State v. Fontenot

87 So. 3d 154, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 0742, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 197, 2012 WL 581225
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 22, 2012
DocketNo. 2011-KA-0742
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 87 So. 3d 154 (State v. Fontenot) 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. Fontenot, 87 So. 3d 154, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 0742, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 197, 2012 WL 581225 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

PAUL A. BONIN, Judge.

I ¶ A six-person jury found Brandon Fon-tenot guilty as charged of possession of methamphetamine. Mr. Fontenot argues on appeal that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury’s verdict. Following the jury’s verdict, the district judge sentenced him to serve forty years at hard labor in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Mr. Fontenot argues on appeal that the sentence imposed, even though it is within the statutory sentencing range for an habitual offender,. exceeds that which is constitutionally permitted.

After our review of all of the evidence under the well-known Jackson v. Virginia standard, we find that the evidence is sufficient for any rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, to find that that all elements of the offense have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Also, after our review of the sentencing hearing, and especially the district judge’s well-articulated findings of fact under the factors set out in La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1, we find that the sentencing judge did not abuse his great discretion and that the |asentence imposed does not exceed that which is constitutionally permissible in this case.

Thus, we affirm Mr. Fontenot’s conviction and sentence.1 We explain our holdings in greater detail below.

[156]*156I

We first set out the facts developed at the trial.

Mr. Fontenot was a passenger in a car being operated by Paul Dowling. Officer Stephen Gaudet and Officer Brian Phillips observed Mr. Dowling violate a traffic regulation. The officers stopped Mr. Dowl-ing’s car.

Officer Gaudet approached the car on the passenger-side as Officer Phillips, slightly delayed, approached the driver-side. Officer Gaudet first observed Mr. Fontenot, the defendant, looking over his left shoulder toward Officer Phillips. Officer Gaudet alerted Officer Phillips to that movement. Next, Officer Gaudet, according to his trial testimony, saw Mr. Fonte-not reach into a bag and pass the red and white Marlboro cigarette box to Mr. Dowl-ing. Mr. Dowling then placed it underneath himself on the seat.

The officers then directed both Mr. Fon-tenot and the driver out of the car. Officer Gaudet then retrieved a crumpled red and white Marlboro box from on top the driver’s seat. Upon looking inside the box, Officer Gaudet discovered methamphetamine in a clear plastic wrapping.

lsThe Marlboro box was later registered with the police evidence room, identified during the trial by Officer Gaudet, and introduced into evidence. Officer Gaudet admitted on cross-examination that he had twice described the cigarette box in his written report as a “green Kool” cigarette box. He characterized the description as mistaken.

Officer Phillips, however, had not observed Mr. Fontenot passing anything to the driver and had not noticed the Marlboro box or the bag from which Mr. Fonte-not had obtained the box before both were recovered by Officer Gaudet. Upon searching the driver, Officer Phillips discovered a glass pipe used to smoke methamphetamine. Also, marijuana was found on the backseat of the car.

Mr. Fontenot falsely identified himself to the officers as Brandon Fontaine, but his true identity was learned during the sheriffs booking process.

At trial, the only witnesses who testified were the two police officers.2 Although Mr. Fontenot called Mr. Dowling, the driver, as a witness, he had not been subpoenaed and was not present.3 The jury’s guilty verdict was unanimous.

II

In this Part we examine Mr. Fontenot’s argument that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury’s verdict and explain why we disagree. We first address the standard of review for sufficiency of evidence, then we consider the elements of the offense for which Mr. Fontenot has been convicted, and finally we | consider all the evidence in light of the standard of review, the elements of the offense, and the burden of proof.

A4

The standard of review for sufficiency of evidence applicable to criminal convictions in state courts is set out in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-319, [157]*15799 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). “After [In re ] Winship [397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970) ] the critical inquiry on review of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction must be not simply to determine whether the jury was properly instructed, but to determine whether the record evidence could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. “But this inquiry does not require a court to ‘ask itself whether it believes that the evidence at the trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Id. quoting Woodby v. INS, 385 U.S. 276, 282, 87 S.Ct. 483, 17 L.Ed.2d 362 (1966). (emphasis added by Jackson). “Instead, the relevant question 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 beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (bold emphasis in original); see also Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 U.S. 356, 362, 92 S.Ct. 1620, 32 L.Ed.2d 152 (1972), (stating: “Jury verdicts finding guilty beyond a reasonable doubt are regularly sustained even though the evidence was such that the jury would have been justified in having a reasonable doubt.”).

In discharging our review function, we consider “all of the evidence ” before the actual fact-finder. Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781 (emphasis in original). The United Instates Supreme Court has explained that the standard of review for sufficiency of evidence is highly deferential to the fact-finder because it “gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.” Id. Thus, when “faced with a record of historical facts that supports conflicting inferences [a reviewing court] must presume — even if it does not appear in the record — that the trier of fact resolved any such conflicts in favor of the prosecution, and must defer to that resolution.” Id. at 326, 99 S.Ct. 2781.

“The criterion thus impinges upon ‘jury’ discretion only to the extent necessary to guarantee the fundamental protection of due process of law.” Id. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781.

Thus, “[a] reviewing court may impinge on the factfinding function of the jury only to the extent necessary to assure the Jackson standard of review.” State v. Macon, 06-0481, p. 8 (La.6/1/07), 957 So.2d 1280, 1285. “It is not the function of an appellate court to assess credibility or reweigh the evidence.” Id. at 1286. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the source of the Jackson standard, does not countenance, much less require, that we re-weigh testimony and witness credibility.

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Bluebook (online)
87 So. 3d 154, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 0742, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 197, 2012 WL 581225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fontenot-lactapp-2012.