State v. Hennis

734 So. 2d 16, 1999 WL 99204
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided February 19, 1999·No. 98 KA 0664·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

734 So.2d 16 (1999)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Alex HENNIS.

No. 98 KA 0664.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

February 19, 1999.
Writ Denied July 2, 1999.

*17 Hon. Doug Moreau, District Attorney, East Baton Rouge Parish, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by John A. Cannon, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee State of Louisiana.

Robert J. Hildum, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for defendant/appellant Alex Hennis.

BEFORE: FOIL, KUHN, and WEIMER, JJ.

KUHN, J.

Defendant, Alex Hennis, was charged by bill of information with aggravated burglary, a violation of La.R.S. 14:60. Defendant pled not guilty; and, after trial by jury, was found guilty as charged. Thereafter, defendant was charged, adjudged, and sentenced as a second felony habitual offender to imprisonment at hard labor for a term of forty years, running concurrently with defendant's sentence for his prior felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi.[1] Defendant now appeals his conviction, urging four assignments of error.[2]

On the night of January 13, 1995, officers with the Baton Rouge City Police Department went to the residence of Richard Williamson and his wife, Iris Gloria Williamson, in Baton Rouge in response to emergency 911 calls made by Mrs. Williamson and a neighbor. Defendant, who had been shot by Mr. Williamson and was lying on the Williamsons' carport, was transported to the hospital where he was treated for gunshot wounds to the left shoulder and right buttock. Defendant's arrest followed about twelve days later, when he was released from the hospital.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

In this assignment, defendant contends that the trial court erred by failing to enforce a plea bargain agreement under which he agreed to plead guilty to the instant offense in exchange for a fifteen-year hard labor sentence to run consecutive to the sentence for an aggravated assault conviction in Mississippi as well as a promise by the state not to seek La.R.S. 15:529.1 habitual felony enhancement.

On the day trial began, prior to commencement of trial, the court conducted a hearing on a defense motion to either quash the multiple offender bill or enforce the alleged plea agreement. At the hearing, Defense Counsel James Manasseh asserted there was a completed plea bargain agreement, because defendant had accepted Prosecutor Brenda Creswell's plea bargain offer as alleged above.

Creswell took the witness stand and gave the following testimony. According to her, at a status conference on April 23, 1996, Manasseh rejected the state's plea bargain offer when Manasseh insisted that the fifteen-year prison term run concurrent to the Mississippi sentence. Specifically, Creswell testified that Manasseh told her at the status conference that "it will be concurrent, right?" Her reply was: "concurrent to what?" Manasseh responded: "Oh, we don't have an agreement then." Thereafter, Creswell never informed Manasseh or defendant that her offer was withdrawn. However, she testified she did not feel it was necessary to so inform them, since Manasseh had rejected her offer. Creswell further testified her understanding *18 of contract law was she did not have to leave her offer open indefinitely and Manasseh's rejection of the offer terminated the offer.[3]

In State v. Louis, 94-0761 (La.11/30/94); 645 So.2d 1144, the Louisiana Supreme Court stated the following:

In determining the validity of agreements not to prosecute or of plea agreements, the courts generally refer to rules of contract law. State v. Nall, 379 So.2d 731 (La.1980); State v. Lewis, 539 So.2d 1199 (La.1989). Contractual principles may be helpful by analogy in deciding disputes involving plea agreements. Ricketts v. Adamson, 483 U.S. 1, 107 S.Ct. 2680, 97 L.Ed.2d 1 (1987); Cf. Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63, 97 S.Ct. 1621, 52 L.Ed.2d 136 (1977). However, the criminal defendant's constitutional right to fairness may be broader than his or her rights under contract laws. State v. Nall, 379 So.2d at 734 (Dennis, J., concurring). Moreover, commercial contract law can do no more than to serve as an analogy or point of departure, since "plea agreements are constitutional contracts." Ricketts v. Adamson, 483 U.S. at 16, 107 S.Ct. at 2689, 97 L.Ed.2d 1. The Court further stated in Ricketts:
The values that underlie commercial contract law, and that govern the relations between economic actors, are not coextensive with those that underlie the due Process Clause, and that govern relations between criminal defendants and the State. Unlike some commercial contracts, plea agreements must be construed in light of the rights and obligations created by the Constitution.

483 U.S. at 16, 107 S.Ct. at 2689.

State v. Louis, 94-0761 at pp. 7-8; 645 So.2d at 1148.

After hearing the arguments and evidence presented at the hearing, the trial court denied the defense motion seeking to quash the bill of information or, alternatively, to enforce the alleged plea agreement. In doing so, the trial court noted defendant had not pled guilty to the instant offense, there was nothing to enforce, and sentencing was a matter yet to be determined by the court.[4]

We find no abuse of discretion by the court in its denial of the defense motion. Based upon Creswell's testimony, it is clear her offer was rejected by Manasseh. Creswell's revocable offer, once rejected, could not be revived by any subsequent purported acceptance, because there was no meeting of the minds of the parties and no longer an offer to accept. See Teague v. Ashy, 278 So.2d 516, 518 (La.App. 3d Cir.1973). Furthermore, the sentencing function was exclusively within the province of the court's authority and, even if the parties had agreed to a specific sentence, the court, which had not agreed to abide by any such agreement, retained the discretion to reject such an agreement. See State v. Manchester, 545 So.2d 528, 529 (La.1989); State v. Collins, 359 So.2d 174, 176 (La.1978).[5]

This assignment lacks merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 2

In this assignment, defendant generally contends that La.C.Cr.P. arts. 716 through 723 providing for discovery by the defense in a criminal case are unconstitutional *19 under the equal protection clauses of the Louisiana and United States Constitutions, because there is no rational basis for the disparity between the narrow limited discovery provided in those articles and the discovery available in a civil case under Louisiana law.

The state correctly points out that defendant did not challenge the referenced articles at the trial court level and argues that the contemporaneous objection rule of La.C.Cr.P. art. 841 precludes our review of the defense challenge of the articles. However, to the extent that the attack of the articles is leveled at the constitutionality of the articles on their face rather than as applied to defendant, compliance with the contemporaneous objection rule was unnecessary. Thus, we will address only the asserted facial unconstitutionality of the articles. See State v. Lee, 364 So.2d 1024, 1030 n. 4 (La.1978).

Statutes are presumed to be valid; whenever possible the constitutionality of a statute should be upheld. State v. Gamberella, 633 So.2d 595, 601 (La.App.

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