State v. Duvio

511 So. 2d 821
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 27, 1987
Docket87-KA-161
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 511 So. 2d 821 (State v. Duvio) 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. Duvio, 511 So. 2d 821 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

511 So.2d 821 (1987)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Thomas DUVIO.

No. 87-KA-161.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

July 27, 1987.

John H. Craft, Indigent Defender Bd., Gretna, for defendant-appellant.

John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., Dorothy Pendergast and Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Attys., 24th Judicial Dist., Parish of Jefferson, Gretna, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before BOWES and DUFRESNE, JJ., and KOLLIN, J. Pro Tem.

*822 DUFRESNE, Judge.

This action arises from a twelve-person jury verdict of guilty of five counts of armed robbery. Defendant appeals.

Defendant, Thomas Duvio, was charged with five counts of armed robbery in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:64. A twelve-person jury trial was held, and, after hearing all testimony, the jury found Duvio guilty as charged as to all five counts.

Defendant filed a Motion for New Trial and Motion for Judgment of Acquittal or in the Alternative for Modification of Verdict which were heard and denied by the trial judge. Following a pre-sentence investigation and hearing, the trial judge sentenced the defendant to imprisonment at hard labor for a term of thirty years on each count and ordered that the sentences run consecutively. We affirm.

The facts of the case are as follows. At trial, Joe Segari, the cashier on duty at the Time Saver Store where the robberies took place testified that on July 19, 1985, at approximately 12:40 a.m., there were approximately five or six customers in the store, and a young man came to the front of the counter, pointed a gun at him, and said "this is a robbery." Initially thinking it was a joke, Segari told the perpetrator to put the gun away, at which time the perpetrator again said "Man, this is a robbery. Give me your money." Segari took the money out of the cash register and handed it to the perpetrator who next proceeded to take the wallets of the customers in the store.

After the defendant took the wallets, he left the store, and, as the cashier reached for the telephone to call the police, the perpetrator returned to the store, pointed the gun at the cashier and said "I told you not to move", then he turned around and left again.

Officer Charles Harvey responded to the initial call reporting the robbery. When he arrived, he got a description of the perpetrator as a white male, approximately 28-30 years old, about 5 foot ten, 140 pounds, slim build, brown curly hair, and wearing blue jeans, a black shirt and gray tennis shoes. The subject also had some brown tape on his left arm and his upper lip. Detective LeBlanc subsequently showed four of the five victims a photographic lineup. Although one of the victims was unable to pick anyone out in the lineup, the remaining three picked out the defendant's photograph and identified him as the perpetrator. Approximately one month and a half after the robbery, the defendant was arrested and charged with five counts of armed robbery.

Defendant asserts three assignments of error:

1. The trial court erred in denying Appellant's Motion for Judgment of Acquittal or in the Alternative for Modification of Verdict.
2. The court erred in ordering that the sentence of thirty years on each count to run consecutively.
3. Also assigned as error are any and all errors patent on the face of the record.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER 1

Defendant contends that the trial judge erroneously denied his Motion for Post Verdict Judgment of Acquittal, LSA C.Cr.P. art. 821[1] on the ground that the evidence *823 presented at trial was not sufficient to justify the verdict.

The applicable standard of review in determining sufficiency of the evidence is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Richson, 501 So.2d 885 (La.App. 5 Cir.1987).

In the present case, defendant was convicted of five counts of armed robbery. The elements of this offense are set forth in LSA-14:64 which defines armed robbery as "the taking of anything of value belonging to another from the person of another or that is in the immediate control of another, by use of force or intimidation, while armed with a dangerous weapon."

Encompassed in proving the elements of the offense is the necessity of proving the identity of defendant as the perpetrator. As this seems to have been the main issue at trial, it will be briefly addressed. Employing the Jackson standard set forth, supra, the State is required to negate any reasonable probability of misidentification in order to carry its burden of proof. State v. Cockerham, 442 So.2d 1257 (La.App. 5 Cir.1983). See also State v. Brown, 497 So.2d 29 (La.App. 5 Cir.1986), a case which is factually similar to the instant case.

The following evidence was adduced at trial in the present case. On July 19, 1985, at approximately 12:40 a.m., a man later identified as the defendant, entered a Time Saver Store located at 200 Live Oak Street in Metairie, and, while armed with a gun, robbed the cashier and the customers present in the store.

As discussed hereinabove, subsequent to the robberies, three out of four of the victims made a positive photographic identification of the defendant. In addition, defendant was also positively identified in court as the perpetrator by three of the five victims.

Each of the victims testified at trial as to the property stolen from them and the fact that the defendant was armed with a dangerous weapon. Segari, the cashier, testified that the perpetrator took the money out of the register which was in his control, in addition to his wallet containing his credit cards, his driver's license, and a payroll check belonging to his wife. James Hollard, a customer in the store at the time of the robbery, stated in court that the perpetrator took his wallet, I.D. cards, driver's license and charge cards. Festus Ohagwu, another customer in the store, testified that defendant took from him $35.00, his driver's license, and his I.D. card. Robert Barriero was also a customer in the store at the time of the robbery. He testified that defendant took his wallet containing his driver's license, Social Security card, about $20.00 and two blank checks. Richard Gouldman, a co-employee in the store at the time of the robbery, testified that defendant took his wallet containing his driver's license and Social Security card.

The defendant, as well as testifying in his own behalf, called several witnesses to testify as to his general physical condition which he contends showed he was not capable of committing such a robbery because he was still recovering from a gunshot wound inflicted upon him by his father on June 10, 1985. We find this line of testimony unpersuasive.

Viewing the above evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, the evidence presented unquestionably proves all the elements of the offense of armed robbery including the identity of the defendant, beyond a reasonable doubt.

Because there were discrepancies in testimony as to defendant's physical ability to commit the robbery and to other various characteristics of defendant (such as whether or not he had a mole, scar or moustache on his face and also whether or not the perpetrator had tattoos on his arm), the jury was faced with a credibility choice.

*824

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Bluebook (online)
511 So. 2d 821, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-duvio-lactapp-1987.