State v. Godfrey

32 So. 3d 1020, 8 La.App. 3 Cir. 828, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 293, 2010 WL 711854
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 3, 2010
Docket08-828, 08-1231
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 32 So. 3d 1020 (State v. Godfrey) 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. Godfrey, 32 So. 3d 1020, 8 La.App. 3 Cir. 828, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 293, 2010 WL 711854 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

PETERS, J.

| ¶ This matter was previously before us in the form of two separate appeals. The first addressed the defendant’s conviction of intimidation of a public officer, a violation of La. R.S. 14:122, and his three-year hard labor sentence. State v. Godfrey, OS-828 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/18/09), 4 So.3d 265. However, before the defendant perfected his appeal of that conviction and sentence, the State of Louisiana (state) filed pleadings to have him adjudicated as a habitual offender and sentenced accordingly. The trial court subsequently adjudicated him as a fourth felony offender and sentenced him to serve twenty-five years at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. The multiple offender adjudication and sentence gave rise to the second appeal. State v. Godfrey, 08-1231 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/18/09), 4 So.3d 272. It is this second appeal which is the subject of this opinion.

When this matter was previously before us, we vacated the defendant’s adjudication and sentence as a multiple offender, but only because we vacated his conviction for intimidation of a public officer and entered a verdict of guilty of the misdemeanor lesser and included offense of threatening a public official, a violation of La. R.S. 14:122.2. Godfrey, 4 So.3d 265. Thus, we did not consider the merits of the appeal itself.

The supreme court granted the state’s supervisory writ application, reinstated the defendant’s conviction and underlying sentence of three years and remanded the matter to this court to consider the issues raised concerning the habitual offender adjudication and sentence imposed thereunder. State v. Godfrey, 09-K-0630 *1022 (La. 12/1/09), 6 So.3d 801. We now address the three assignments of error raised by the defendant in his appeal of his habitual offender adjudication and sentence:

I. It was error to adjudicate Mr. God-frey a fourth felony offender.
| ¾11. The sentence of twenty-five years without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence was excessive.
III. As the sentence imposed was excessive, the Trial Court’s denial of the Motion to Reconsider Sentence was error.

OPINION

Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:529.1 provides enhanced penalties for anyone convicted of a felony and who has previously been convicted of felony offenses. The underlying convictions which form the basis of the defendant’s adjudication include a 1984 Louisiana conviction for aggravated battery, a violation of La. R.S. 14:34; a 1979 Louisiana conviction for accessory to manslaughter, a violation of La. R.S. 14:31 and 14:25; and a 1976 Texas conviction for aggravated assault on a peace officer. Any conviction of an offense under the laws of another state may be used to enhance the penalty if the offense would have been a felony had it been committed under the laws of this state. La. R.S. 15:529.1(A)(1). The defendant admits committing the offenses and does not challenge the two Louisiana convictions. Instead, he argues in his first assignment of error that the Texas conviction would not have been a felony in Louisiana and, therefore, should not have been used to enhance his sentence.

In 1974, the State of Texas convicted the defendant of aggravated assault of a peace officer. At that time, Texas law defined an assault as an offense which:

(1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another; or
(2) intentionally or knowingly threatens another with imminent bodily injury; or
(3) intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another when he knows or should reasonably believe that the other will regard the contact as offensive or provocative.

| <¡Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.01(a) (Vernon 1974).

As defined in this statute, the offense of assault was a misdemeanor. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.01(b) (Vernon 1974). However, Texas law also provided for a felony grade assault:

(a) A person commits an offense if he commits assault as defined in Section 22.01 of this code and he:
(1) causes serious bodily injury to another;
(2) causes bodily injury to a peace officer in the lawful discharge of official duty when he knows or has been informed the person assaulted is a peace officer; or
(3) uses a deadly weapon.
(b) The actor is presumed to have known the person assaulted was a peace officer if he was wearing a distinctive uniform indicating his employment as a peace officer.
(c) an offense under this section is a felony of the third degree.

Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.02 (Vernon 1974) (emphasis added).

Thus, in 1974, the State of Texas drew a distinction between an assault on an individual, generally, and an assault on an individual who happened to be in his employment as a peace officer at the time of the assault. To reach a felony grade assault on an individual generally, the of *1023 fense would have to cause “serious bodily injury.” However, assault on a peace officer required only “bodily injury” to constitute a felony. “Bodily injury” was defined in Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 1.07(7) (Vernon 1974), as “physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.” (Emphasis added.)

The defendant admits his conviction under Texas law for aggravated assault on a peace officer, and he acknowledges that the offense was a felony grade offense under Texas law. However, he argues that at the time of the Texas offense, there ^existed no corresponding felony statute in Louisiana. That is to say, had he been convicted in Louisiana, his offense would have been a misdemeanor.

In order for a conviction from another state to serve as a predicate felony for enhancement purposes, the conviction must be for a “crime which, if committed in this State would be a felony....” LSA-R.S. 15:529.1(A)(1). Louisiana courts must detei'mine the analogous state crime according to the nature of the act involved, not the penalty provided for the offense in the foreign jurisdiction. State v. Carouthers, 618 So.2d 880, 882 (La.1993).

State v. Grimes, 09-2, p. 13 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/26/09), 16 So.3d 418, 427.

A reading of the Texas statute, as it existed in 1974, clearly establishes that battery and assault were considered the same offense in that state while Louisiana defined them as separate offenses.

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Related

State v. Guillory
120 So. 3d 764 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013)
State of Louisiana v. Christopher Guillory
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013
State v. Hamdan
112 So. 3d 812 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2013)
Godfrey v. Reggie
55 So. 3d 1015 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
Mason Godfrey v. Paul Reggie
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Bluebook (online)
32 So. 3d 1020, 8 La.App. 3 Cir. 828, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 293, 2010 WL 711854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-godfrey-lactapp-2010.