State v. Domangue

649 So. 2d 1034, 1994 WL 739151
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 1994
DocketKA 93 1953
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 649 So. 2d 1034 (State v. Domangue) 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. Domangue, 649 So. 2d 1034, 1994 WL 739151 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

649 So.2d 1034 (1994)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Richard DOMANGUE.

No. KA 93 1953.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 22, 1994.

*1036 Martin S. Triche, Napoleonville, for defendant-appellant, Richard Domangue.

John D. Schoonenberg, Houma, for plaintiff-appellee, State of La.

Before EDWARDS, LeBLANC and PITCHER, JJ.

EDWARDS, Judge.

Richard Domangue was charged by bill of information with numerous counts, including in count 1, thirty counts of possession of untagged alligators and skins (violations of La.R.S. 56:261); in count 3, twenty-four counts of possession of improperly skinned alligator skins (violations of La.R.S. 56:261); and in count 4, one count of possession of and attempt to sell improperly skinned alligator hides (a violation of La.R.S. 56:261).[1] He pled not guilty and filed several motions to quash. The court granted the motion to quash the forty-one counts included in count 2 and denied the motions to quash the remaining counts. The state dismissed most of the counts included in counts 1 and 2 and dismissed all of counts 4 through 7. Later, in a supplemental bill of information, the state detailed the allegations of count 4 to charge defendant with intentionally possessing and attempting to sell an alligator hide which was not skinned in compliance with the regulations (in particular, the complete ventral skin surface of one front foot was not left attached to the skin of the leg). Prior to trial, the court indicated the case would be tried on only one count for each of counts 1, 3 and 4.

The jury found defendant not guilty on count 1 and guilty on counts 3 and 4. The court sentenced defendant on count 3 to serve a term of six months imprisonment in the parish jail and to pay a fine of $6000. The court suspended execution of the sentence and placed defendant on unsupervised probation for one year with the following *1037 special conditions: (1) commit no crime; (2) pay fine and costs; (3) pay $20 to law clerk fund for Parish of Terrebonne; and (4) pay $60 to criminal court fund. The court imposed the same sentence on count 4 and ordered that the sentences be served concurrently. Defendant has appealed, urging nine assignments of error.

In reviewing the record for patent error, we have noticed that the statutory citation included in the bill of information for Counts 3 and 4 is inaccurate. The state cited La.R.S. 56:261(1); however, the proper citation is La.R.S. 56:261(A). Such error is not reversible as defendant was not prejudiced. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 464. We also find that, after the state dismissed count 4, it filed an amended bill detailing charges against defendant in count 4. However, defendant was not arraigned on the supplemental bill. Such error is not reversible as defendant entered upon the trial without objecting to the error. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 555.

FACTS

On September 10, 1991, agents of the Enforcement Division of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries executed a search warrant at Domangue Fur House in Terrebonne Parish. The warrant was secured after defendant refused to give two of the agents an alligator he purchased from a hunter which had the hunting tag tied on rather than attached as required by regulations of the Department. The agents wanted the alligator for use in their investigation of the hunter. Defendant told the agents that Noel Kindler (a project coordinator with the Refuge Division of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries) had told him it was legal for the hunter to tie the tag on if it fell off. When the agents returned to execute the search warrant, they discovered three alligator hides which did not have a tag, three loose tags which were not attached to any alligator, and forty-one hides which had the tag tied on. According to Lt. Roy Chauvin, the Enforcement Division supervisor for Terrebonne Parish, his agency's position is that it is a violation of the regulations to tie on the tag. One of the three hides which did not contain a tag formed the basis for the state's prosecution of defendant in count 1.

The agents also found twenty-four hides which the agents determined were not skinned in compliance with the regulations. One of these improperly skinned hides was introduced into evidence. It was identified as having tag no. 1019049 and measuring 9'5". Major Inspector Tom Candies of the Enforcement Division (a state witness) and Ted Joanen, a biologist with the Department and the programs manager for the alligator program in Louisiana (a defense witness), examined this hide and testified that it had not been skinned properly under the regulations. Three of the improperly skinned hides had a separate tag which read "no flap." According to defendant's son, who testified as a witness for the defense, whenever he was aware that a hide had been skinned improperly, he put a "no flap" tag on the hide. The improperly skinned hide which was introduced into evidence did not have a "no flap" tag.

Defendant, his son, and several other people were present when the agents arrived to search the facility. Defendant told the agents that he currently had approximately 900 hides at the facility and that all of them were being processed to sell to foreign markets. Defendant also said that agents from the Refuge Division were scheduled to inspect the hides on the following day in anticipation of shipment. The state also introduced correspondence and other records which showed that defendant, on behalf of Domangue Fur House, Inc., was negotiating with companies in Japan and France to sell the hides. According to Johnny Collins (an agent with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service) and Ted Joanen, alligators in Louisiana are protected under the CITES treaty (Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species) signed by the United States along with 120 other nations. In an effort to promote conservation of alligators, the CITES treaty requires the State of Louisiana to comply with certain requirements if it wants to have a hunting season for alligators. In compliance with the federal guidelines, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries adopted regulations *1038 which allow only licensed hunters to hunt for alligators and which require that a hunter immediately tag an alligator after it is caught. The regulations applicable on the date of the instant offenses also specified that the alligator must be skinned in a particular manner. The purpose of the skinning instructions (which were not given to the hunters until the season began) was to prevent hunters from hunting alligators prior to the opening of the season. A copy of the 1991 skinning instructions was posted on the wall in one of the rooms where alligator skinning took place at Domangue Fur House.

FAILURE TO CHARGE A CRIME IN COUNT 4

In reviewing the record for patent error, we have discovered the crime charged in count 4, attempting to sell an improperly skinned alligator hide, is not a crime under the statute. In one of the motions to quash, defendant argued count 4 should be quashed because La.R.S. 56:261 did not specifically prohibit the selling of improperly skinned alligators. Defendant has not renewed the issue on appeal. However, as the issue is evident from an inspection of the pleadings and proceedings we are required to review it. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 920(2).

A crime is that conduct which is defined as criminal in the Louisiana Criminal Code, or in other acts of the legislature or in the Louisiana Constitution. La.R.S. 14:7.

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Bluebook (online)
649 So. 2d 1034, 1994 WL 739151, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-domangue-lactapp-1994.