her home and walked into her bedroom while she was alone. Earlier that morning, Gobert had gone to work and had taken her youngest daughter to school; and a door to the house had been left unlocked, which apparently allowed defendant1 to gain entrance to the home. When defendant walked into Tanya’s bedroom, she was dressed in her nightgown and had just awakened. Tanya, who testified that she did not at any time invite defendant into her house, asked defendant what he was doing there. When defendant told Tanya that he wanted to have sex with her, she answered in the negative and told him to leave. However, defendant did not leave; and Tanya told him that she would call the police. At that point, defendant cut her face with what she described as a silver razor blade2 and ripped her nightgown. Defendant then left the residence. Tanya telephoned her older sister, Marsha Arton, (who contacted the police) and her boyfriend, Byron Anthony Solar (who went to Tanya’s house). The police arrived at the victim’s home shortly after Solar. When Solar and the police arrived, the victim’s face was bleeding,3 her gown was torn and she was very upset and crying. Solar took the victim to the Patterson City Police Station where the police took photographs of the victim, State Exhibits S-l and S-2. S-l depicts the cut on the victim’s face; and S-2 depicts what the victim described during her testimony as a mark right above her right breast, which was inflicted when defendant ripped her gown off her.

During his trial testimony, defendant denied that he went to the victim’s home on November 9,1990, and that he cut or physically harmed the victim. Defendant stated that he first learned about the incident on November 10. According to defendant, on the night before the incident, he slept with Jessica, his girlfriend, in Bayou Vista. He got up the following morning at 8:30 a.m. and left home about fifteen minutes later. Defendant then hitchhiked to Morgan City, where he met a friend, Lester Chapman, Jr., at about 10:30 or 10:45 a.m. They talked for about fifteen minutes. Thereafter, defendant hitchhiked back to Bayou Vista.

To corroborate his own alibi testimony, defendant presented the testimony of Chapman. Chapman stated that on November 9, 1990, at about 10:50 or 11:05 a.m., he saw defendant in Morgan City near the Morgan City Bridge and that they engaged in a conversation for about fifteen minutes.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NUMBERS ONE AND FOUR:

By means of these assignments, defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of the instant crimes. Defendant essentially argues that the victim’s testimony lacked credibility and that her testimony standing alone is insufficient evidence to support these convictions.

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, an appellate court in Louisiana is controlled by the standard enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). That standard is that the appellate court must determine that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Captville, [950]*950448 So.2d 676, 678 (La.1984). The standard has been codified in LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 821.

Initially, we note that the testimony of the victim alone is sufficient to prove the elements of an offense. State v. Orgeron, 512 So.2d 467, 469 (La.App. 1st Cir.1987), writ denied, 519 So.2d 113 (La.1988). As the trier of fact, the jury was free to accept or reject, in whole or in part, the testimony of any witness. State v. Gordon, 582 So.2d 285, 292 (La.App. 1st Cir.1991). In finding defendant guilty of the instant crimes, it is obvious that the jury believed the victim’s testimony and rejected defendant’s testimony denying involvement in these crimes and the alibi testimony presented on defendant’s behalf. The credibility of the witnesses’ testimony is a matter of weight of the evidence. A determination of the weight to be given evidence is a question of fact for the trier of fact, not subject to appellate review. State v. Tate, 506 So.2d 546, 551 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 511 So.2d 1152 (La.1987).

After a careful review of the record, we are convinced that any rational trier of fact, viewing all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, could have concluded that the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling and aggravated battery. Accordingly, these assignments of error are without merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER TWO:

In this assignment, defendant contends that the trial court erred by denying his motion for new trial in which he claimed that new and material evidence had been discovered since the trial. Defendant attached to his motion an affidavit by Alice Deslatte revealing the nature of the alleged newly discovered evidence. The affidavit stated that Alice was in possession of photographs of defendant, the victim and the victim’s family, which show that the relationship of defendant to the victim and the victim’s family was totally different from and inconsistent with that related through the trial testimony given by the victim, the victim’s mother, and the victim’s sister.

In a motion for new trial based upon the discovery of new and material evidence, the burden is on the defendant to show that the new evidence was not discoverable prior to or during trial and that, if the evidence had been introduced at trial, the new evidence probably would have caused the trier of fact to reach a different verdict. State v. Clark, 558 So.2d 665, 669 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 564 So.2d 317 (La.1990). In evaluating whether or not the newly discovered evidence warrants a new trial, the test to be employed is not simply whether another jury might bring in a different verdict, but whether the new evidence is so material that it ought to produce a verdict different from that rendered at trial. State v. Spears, 504 So.2d 974, 979 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 507 So.2d 225 (La.1987).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Smith
974 So. 2d 79 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2007)
State v. Roblow
623 So. 2d 51 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
610 So. 2d 947, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 3690, 1992 WL 358368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-deslatte-lactapp-1992.