State v. Dominick

133 So. 3d 250, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0270, 2014 WL 530240, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 222
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 30, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-KA-0270
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 133 So. 3d 250 (State v. Dominick) 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. Dominick, 133 So. 3d 250, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0270, 2014 WL 530240, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 222 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

JAMES F. McKAY III, Chief Judge.

It The defendant, Steven Dominick, appeals the judgment of the trial court denying his motion for a downward departure from a previously agreed ten year sentence. We find no error in the trial court’s denial of this motion. However, we find that the trial court erred in failing to impose a mandatory fine pursuant to La. R.S. 14:81.1(E)(1)(a). As such, we affirm the defendant’s conviction and sentence and remand the matter to the trial court for the imposition of the statutorily required fine.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

In ease number 505-411 “E”, the defendant was charged by bill of information on April 27, 2011, with one hundred and thirty-nine counts of violation of La. R.S. 14:81.11, to wit, pornography involving juveniles. On May 6, 2011, the defendant entered a plea of not guilty. On June 17, 2011, the trial court held a preliminary hearing and found probable cause to substantiate the charges and bound the defendant for trial. That same day, the trial court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence.

|2On October 6, 2011, the State filed a response to the defendant’s motion for a bill of particulars and a notice of intent to introduce evidence in accordance with La. C.E. art. 412.2. The trial date was continued several times throughout October and November of 2011. On March 13, 2012, the defendant withdrew all one hundred and thirty-nine former not guilty pleas and pled guilty as charged to an agreed upon sentence of ten years per count, each to run concurrently with the others. On August 8, 2012, the defendant appeared for formal sentencing. Prior to the formal sentencing, the defendant filed a written motion for consideration of downward departure of a previously agreed ten year sentence. The trial court denied the motion and sentenced the defendant to ten years on each of the one hundred and thirty-nine counts(violations) pursuant to La. R.S. 14:81.1, to wit, pornography involving juveniles, to run concurrently with [252]*252any and all other sentences being served, with credit for time served.

FACTS

Detective James O’Hern testified that on June 10, 2010, he was executing a search warrant on the defendant in a separate case and seized the defendant’s computers, which were placed on the books at the New Orleans Police Department central property and evidence department and then delivered to the Attorney General’s Office. On February 11, 2011, a forensic analyst at the Attorney General’s Office contacted Detective O’Hern and advised that contraband had been discovered that was “outside the scope of the original search warrant.” The contraband consisted of twenty-four videos and forty-six still images of pornography involving juveniles. Accordingly, Detective O’Hern executed an |,^arrest warrant on the defendant which charged the defendant with seventy counts of possession of pornography involving juveniles. The defendant was subsequently charged with one hundred and thirty-nine counts of possessing or possessing with the intent to distribute pornography involving juveniles, a violation of La. R.S. 14:81.1.

ERRORS PATENT

A review of the record evidences one error patent with respect to sentencing. At the time the defendant committed the offenses, La. R.S. 14:81.1(E)(1)(a) provided that whoever commits the crime of pornography with juveniles shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars and be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than two years or more than ten years, without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.2

However, when the trial court sentenced the defendant, the trial court failed to state that the sentences were to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, and failed to impose a fine.3 This Court has recognized that “paragraph A of La. R.S. 15:301.1 provides that in instances where the statutory restrictions are not recited at sentencing, they are contained in the sentence, whether or not imposed by the sentencing court.” State v. Wyatt, 2011-0219, p. 20 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/22/11), 83 So.3d 131, 143 (citing State v. Williams, 20001725 (La.11/28/01), 800 So.2d 790). Accordingly, “this Court need take no action to correct the trial court’s failure to specify that the defendant’s sentences be served without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence” because it is statutorily effected. State v. Wyatt, 2011-0219, p. 20, 83 So.3d at 143 (citing La. R.S. 15:301.1(A)).

With respect to the failure to impose a fine, “[tjhis court has determined that the failure to impose a mandatory fine requires that the matter be remanded for the imposition of that fine.” State v. Hart, [253]*2532010-1614, p. 4 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/2/11), 80 So.3d 25, 29 (citing State v. Williams, 2003-0302, pp. 3-4 (La.App. 4 Cir. 10/6/03), 859 So.2d 751, 753). Therefore, we remand the matter for the imposition of the mandatory fíne.

DISCUSSION

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER 1

In the defendant’s sole assignment of error he asserts that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion to reconsider sentence. Despite the defendant’s assertions on appeal, our review of the record indicates that the defendant moved the trial court on a motion for consideration of a downward departure from his previously agreed upon sentence that was pursuant to a plea agreement, which the trial court denied. This denial is the only judgment on appeal in the case subjudice, case # 505-411 “E.” The defendant’s motion for downward departure was filed and denied prior to the formal sentencing.

Specifically, the defendant asserts, in his motion for downward departure, that mitigating evidence that was discovered after he had entered a guilty plea but prior to sentencing, is of such a nature that the agreed upon sentence of ten years |fishould be reduced. He argues that the trial court must consider mitigating factors before imposing a sentence; the newly discovered mitigating evidence suffices to allow the trial court to reconsider his ten-year sentence. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1.

The defendant argues that on the computer from which the pornographic material was seized, he was using LimeWire, “a popular computer application used by many to download and distribute music, pictures and videos.” Additionally, the defendant attached an article to the motion for downward departure entitled “How Li-meWire Works”, which described how Li-meWire worked with a network protocol called Gnutella, a peer-to-peer sharing device. The defendant also argues that according to “[m]any articles on the Internet,” child pornography videos would often “get mixed up with” adult pornography videos without the users’ knowledge. Additionally, the defendant cites a report from the Federal Trade Commission that explained “inadvertent exposure to pornographic or other inappropriate materials when sharing files through [peer-to-peer networks].” Specifically, the defendant argues that the FTC report establishes that file sharing software such as LimeWire has the ability to select files for sharing, and that as a result, files would be sent and received by a user without the user’s knowledge.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
133 So. 3d 250, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0270, 2014 WL 530240, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dominick-lactapp-2014.