State v. Desoto

6 So. 3d 141, 2009 La. LEXIS 663, 2009 WL 792342
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMarch 17, 2009
Docket2007-K-1804
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 6 So. 3d 141 (State v. Desoto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Desoto, 6 So. 3d 141, 2009 La. LEXIS 663, 2009 WL 792342 (La. 2009).

Opinions

JOHNSON, Justice.1

|, Jake Desoto (Desoto) shot and killed his friend, Kain Roy, (Roy) in a hunting accident. He was charged by bill of indictment with negligent homicide in violation of LSA-R.S 14:32. Following trial on the merits, an Avoyelles Parish jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty as charged. The trial court sentenced Desoto to serve five years without hard labor, with two years of the sentence suspended, and also ordered the defendant placed on supervised probation upon release from incarceration. A motion to reconsider sentence was denied. A Third Circuit majority affirmed the conviction on appeal. However, on rehearing, a split three-judge panel reversed the conviction, vacated the sentence, and entered a judgment of acquittal.2 We granted certiorari in this case to determine whether the appellate, court, on rehearing, erred in determining that the evidence did not support a finding of criminal negligence, and whether the court substituted its own findings of fact in place of-those of the trier of fact, the jury.3

[143]*143|-¿For reasons that follow, we reverse the ruling of the court of appeal, reinstate the jury verdict and sentence imposed by the trial court, and remand to the trial court for consideration of the sentencing error of failure to impose the probation supervision fee mandated by La.C.Cr.P. art. 895.1(C).

FACTS

On November 20, 2004, opening day of deer rifle season, Desoto, and his friend, Roy, set out from the hunting camp of Jerold Edward (Eddie) Knoll on an all terrain vehicle (four-wheeler) between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. to hunt deer in the northeast corner of the Knoll property and the adjacent Beauregard property. Both of the men had working cellular phones with them. According to the report of Tom Konvicka, (a consulting meteorologist), introduced at trial, the day was characterized by rain, cloudy skies and temperatures hovered in the upper 50’s to middle 60’s. Rainfall amounts in Avoyelles were generally between 0.50 and 1.50 inches. Fog was also observed. Sunrise occurred at 6:42 a.m. and sunset occurred at 5:09 p.m. While en route to the hunting grounds, the four-wheeler ran out of gas and Desoto and Roy proceeded on foot toward a slough.4 The two men then separated to hunt individually from the hunting stands erected on the property. Roy went to hunt at a ladder stand called the “Eiffel Tower,” and Desoto headed over to a climbing free stand across the Beauregard field, east of the Eiffel Tower.

According to Desoto, he arrived at the climbing tree stand between 3:00 and 3:15 p.m., but stayed there for only about 20 minutes before leaving the stand, because it was windy and he had no jacket. He walked the tree line to the corner of the field to check the corn he had previously put out to attract deer. Desoto then walked toward the Eiffel Tower and was approximately 32 yards to the southwest of |,¿that stand.

Desoto claimed he phoned Roy, at 5:19 p.m., although the cellular phone records indicated that it was actually Roy who phoned Desoto. According to Desoto, Roy told him that he thought he saw a deer walking on “this side of the slough” and heading toward the field in the direction of the climbing tree stand and told Desoto to “stay in the field.” One minute later, at 5:20 p.m., cellular phone records show that Desoto received a call from his girlfriend, Candace Marcotte, which lasted for approximately 9½ minutes. According to Marcotte, the call ended abruptly when Desoto hung up on her after saying “I see a deer gotta go.” Moments later, Desoto fired one shot that struck Roy in the back of his neck.5

Desoto stated that he waited for about five minutes, then walked in the direction of the shot, when he discovered Roy, face down, in about six to eight inches of water in the slough. He turned Roy’s body over, [144]*144so that his face was out of the water, and tried to drag Roy’s body out of the water, but only managed a few feet. Desoto stated that he dropped his gun and ran to the camp for help, but he did not attempt to call for help using his cell phone. No one was at the camp when he arrived. He then located a four-wheeler at the camp, and drove it toward the direction where he thought the other hunters were located. He encountered Blake Knoll and Deputy Lee Clay, a Deputy Police Officer, and told them that “Kain is dead.” The three men went back to the camp, where they were met by Eddie Knoll. While at the camp, Deputy Clay placed the first call for assistance. The four men then went to the area where Desoto indicated he had left Roy’s body. According to Desoto, Eddie LKnolI cheeked the body for a pulse, confirmed that Roy was dead, and they all returned to the camp. Because it was now dark, they left one of the four wheelers at the scene with the lights on to indicate where the body was located.

Detective Schaub of the Avoyelles Parish Sheriffs Department located the shell casing determined to have been shot by Desoto. Detective Schaub measured a distance of 246 feet from the location of that cartridge to the location of Roy’s head. The location from which Desoto fired his gun was calculated to be 97 feet from the Eiffel Tower. While the gun Desoto used, a Remington 30-06 semi-automatic rifle mounted with a Redfield 3x9 scope, was ultimately retrieved from the place where Desoto dropped it, the power setting on the gun’s scope was never recorded and it could not be verified as to what setting defendant had the scope placed on at the time of the shooting.

The evidence presented at trial indicated that neither Desoto nor Roy had worn the required “Hunter’s Orange” clothing that day and neither were found to have been intoxicated. Desoto stated that he observed Roy’s white t-shirt and thought it was the underbelly of a deer, but photographs of the crime scene, showed that Roy was not wearing a white t-shirt, but was instead wearing a grey athletic tee shirt with “MSH” embossed on it.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Desoto was indicted by a grand jury for negligent homicide in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:32 on March 21, 2005. On February 2, 2006, an Avoyelles Parish jury unanimously found Desoto guilty as charged.

On appeal, the Third Circuit affirmed Desoto’s conviction, but remanded the case to the trial court to correct the sentencing error of failure to impose the probation supervision fee mandated by La.C.Cr.P. art. 895.1(C). Judge Pickett wrote the 15majority opinion, and concluded that the evidence supported the jury’s verdict. She noted that a rational fact-finder could interpret Desoto’s ambiguous statement, that he had seen his friend “walking out into the field,” to mean that defendant “actually saw Roy enter the field and later fired his gun at either Roy or a deer.” State v. Desoto, 06-1115, at 27, 968 So.2d at 161. “If the defendant saw Roy in the field,” Judge Pickett found that, “his act of firing the gun, even at a deer, would have been a gross deviation below the standard of care expected of a reasonably careful person under like circumstances.” Id. Judge Pickett further opined that rational jurors could have found from the evidence that “defendant shot without clearly identifying his target,” an act that “also would have been a gross deviation below the standard of care expected of a reasonably careful person under like circumstances.” Id.

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Bluebook (online)
6 So. 3d 141, 2009 La. LEXIS 663, 2009 WL 792342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-desoto-la-2009.