State v. Hartford

162 So. 3d 1202, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0643, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 542, 2015 WL 1283836
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 18, 2015
DocketNo. 2014-KA-0643
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 162 So. 3d 1202 (State v. Hartford) 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. Hartford, 162 So. 3d 1202, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0643, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 542, 2015 WL 1283836 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

hThe defendants/appellants, Timothy Hartford (“Hartford”) and Joshua Hogan (“Hogan”) (collectively, “the defendants”), appeal their convictions for attempted looting during a state of emergency, a violation of La. R.S. 14:62.5 C. After a review of the law and evidence, for the reasons that follow, we affirm their convictions and sentences.

On 4 October 2012, Hartford and Hogan were charged by a bill of information with one count of looting during a state of emergency.1 The defendants pled not guilty at their 11 October 2012 arraignment. Following a preliminary hearing on 11 January 2013, the trial court found probable cause as to both defendants. [1204]*1204Hartford and Hogan were found guilty by a jury in a two-day trial of attempted looting during a state of emergency. The defendants filed motions for new trial and motions for post-verdict judgment of acquittal, which were denied following a hearing on 29 August 2013. The state subsequently filed multiple bills of information as to each defendant, alleging each defendant was a | ¿fourth offender. A multiple offender hearing was conducted on 18 October 2013, and Hartford and Hogan were adjudicated as fourth felony offenders. At the 25 February 2014 sentencing hearing, Hartford and Hogan were each sentenced to twenty years at hard labor, without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for the first three years, with credit for time served.2 The defendants’ motions to reconsider sentence were denied. These timely appeals followed.3

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Mr. Mohammed Almasala worked at the Uptown Food Market, located at 2001 Seventh Street in New Orleans since June 2012. In late August 2012, he left New Orleans for a few days due to Hurricane Isaac. Before he left, he locked and secured the store. No holes or damages to the walls existed before he left. When Mr. Almasala returned, he found that someone had entered the store. A hole in the wall was present, and the inside of the building had been damaged. He recognized the defendants from the neighborhood because they had been in the store on numerous occasions. In the process of cleaning up, he found some tools in the backyard of the store, between the fence and the wall with the hole.

On 28 August 2012, New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”) Officer Troy Pi-chon was assigned to patrol the Sixth District ahead of Hurricane Isaac making landfall. That evening, the winds were forty-nine miles per hour, and it was raining very heavily. Officer Pichón responded to a call of looting at a store at the intersection of Seventh and Danneel Streets. The officer testified that he was very familiar with this area, as he passed it four to five times a day during his | ^normal patrol. He was one block away from the intersection when he received the call of a business burglary. He and Detective Clay, who was driving another police vehicle right behind him, proceeded to the area. When the officers pulled up on the Danneel Street side of the building, everything appeared normal. When he turned onto Seventh Street, Officer Pichón observed that a side gate to an alleyway was swinging open. He pulled up to the alleyway and shined his mounted spotlight down it to get a view of it and the side of the building. He observed Hogan standing facing the wall, with his back to the wooden fence. Hogan turned, looked directly at the spotlight, and then turned his attention back to the hole in the wall. The officer informed dispatch that a person was present in the alleyway and requested additional assistance.

Officer Pichón exited his vehicle and proceeded down the alleyway. He gave Hogan verbal instructions to show his hands. At that time, the officer observed Mr. Spivey straddling the hole with half of his body outside and the other half inside the building. Mr. Spivey exited the building and ran down the alleyway, towards the rear of the building. Hogan stood in place and showed the officer his hands. [1205]*1205While Officer Pichón was dealing with Hogan, other police officers arrived on the scene. Officer Pichón placed handcuffs on Hogan and handed Hogan off to Officer Jeff Young. Officer Pichón asked Hogan if anyone else was in the building. At that time, Mr. Fox put his hands outside the hole and pleaded with the officer not to shoot him. Officer Pichón handcuffed Mr. Fox, escorted him out of the hole and handed him off to Officer Young. Officer Pichón then stuck his head into the hole to get a visual of the interior of the building and to determine if any other subjects were present in the building. The officer shined his handheld flashlight into the building and observed Hartford walking from the rear [4of the building through the food preparation area. After observing Hartford in the building, Officer Pichón told Hartford to get out of the building. Hartford put his hands through the hole, and Officer Pichón handcuffed him and escorted him from the building. Officer Pichón handed Hartford to Officer Young, who took Hartford down the alleyway.

Officer Pichón testified that while Hartford was in the building, Hartford had a sock on one hand. The officer testified that from his experience, burglary suspects will try to conceal their hands to keep from leaving fingerprints on any items that they may touch.

Officer Pichón informed Officer Young that he observed one subject, later identified as Mr. Spivey, run to rear of the alleyway. While Officer Young and another officer went in search of the subject who ran away, Officer Pichón and other police officers entered the building to search and clear the building. No other subjects were found. When the officer when into the store, he observed that a sink or table was pushed away from the wall where the hole was made, and water was flowing from a faucet. A water pipe had been broken when the subjects moved the sink away from the wall in* order to gain entry to the building. Several items, including alcohol and cigarettes, were grouped together on a table. It appeared that the subjects had packaged everything together to carry it out at one time.

As the officers were exiting the budding, Officer Pichón noted that Officer Young had Mr. Spivey in custody. Officer Pichón was informed that the officers had found Mr. Spivey lying next to the fence in a puddle of water and mud, trying to conceal himself.

The crime lab was called out to the scene. The subjects were put in marked police vehicles and transported to Central Lockup. Officer Pichón identified both IsHogan and Hartford at trial. The officer stated that he had seen the defendants together numerous times. Hogan, Hartford, and Mr. Fox hung out together on a daily basis in the 1900 block of Seventh Street, between Dryades and Danneel Streets. The officer was not sure if Mr. Spivey hung out with the other three men on a daily basis.

Officer Young was on patrol on the evening of 28 August 2012, when he responded to a call of looting at the intersection of Seventh and Danneel Streets. When he arrived at the scene, on the Danneel Street side, he observed nothing. However, when he drove to the Seventh Street side of the store, he saw Officer Pichón in a narrow alleyway. Just beyond Officer Pi-chon were two men who were not police officers. As Officer Pichón placed the subjects under arrest, the subjects were passed from one police officer to another, almost like an assembly line, from the alleyway to the street. Officer Pichón passed the subjects to him, and he passed them onto the police officer behind him.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 So. 3d 1202, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0643, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 542, 2015 WL 1283836, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hartford-lactapp-2015.