State v. Gildhouse

123 So. 3d 888, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 296, 2013 WL 5539285, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2073
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 9, 2013
DocketNo. 13-296
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 123 So. 3d 888 (State v. Gildhouse) 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. Gildhouse, 123 So. 3d 888, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 296, 2013 WL 5539285, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2073 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

PETERS, J.

|, The defendant, Kevin Dee Gildhouse, appeals his conviction for second degree murder, a violation of La.R.S. 14:30.1. For the following reasons, we affirm his conviction in all respects.

This criminal charge arises from the shooting death of Wallace Badeaux in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Monday evening, February 23, 2009. In a single True Bill returned on April 8, 2009, a Lafayette Parish Grand Jury indicted the defendant and a co-defendant, Aaron Francois, for armed robbery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:64, and first degree murder, a violation of La.R.S. 14:30, in connection with Mr. Badeaux’s death.

On the motion of the defendant, the trial court severed the charges against the two defendants on November 9, 2009. The basis of this motion was that the defense of each co-defendant was to be that the other committed the offense.

On January 20, 2011, the State of Louisiana (state) amended the indictment by reducing the first degree murder charge against both men to second degree murder, a violation of La.R.S. 14:30.1(A)(2)(a).1 The three-day trial on the merits began on October 8, 2012, and ended with a jury verdict finding the defendant guilty on both counts. Immediately after the jury returned its verdict, the trial court vacated the armed robbery conviction because the state’s case against the defendant for second degree murder was based on the felony-murder provision of La.R.S. 14:30.1 and, therefore, the armed robbery offense was an element of proof in the second degree murder charge. The defendant then waived the delays. for ^sentencing, and the trial court sentenced him to serve life imprisonment at hard labor, without [890]*890benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

The defendant then perfected this appeal, raising four assignments of error:

1. The evidence admitted at the trial of this case, when viewed under the Jackson v. Virginia standard, was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kevin Gildhouse either directly committed or was a principal to either the armed robbery or second degree murder of Wallace Badeaux.
2. The trial court erred in concluding that: 1) La.Code Crim. P. art. 770 was inapplicable; 2) individual questioning of the jurors was not warranted to ascertain whether any had seen and/or been influenced by a notice which was posted immediately outside the courtroom, within view of the jury, which contained reference to inadmissible other crimes evidence; and/or 3) a mistrial was improper.
3. The trial court erred in declining to permit the defense from introducing evidence of Aaron Francoises] conviction for the second degree murder of Wallace Badeaux, in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to present a defense.
4. The trial court deprived Appellant of several constitutional rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constit. Amendments IV and XIV and La. Constit. art. I, § 16— the right to full cross-examination, the right to present a complete defense and the right for a reliable determination of his guilt — when it prohibited the defense from questioning a State witness who had taken the statement of his co-defendant about whether the co-defendant’s inculpatory statement contained discrepancies.

Assignment of Error Number One

In this assignment of error, the defendant asserts that the evidence admitted at trial, when viewed under the standard of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he either directly committed or was a principal to either the armed robbery or second degree murder of Mr. Ba-deaux.

Our standard of review in a sufficiency of the evidence claim is well-settled. We must determine “whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found proof beyond a treasonable doubt of each of the essential elements of the crime charged.” State v. Leger, 05-11, p. 91 (La.7/10/06), 936 So.2d 108, 170, cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1221, 127 S.Ct. 1279, 167 L.Ed.2d 100 (2007). The Jackson standard of review is now legislatively embodied in La.Code Crim.P. art. 821 and does not allow the appellate court “to substitute its own appreciation of the evidence for that of the fact-finder.” State v. Pigford, 05-477, p. 6 (La.2/22/06), 922 So.2d 517, 521.

Stated another way, the appellate court’s function is not to assess the credibility of witnesses or reweigh the evidence. State v. Smith, 94-3116 (La.10/16/95), 661 So.2d 442. Thus, other than insuring the sufficiency evaluation standard of Jackson, “the appellate court should not second-guess the credibility determination of the trier of fact[,]” but rather, it should defer to the rational credibility and evidentiary determinations of the jury. State v. Lambert, 97-64, p. 5 (La.App. 3 Cir. 9/30/98), 720 So.2d 724, 727.

Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:30.1 provides that second degree murder may be committed under a number of different factual scenarios. In this case, when the state amended the indictment from first degree to second degree murder, it specifi[891]*891cally charged the defendant under La.R.S. 14:30.1(A)(2)(a), the felony-murder section. At the time of the offense, this section read in pertinent part that “[sjecond degree murder is the killing of a human being ... [w]hen the offender is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of ... armed robbery ... even though he has no intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm.” Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:24 provides in pertinent part that “[a]rmed robbery is the taking of anything of value belonging to another from the person of another ... while armed with a dangerous weapon.” Additionally, “[a]ll persons concerned in the commission of a crime ... whether they directly commit the act constituting |4the offense, aid and abet in its commission, or directly or indirectly counsel or procure another to commit the crime, are principals.” La.R.S. 14:24.

Thus, in order to convict the defendant of the felony-murder provision of the second degree murder statute, the state had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed an armed robbery of Mr. Badeaux, or that he aided or abetted in the commission of the armed robbery of Mr. Badeaux, and that Mr. Badeaux was killed during the course of that armed robbery. See State v. Goodley, 00-846 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/11/02), 832 So.2d 1165.

The evidentiary record establishes that Mr. Badeaux was a taxi cab driver in Lafayette, Louisiana, and that shortly before 8:00 p.m. on the evening of February 23, 2009, he picked up the defendant and Francois at the parking lot of Gloria’s Lounge in the city. On the instructions of one of the two men, he transported them to a location near the Fox Run apartment complex in Lafayette. There he was robbed of his vehicle keys and less than $100.00 in collected fares, and shot in the neck with a .357 Magnum revolver. The fatal shot entered the back of his neck on the left side, exited his right cheek near the angle of the mandible, and continued traveling downward toward the right-front passenger door.

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123 So. 3d 888, 13 La.App. 3 Cir. 296, 2013 WL 5539285, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gildhouse-lactapp-2013.