State v. Henry

823 So. 2d 1064, 2002 WL 1842915
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided August 14, 2002·No. 36,217-KA·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

823 So.2d 1064 (2002)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee
v.
Johnathan HENRY, Appellant.

No. 36,217-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 14, 2002.

*1066 Louisiana Appellate Project by Peggy J. Sullivan, Indigent Defender Office by David McClatchey, for Appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, Tommy J. Johnson, Donna Frazier Hall, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.

Before WILLIAMS, GASKINS and KOSTELKA, JJ.

KOSTELKA, J.

After a jury convicted Johnathan Henry ("Henry") of aggravated second degree *1067 battery, La. R.S. 14:34.7, he was adjudicated a second felony habitual offender and sentenced to nineteen and one-half years at hard labor, without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Henry appeals his conviction and sentence. We affirm the conviction, amend the sentence, and, as amended, affirm.

FACTS

In the early morning hours of February 17, 2001, Sergeant Rick Farris ("Farris"), along with Deputies Greg Ardoin ("Ardoin"), James Upton ("Upton"), Lifford Jackson ("Jackson"), and Sergeant Charles Marsden ("Marsden"), of the Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office, were working an off-duty detail for a dance at the Ebony Multi Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. Their duties were to maintain crowd control and security and direct traffic; each officer was in full uniform. Upon the conclusion of the dance at approximately 1:00 a.m., the officers began to escort patrons to their vehicles and direct traffic as the participants began to leave. Farris and Ardoin performed their duties approximately thirty feet apart in the southwest corner of the parking lot. As he worked, Farris heard a group of girls yelling and joking. He looked toward the group and noticed someone coming toward him through the crowd. The individual, later identified as Henry, approached Farris and began hitting him around the head area. To no avail, Farris ordered Henry to stop. At that time, Ardoin approached and realized that Farris was defending himself against someone who had a small silver-bladed knife. Ardoin then pulled Henry down by the legs. Farris grabbed one of Henry's legs with his left hand; he then noticed that Henry had a knife because Henry cut Farris's right hand between his thumb and index finger. Farris drew his gun and ordered Henry to stop although Farris eventually reholstered it to assist in restraining Henry. When Ardoin began receiving blows to his back from someone in the crowd who had retrieved Farris's dropped flashlight, he was also forced to let Henry go but not before spraying him with a chemical agent. By that time Upton and Jackson had come to the scene. Upton intervened, striking Henry's right hand with a flashlight in an attempt to get him to drop the knife. Undaunted by the chemical spray, Henry got to his feet and began violently swinging the knife at Upton. Marsden then entered the scene as Henry came toward Upton with the knife. Marsden pinned Henry against a car; when Henry continued to resist, Marsden forced him to the ground where Jackson handcuffed him. No knife fitting the description given by the officers was recovered from the crowded scene, although a butter knife was found. Farris received a laceration to his right thumb and four additional wounds to his head, two to the back of his head and two in front of his left ear, for which he was transported to a local hospital. At the scene, Henry was arrested and transported to a local hospital for cuts to his head and hand. After police had secured Henry, the crowd became unruly and began to throw rocks, bottles and pipes at the deputies and the vehicles in the parking lot. Upon additional law enforcement backup, however, the crowd dispersed without further incident.

DISCUSSION

The question of sufficiency of the evidence is properly raised by a motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal. La. C.Cr.P. art. 821; State v. Gay, 29,434 (La.App.2d Cir.06/18/97), 697 So.2d 642. Nevertheless, this court will consider sufficiency arguments even in the absence of such a motion. State v. Green, 28,994 (La.App.2d Cir.02/26/97), 691 So.2d 1273.

The standard of appellate review for a sufficiency-of-evidence claim is *1068 whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Bosley, 29,253 (La.App.2d Cir.04/02/97), 691 So.2d 347, writ denied, 97-1203 (La.10/17/97), 701 So.2d 1333.

The Jackson standard is applicable in cases involving both direct and circumstantial evidence. An appellate court reviewing the sufficiency of evidence in such cases must resolve any conflict in the direct evidence by viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. When the direct evidence is thus viewed, the facts established by the direct evidence and inferred from the circumstances established by that evidence must be sufficient for a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of every essential element of the crime. State v. Sutton, 436 So.2d 471 (La.1983); State v. Owens, 30,903 (La. App.2d Cir.09/25/98), 719 So.2d 610, writ denied, 98-2723 (La.02/05/99), 737 So.2d 747.

This court's authority to review questions of fact in a criminal case is limited to the sufficiency-of-evidence evaluation under Jackson, supra, and does not extend to credibility determinations made by the trier of fact. La. Const. art. 5, § 10(B); State v. Williams, 448 So.2d 753 (La.App. 2d Cir.1984). A reviewing court accords great deference to a jury's decision to accept or reject the testimony of a witness in whole or in part. Bosley, supra.

Aggravated second degree battery is a battery committed with a dangerous weapon when the offender intentionally inflicts serious bodily injury. La. R.S. 14:34.7. Serious bodily injury is defined as bodily injury which involves unconsciousness, extreme physical pain or protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty, or a substantial risk of death. Id.

On appeal, Henry argues that the evidence was insufficient to convict him because no knife fitting the officers' description was found at the scene and the medical evidence showed that Farris's wounds could have been caused by a source other than a sharp knife. Henry also contends that Farris's injuries do not qualify as serious bodily injury under La. R.S. 14:34.7.

After viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, we conclude that it is sufficient to support Henry's conviction. At trial, Farris, Marsden, Ardoin, Upton and Jackson each identified Henry as the perpetrator of the offense. Of course, positive identification by only one witness may be sufficient to support a defendant's conviction. State v. Davis, 27,961 (La.App.2d Cir.04/08/96), 672 So.2d 428, writ denied, 97-0383 (La.10/31/97), 703 So.2d 12.

Additionally, the officers observed Henry, while armed with a small silver-bladed knife, participate in the altercation with Farris. Of course, Farris saw the knife after Henry cut Farris's hand. Ardoin testi

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