State v. Hardy

711 So. 2d 715, 1998 WL 100387
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 6, 1998
Docket97-1248
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 711 So. 2d 715 (State v. Hardy) 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. Hardy, 711 So. 2d 715, 1998 WL 100387 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

711 So.2d 715 (1998)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Jerail Carron HARDY, Defendant— Appellant.

No. 97-1248.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 6, 1998.

*716 Charles F. Wagner, District Atty., Alexandria, for State.

John Michael Lawrence, Shreveport, for Jerail Carron Hardy.

Before DECUIR, AMY and PICKETT, JJ.

AMY, Judge.

The defendant, Jerail Carron Hardy, was convicted of manslaughter, a violation of La. R.S. 14:31 and was subsequently sentenced to thirty-five years at hard labor without diminution of sentence for good behavior. The defendant now appeals both his conviction and sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The record indicates that Robert Deville sustained a gunshot wound on the evening of September 19, 1996, in Alexandria, Louisiana. Witnesses to the incident allege that Deville was shot inside of his vehicle while in the vicinity of Turner and Wise Streets. The witnesses maintain that, after the shooting, Deville was able to drive from the scene. The record reveals that he was found soon thereafter inside his vehicle after apparently crashing into an area home. Although taken from the scene to a local hospital, Deville was later pronounced dead. The coroner performing the autopsy reported that Deville's death resulted from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

On November 21, 1996, a grand jury returned an indictment charging the defendant, Jerail Carron Hardy, with the second-degree murder of Deville, a violation of La.R.S. 14:30.1. The defendant waived formal arraignment and pled not guilty in open court.

Following a jury trial on April 23-24, 1997, the defendant was found guilty of manslaughter, a violation of La.R.S. 14:31, when the jury returned a verdict eleven to one in favor of conviction for that crime. On May 30, 1997, the trial court sentenced the defendant to serve thirty-five years at hard labor without diminution of sentence for good behavior. Additionally, the trial judge stated that, as a first felony offender, the defendant is subject to parole eligibility. After imposition of sentence, the defendant filed in open court a Motion to Reconsider Sentence, which was subsequently denied by the trial court.

The defendant now appeals his conviction and sentence assigning the following as error:[1]

The trial court erred by overruling defendant's objection to the jury view of the crime scene not at the time when the crime was committed.
The trial court erred by not granting defendant's Motion for New Trial.
The trial court erred by imposing an illegal and excessive sentence of THIRTY-FIVE (35) years imprisonment without benefit of suspension of sentence, parole, and without good time.
The state failed to present sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the homicide was not justifiable and was not committed in selfdefense.
The trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury that they could consider negligent homicide as a responsive verdict requiring a not guilty verdict if they found a reasonable view of the evidence supported no greater offense than negligent homicide.

DISCUSSION

Insufficiency of the Evidence

The defendant maintains that the evidence presented by the State is insufficient to support his conviction for manslaughter. In particular, the defendant asserts that the State failed to prove that the shooting death of Deville was not in self-defense. He contends that Deville was attempting to run over him with the vehicle and he, therefore, shot Deville in order to protect himself. In brief, the defendant combines this sufficiency argument with his assignment regarding the trial *717 court's denial of his Motion for New Trial. However, the defendant's argument is essentially a sufficiency argument, rather than an argument related to the Motion for New Trial.

Under Louisiana law, the fact that an offender's conduct is justifiable, although otherwise criminal, constitutes a defense to prosecution for any crime based on that conduct. La.R.S. 14:18. A homicide is justifiable when committed in self-defense by one who reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life or receiving great bodily harm and that the killing is necessary to save himself from that danger. La.R.S. 14:20(1).

When a defendant in a homicide prosecution asserts that he acted in self-defense, he does not have any burden of proof on that issue. The State bears the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the homicide was not committed in self-defense. State v. Patterson, 295 So.2d 792 (La.1974); State v. Carrier, 95-1003 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/6/96); 670 So.2d 794, writ denied, 96-0881 (La.9/20/96); 679 So.2d 431; State v. Makar, 578 So.2d 564 (La.App. 3 Cir.1991). This court has characterized this burden of proof as a heavy one in which the State must "exclude every reasonable hypothesis of justification by self-defense." Makar, 578 So.2d at 569.

When a defendant claims on appeal that the State failed to prove a homicide was not committed in self-defense, the standard of review is that of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), that is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the homicide was not committed in self-defense. Makar, 578 So.2d 564.

The defendant relies on the State's introduction of his audio-taped confession to support his claim of self-defense. During the confession, the following exchange took place between the defendant and police officers:

Q: Okay. Jerail, we're talking about a shooting incident that happened around Turner and Wise Street on the 19th of September and we've already basically talked about it. I just want you to tell me again how you came in contact with this, this individual and what transpired from there?
A: The individual was—well, first I was coming from my house going to the corner to get a bicycle to go to the store crossing the street, and the guy he flew from coming real fast around Wise and stopped right here on the —
Q: On Turner Street?
A: On Turner Street partially toward the back. Ah, the guy then asked me to sell him a $20.00 rock, but I observed his window was already broken out.
Q: Which window on his car was broke out?
A: The back window, looked like.
Q: Okay.
A: I wasn't sure but it looked like the back window. Ah, I then bent down to sell the guy—I had got the drug out my sock to sell it to him. When a defendant claims on appeal that the State failed to prove a homicide was not committed in self-defense, the standard of review is that of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), that is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the homicide was not committed in self-defense. Ah, when I gave it to him I bent back down to put it up and to pick up the weapon.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Stukes
944 So. 2d 679 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
State v. Prudhomme
829 So. 2d 1166 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2002)
State v. Patterson
752 So. 2d 280 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
711 So. 2d 715, 1998 WL 100387, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hardy-lactapp-1998.