State v. Handley

686 So. 2d 149, 1996 WL 739291
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 20, 1996
Docket96 KA 0631
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 686 So. 2d 149 (State v. Handley) 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. Handley, 686 So. 2d 149, 1996 WL 739291 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

686 So.2d 149 (1996)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Luther HANDLEY.

No. 96 KA 0631.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 20, 1996.

*151 David Price, Office of Public Defender, Baton Rouge, for Defendant-Appellant Luther Handley.

Doug Moreau, District Attorney, Beau Brock, Asst. District Attorney, Baton Rouge, for State of Louisiana.

Before SHORTESS and LeBLANC, JJ., and TANNER, J. Pro Tem.[1]

THOMAS W. TANNER, Judge Pro Tem.

The defendant, Luther Handley, was charged by grand jury indictment with aggravated rape, in violation of La.R.S. 14:42, armed robbery, in violation of La.R.S. 14:64, second degree kidnapping, in violation of La. R.S. 14:44.1, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of La.R.S. 14:95.1. He pled not guilty, and after a jury trial, was found guilty as charged on all four counts.

Defendant appealed, and in a judgment rendered October 6, 1995, this court remanded the case to the trial court because of errors patent on the record. Defendant filed a post verdict judgment motion of acquittal on January 31, 1994, together with a motion for new trial. On March 3, 1994, defense counsel filed an "amending and supplemental motion for new trial" and on April 15, 1994, the trial court denied the motion for new trial and imposed sentences; however, it failed to rule on the post verdict judgment of acquittal, which this court noted was error patent on the record. This court's opinion vacated the sentences and remanded. The trial court subsequently denied the motion for new trial for a second time, as well as the motion for post verdict judgment motion of acquittal on March 15, 1996. Defendant waived the twenty-four hour delay between ruling on the motions and sentencing provided for in La. *152 C.Cr.P. art. 873, and was resentenced. The case was relodged with this court and the record was supplemented with the transcript of the March 15, 1996 hearing on the motion for post verdict judgment motion of acquittal.

Defendant assigns the following errors on appeal: (1) the trial court's denial of a motion for mistrial based on the prosecutor's reference to defendant's failure to testify; (2) the trial court's denial of a motion for new trial; (3) the trial court's imposition of an excessive sentence and failure to consider or apply the sentencing guidelines of La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1; and (4) the insufficiency of the evidence to support the defendant's conviction. Three other assignments of errors were expressly abandoned.

When issues are raised on appeal both as to the sufficiency of the evidence and as to one or more trial errors, the reviewing court should determine the sufficiency of the evidence before reaching the other issues. If the entirety of the evidence, including erroneously admitted evidence, is insufficient to support the conviction, the defendant must be discharged as to that crime, which would moot the other assignments of error. State v. Hearold, 603 So.2d 731, 734 (La.1992).

If the entirety of the evidence, both admissible and inadmissible, is sufficient to support the conviction, however, the defendant is not entitled to an acquittal. Instead, the reviewing court must then consider the assignments of trial error to determine whether he is entitled to a new trial. If the reviewing court determines there has been prejudicial trial error, the defendant must receive a new trial. He is not, however, entitled to an acquittal even though the admissible evidence, considered alone, was insufficient. Lockhart v. Nelson, 488 U.S. 33, 40-41, 109 S.Ct. 285, 290-291, 102 L.Ed.2d 265 (1988); State v. Hearold, 603 So.2d at 734. As defendant has alleged the evidence at trial was insufficient to support his conviction, we must first review the entirety of the evidence.

WAS THE EVIDENCE SUFFICIENT TO CONVICT DEFENDANT OF AGGRAVATED RAPE, ARMED ROBBERY, SECOND-DEGREE KIDNAPPING, AND AGGRAVATED POSSESSION OF A FIREARM?

On Saturday, May 9, 1993, Angela Collins went shopping on Nicholson Drive at a bargain store for items for herself and her two small children. Collins was a 26-year old cashier at Popeye's Fried Chicken. She was driving her fiance's car that day and "had gotten into a real big argument" with him, so she was "actually just driving and riding around" after she completed her shopping. She drove all over Baton Rouge for several hours.[2] She eventually ran out of gas in north Baton Rouge, at the corner of Monroe and Acadian Throughway. She went to the Circle K nearby, but found it closed. She then walked to the home of her former landlady, Theresa Stewart, on Chestnut Street. Stewart's daughter, Marietta, was a former high school classmate of Collins and Collins had rented a house from Stewart several years earlier.

Collins asked Stewart's son, E.J. Stewart, to help her get gas. Stewart gave her a container to get gasoline, but said that he couldn't take her to get gasoline at that time because his parents were asleep and he didn't have a car. He suggested that she ask one of his friends, Luther, who was there at the house, to take her instead. She replied that she didn't know him and asked that E.J. ask Luther to take her. Defendant, Luther Handley, agreed to take her to get gasoline.

Defendant and Collins went to the Exxon station on Plank Road to get gasoline. He asked her where her car was, and she told him; he said that he had to stop by to see a friend of his and drop something off before he took her to the car.

Collins testified that defendant then began driving down side streets and that she was *153 confused as to their location. Finally they arrived at an apartment complex south of Florida Street; defendant drove into the parking lot and backed his car into a parking spot. Collins saw one car parked beside defendant's car.

Defendant went to his vehicle's trunk, and got back in the car holding a gun. It was distinctive, with a pink pearl handle. He held the gun in Collins' face and told her to get in the back seat by crawling over the seat rather than opening the door. He got in the back seat with her, pointed the gun at her, and told her to get undressed. She told him she wouldn't get totally undressed and he hit her on the side of her face with the back of his hand. He made her take off her pants and underwear, and made her perform oral sex on him. He then made her stand up in the car while he draped a sheet or blanket which was in the car over the visor, obscuring the side of the car.

Collins testified that defendant alternated between forcing her to perform oral sex on him and engaging in intercourse with her, over the course of several hours. He finally ejaculated inside her and grabbed the blanket, wiping himself with it, and started getting dressed. She wiped herself off with her panties and threw them out of the car and onto the ground.

Defendant told Collins he would take her back to her car, but instead he turned into a side street a block over from Florida and demanded her money, still pointing the gun at her. She had exactly eighty-six dollars, which she gave him. He told her to get out; she grabbed the gas can and got out of the car. She was able to get the license plate number of the vehicle as defendant drove away.

Collins walked back to her car, put the gas in it and drove back to the Stewart home to tell her friends what had happened. She then left to go to Baton Rouge General Hospital, never stopping to get more gas.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
686 So. 2d 149, 1996 WL 739291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-handley-lactapp-1996.