State v. Harper

754 So. 2d 286, 98 La.App. 4 Cir. 1020, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 3683, 1999 WL 1257275
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 1999
DocketNo. 98-KA-1020
StatusPublished

This text of 754 So. 2d 286 (State v. Harper) 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. Harper, 754 So. 2d 286, 98 La.App. 4 Cir. 1020, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 3683, 1999 WL 1257275 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

11 KIRBY, Judge.

On September 16, 1996, the appellant was charged with one count of being in possession of stolen property valued at least $500 and one count of attempted simple robbery. At his arraignment on October 10th he pled not guilty to both charges. On January 16, 1997, a six-person jury found him guilty as charged as to the stolen property count and not guilty of the robbery count. The State charged him as a multiple offender, and after a hearing on February 14th, the court found him to be a second offender. The court ordered a presentence investigation and reset sentencing. On May 23rd, the court sentenced the appellant to serve twelve years at hard labor as a second offender. The court denied the motion to reconsider sentence but granted the .motion for appeal.

On the evening of June 27, 1996, Officer Mike Montalbano was working a paid detail for a neighborhood watch organization in the Carrollton area. At approximately 9:00 p.m., he observed a red Chevy Blazer run a stop sign at the corner of Short Street and S. Claiborne Avenue. He followed the Blazer, which turned from Claiborne onto Carrollton Avenue, and he activated his lights and siren in order to stop the Blazer to give the driver a traffic citation. Instead, the Blazer kept going, eventually pulling into the parking lot of a Walgreen’s store at | ¡¿he corner of Carroll-ton and Earhart Boulevard. At the back end of the parking lot the driver, the defendant Darren Harper, stopped and exit- ’ ed the Blazer. Harper began walking toward Off. Montalbano, cursing ■ him and keeping his hands in his pockets. The officer ordered Harper to take his hands out of his pockets, and when Harper refused to do so, the officer drew his gun and ordered Harper to kneel on the ground with his hands in the air. Off. Montalbano testified that Harper at first obeyed, but when he asked Harper for his driver’s license, Harper indicated he did not have one. The officer then grabbed Harper’s arm to handcuff him and place him under arrest for driving without, a license. At that point, Harper began struggling with the officer.

Off. Christopher Landry, an Orleans Parish Levee Board officer, was working a paid detail at the Walgreen’s and had been monitoring the police radio. He heard a partial broadcast concerning the parking lot, and he went to the window and saw a police car parked at the back of the lot behind a Chevy Blazer. Off. Landry walked outside and saw Harper on his knees on the ground struggling with Off. Montalbano, who was trying to handcuff Harper. Off. Landry testified he saw Harper push Off. Montalbano down, and Landry grabbed Harper to try to restrain him. Off. Landry and Harper fell to the ground and continued struggling. Off. Montalbano testified that during this struggle, Harper reached for Montalbano’s gun, actually placing his hand on the gun. Harper broke free and ran down Earhart toward Burdette Street.

Off. Louis Gaydosh testified he was working a detail at a nearby baseball field, patrolling the area, when he heard the broadcast of Off. Montalbano’s pursuit of the Chevy Blazer into the Walgreen’s parking lot. He testified he drove to the corner of Earhart and Carrollton and [288]*288parked, watching the scene. He testified he lsthen heard Off. Montalbano’s call of a suspect escaping on foot, and he looked across the street and saw a man running down Earhart toward Burdette. He testified he drove to Burdette and blocked the man’s escape. The man, who he identified as Harper, then stopped and ran back toward Off. Montalbano, who captured him.

Off. Montalbano took Harper, still struggling, back to the parking lot. He testified Harper kept threatening to file a complaint against him, stating that he (Harper) was a police informant and that he would get any charges dropped. The officer then looked at the Blazer and noticed the door lock had been damaged. He looked inside the Blazer and discovered the steering column had been defeated, although he admitted that a person in the passenger seat may not have been able to see the damage to the column. He could see no keys in the Blazer. He opened the glove compartment and found the registration for the Blazer, which indicated it belonged to Linda Bordelon. He also saw inside the car a machete, a screwdriver, and a book bag. The police contacted Ms. Bordelon, who came to the scene and identified the Blazer as belonging to her. She also indicated the Blazer had been stolen that morning, and she had not given Harper permission to drive the Blazer. Because Ms. Bordelon’s keys did not work in the ignition, Off. Montalbano used the screwdriver to start the Blazer so that she could drive it home.

Linda Bordelon testified her daughter had driven the Blazer to U.N.O. on the morning of June 27th, and it had been stolen sometime between 9:00 a.m. and noon. She testified the machete, the book bag, and several beer cans found in the Blazer did not belong to her family. She also testified she had purchased the truck in November, 1995 for $10,000, and it was in working order when it was stolen. She testified the repair bill for the damages to the Blazer was $900.

LDarren Harper denied knowing the Blazer was stolen. He insisted he had met a friend in another part of the city who was using the Blazer and who offered Harper a ride. He testified that the two men decided to get some food, but the other man asked Harper to go get it. Harper testified he then slid over to the driver’s side and drove the Blazer. He insisted he did not see the defeated column and that keys were in the ignition when he was driving it. He maintained he threw the keys on the floorboard when he exited the car. He testified he drove down Claiborne to Carrollton and then turned up Carroll-ton, and he did not see Off. Montalbano’s car until he was at the Walgreen’s parking lot. He insisted he entered the parking lot, stopped the Blazer, and exited, walking toward Off. Montalbano with his hands in the air. He testified Off. Montalbano ordered him to get on the ground, and the officer hit him on the backs of his legs with a nightstick, causing him to fall. He testified that when the officer twisted his arm roughly up behind his back, he broke free and began running. He stated he did not get a chance to tell the officers about his friend having the Blazer prior to his obtaining it. He admitted he had worked at a mechanic’s shop in the past, and he could recognize a defeated steering column and knew how to start a car with a screwdriver. He also admitted having a prior conviction for possession of a stolen truck and for possession of stolen fish valued over $4000.

By his first assignment of error, the appellant contends the trial court erred by admitting into evidence the machete found inside the stolen Blazer. He contends the machete was not relevant to the charge against him, and its very nature was prejudicial to his case.

La. C.E. art. 401 defines “relevant evidence” as “evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the | ¡^determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” As per [289]*289art. 402, “[e]vidence which is not relevant is not admissible.” In State v. Badon, 95-0452, pp. 7-8 (La.App. 4th Cir.11/16/95), 664 So.2d 1291, 1295-1296, this court stated:

The standard of relevancy is based upon logic and experience. So long as the proffered evidence has a tendency to make a consequential fact more or less probable, the logical relevancy test is satisfied.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
754 So. 2d 286, 98 La.App. 4 Cir. 1020, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 3683, 1999 WL 1257275, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-harper-lactapp-1999.