State v. Jackson

714 So. 2d 87, 1998 WL 237181
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided May 13, 1998·No. 30473-KA·Published·Cited by 35 cases

Opinion

714 So.2d 87 (1998)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Joseph Lee JACKSON, Appellant.

No. 30473-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

May 13, 1998.

*89 Louisiana Appellate Project by Richard J. Gallot, Jr., Ruston, for Appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, Hugo A. Holland, Bruce Dorris, Catherine M. Estopinal, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.

Before HIGHTOWER, BROWN and PEATROSS, JJ.

*90 PEATROSS, Judge.

Charged with two counts of second degree murder, LSA-R.S. 14:30.1, Joseph Lee Jackson, Defendant, was found guilty as charged by a jury. The trial judge sentenced Defendant to two consecutive life sentences without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Defendant appeals his conviction and sentence urging fourteen assignments of error. For the following reasons, we affirm the convictions and sentences.

FACTS

On June 9, 1994, Randall Glenn Thomas, Antonio Jackson and Defendant planned the armed robbery of Burford's Grocery Store located in Keithville. The next morning, as David and Glenn Lacobee, the proprietors, were opening their store, Thomas, Jackson and Defendant entered the store demanding money. As Jackson and Defendant took Glenn to the back of the store to open the safe, David and Thomas began exchanging gunfire. David was fatally wounded. Thomas, who was hit in the abdomen by one of David's shots, ran from the store and drove away in the robbers' vehicle. While not clear which one, either Jackson or Defendant shot and killed Glenn who was kneeling by the safe near the rear of the store. Defendant removed approximately $400 in change from the safe. Helen Lacobee, David's wife and Glenn's mother, hid in a small office inside the store during the robbery and telephoned the "911" emergency response line.

When Jackson and Defendant left the store, they discovered that Thomas had already fled in his vehicle. The two men ran through some nearby woods to a highway where they hitched a ride to a bus stop and caught a bus home. Some ten days later, an anonymous caller led investigators from the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office to Thomas, Jackson and Defendant. After officers visited the residence of Martha Jackson (Defendant's sister and Antonio's mother), the three men agreed to go to the Sheriff's Department to discuss the case. Each man confessed to participating in the robbery. Thomas also admitted shooting David Lacobee, but both Jackson and Defendant denied shooting Glenn Lacobee. The State charged all three defendants with the homicides. In State v. Thomas, 28,790 (La.App. 2d Cir. 10/30/96), 683 So.2d 1272, writ denied, 96-2844 (La.4/25/97), 692 So.2d 1081, this court affirmed Randy Thomas' conviction, pursuant to his guilty plea, to one count of first degree murder and one count of second degree murder. In State v. Jackson, 29,470 (La.App. 2d Cir. 8/20/97), 707 So.2d 990, this court affirmed Antonio Jackson's convictions for second degree murder and manslaughter.

DISCUSSION
Assignment of error No. 3: The evidence presented by the State of Louisiana, when viewed in a light most favorable to the State, does not reasonably permit a finding of guilty of the offense of second degree murder.
Assignment of error No. 10: The trial court committed error when Defendant was found guilty of the second degree murder of Glenn Lacobee, due to the fact the co-Defendant had been found guilty of manslaughter of the same individual.
Assignment of error No. 11: The trial court committed reversible error denying Defendant's Motion for New Trial.
Assignment of error No. 12: The trial court committed reversible error when it accepted a verdict contrary to the law and the evidence that the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Assignment of error No. 13: The trial court committed reversible error in denying Defendant's Motion for Post verdict Judgment of Acquittal.

In these assignments of error, Defendant contends the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions of second degree murder. Specifically, he alleges that the lack of physical evidence linking him to the commission of the crimes should exonerate him. Since these assignments of error all deal with the issue of sufficiency of evidence, we have consolidated them for discussion purposes.

Under Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), the proper standard of appellate review for a sufficiency of evidence claim is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable *91 to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Bellamy, 599 So.2d 326 (La.App. 2d Cir.), writ denied, 605 So.2d 1089 (1992).

La.C.Cr.P. art. 821 provides that a motion for post verdict judgment of acquittal shall be granted only if the court finds that the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the state, does not reasonably permit a finding of guilty. This is a question of legal sufficiency. State v. Combs, 600 So.2d 751 (La.App. 2d Cir.), writ denied, 604 So.2d 973 (La.1992).

La.C.Cr.P. art. 851(1) provides that the court shall grant a motion for a new trial whenever the verdict is contrary to the law and the evidence, i.e., that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction. A motion for new trial presents only the issue of the weight of the evidence. Under this article the trial judge has wide discretion to determine the weight of the evidence. The refusal to grant such a motion is not subject to appellate review, except for error of law. State v. Mitchell, 26,070 (La.App. 2d Cir. 6/22/94), 639 So.2d 391, citing Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31, 102 S.Ct. 2211, 72 L.Ed.2d 652 (1982); State v. Thomas, 609 So.2d 1078 (La.App. 2d Cir.1992), writ denied, 617 So.2d 905 (1993); State v. Robinson, 624 So.2d 1260 (La.App. 2d Cir.1993); State v. Korman, 439 So.2d 1099 (La.App. 1st Cir.1983).

LSA-R.S. 14:30.1, which defines second degree murder, provides, in part, as follows:

A. Second degree murder is the killing of a human being:
(1) When the offender has a specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm; or
(2) (a)When the offender is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of... armed robbery ... even though he has no intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm.

Armed robbery is the taking of anything of value belonging to another from the person of another or that is in the immediate control of another, by use of force or intimidation, while armed with a dangerous weapon. LSA-R.S. 14:64.

All persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether present or absent, and whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense, aid and abet in its commission, or directly or indirectly counsel or procure another to commit the crime, are principals. LSA-R.S. 14:24.

Defendant confessed in a police statement that he helped plan the robbery of the Burford Grocery Store. He admitted in the confession that he entered the store with Randy Glenn Thomas and Antonio Jackson, that h

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