State v. Handon

952 So. 2d 53, 2006 WL 3804673
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 28, 2006
Docket2006 KA 0131
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 952 So. 2d 53 (State v. Handon) 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. Handon, 952 So. 2d 53, 2006 WL 3804673 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

952 So.2d 53 (2006)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Joyce Marie HANDON.

No. 2006 KA 0131.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 28, 2006.

*55 Joseph L. Waitz, Jr., District Attorney, Ellen D. Doskey, Assistant District Attorney, Houma, for State of Louisiana.

Bertha M. Hillman, Louisiana Appellate Project, Thibodaux, for Defendant-Appellant Joyce Marie Handon.

Before: PARRO, GUIDRY, and McCLENDON, JJ.

PARRO, J.

The defendant, Joyce Marie Handon, was charged by bill of information with one count of aggravated battery, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:34, and pled not guilty. Following a jury trial, she was found guilty as charged. She moved for a new trial and for a post-verdict judgment of acquittal, but the motions were denied. She was sentenced to six years of imprisonment at hard labor, to run concurrently with any other sentence she might be required to serve for any previous conviction. She moved for reconsideration of sentence, but the motion was denied. She now appeals, designating two assignments of error. We affirm the conviction and sentence.

FACTS

On November 19, 2004, at approximately 2:15 a.m., the victim, Pamela Rogers, was seated at a table with Cheryl Klingman, Rita Duplantis, and David Authement at The Pit Stop restaurant in Houma. Klingman was the bartender and manager of Kathy Shaw's Lounge, and the group had been at that lounge together before going to The Pit Stop.

The defendant was also seated at a table at The Pit Stop. According to the victim, after ordering their food, she and her group sat at their table talking. The defendant approached the table and spoke to Duplantis. Thereafter, Duplantis began *56 having a conversation with Klingman, and Klingman recognized the defendant as someone with whom she had had a previous problem. The defendant started shouting at Klingman, and Klingman stood up and told her she did not want to fight her, and she was not worth fighting and going to jail for. The defendant then returned to her table.

Thereafter, the defendant screamed and cursed Klingman from across the restaurant. Subsequently, the defendant again approached the victim and her group's table, cursing at Klingman, and grabbing a five-ounce bottle of Tabasco sauce as she approached. The victim stood up and grabbed the defendant's arm to block her from reaching the table. The defendant struck the victim in the face with the Tabasco bottle. The bottle shattered on the victim's right eye, sliced her face in two different places, broke one of her teeth, blackened her right eye, almost closed her left eye due to irritation from the Tabasco sauce, and numbed her lip due to nerve damage. The wounds required approximately 28 to 30 stitches to close. Following the incident, the defendant had to be restrained by Authement and Jason Guidry, a man with whom the defendant had been sitting. The defendant continued to shout vulgarities across the restaurant.

The defense presented testimony that the defendant had a "knot" on her head and bruises on her legs following the incident. The defense also presented testimony from Guidry. According to Guidry, he and the defendant had been together at Kathy Shaw's Lounge prior to November 19, 2004. While he was in the bathroom, a man apologized to him for grabbing the defendant under her skirt. Thereafter, Duplantis or Klingman followed Guidry and the defendant around the lounge, staring at them.

Furthermore, according to Guidry, on November 19, 2004, someone from the victim's table called the defendant over to the table in a friendly manner. Thereafter, chairs began flying backwards, and people began standing up and shouting at the victim's table. The defendant fell backwards after being pushed or hit. Guidry claimed the defendant hit the victim with the Tabasco bottle on the back of her head.

BATSON

In assignment of error number one, the defendant argues the trial court erred in denying the Batson challenges to the state's use of peremptory challenges to strike prospective jurors, Ethyl Swan, Charles Phillips, and Natalie K. Antoine.

In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), the Supreme Court adopted the following three-step analysis to determine whether or not the constitutional rights of a defendant or prospective jurors had been infringed by impermissible discriminatory practices. First, the defendant must make a prima facie showing that the prosecutor has exercised peremptory challenges on the basis of race. Second, if the requisite showing has been made, the burden shifts to the prosecutor to articulate a race-neutral explanation for striking the jurors in question. Finally, the trial court must determine whether the defendant has carried his burden of proving purposeful discrimination. State v. Rodriguez, 01-2182 (La. App. 1st Cir.6/21/02), 822 So.2d 121, 127, writ denied, 02-2049 (La.2/14/03), 836 So.2d 131.

Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 795, in pertinent part, provides:

C. No peremptory challenge made by the state or the defendant shall be based solely upon the race of the juror. If an objection is made that the state or defense *57 has excluded a juror solely on the basis of race, and a prima facie case supporting that objection is made by the objecting party, the court may demand a satisfactory racially neutral reason for the exercise of the challenge, unless the court is satisfied that such reason is apparent from the voir dire examination of the juror.[1] Such demand and disclosure, if required by the court, shall be made outside of the hearing of any juror or prospective juror. [Footnote added.]
D. The court shall allow to stand each peremptory challenge exercised for a racially neutral reason either apparent from the examination or disclosed by counsel when required by the court. The provisions of Paragraph C and this Paragraph shall not apply when both the state and the defense have exercised a challenge against the same juror.
E. The court shall allow to stand each peremptory challenge for which a satisfactory racially neutral reason is given. Those jurors who have been peremptorily challenged and for whom no satisfactory racially neutral reason is apparent or given may be ordered returned to the panel, or the court may take such other corrective action as it deems appropriate under the circumstances. The court shall make specific findings regarding each such challenge.

The ultimate burden of persuasion remains on the party raising the challenge to prove purposeful discrimination. Johnson v. California, 545 U.S. 162, 170-71, 125 S.Ct. 2410, 2417, 162 L.Ed.2d 129 (2005); State v. Elie, 05-1569 (La.7/10/06), 936 So.2d 791, 796. A defendant satisfies the requirements of Batson's first step by producing evidence sufficient to permit the trial judge to draw an inference that discrimination has occurred. Johnson, 545 U.S. at 170, 125 S.Ct. at 2417; Elie, 936 So.2d at 796.

In order to make a prima facie showing that the prosecutor has exercised peremptory challenges on an impermissible basis, the defendant may offer any facts relevant to the question of the prosecutor's discriminatory intent.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
952 So. 2d 53, 2006 WL 3804673, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-handon-lactapp-2006.