State v. Jefferson

735 So. 2d 769, 1999 WL 314981
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 21, 1999
Docket97-KA-2949
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 735 So. 2d 769 (State v. Jefferson) 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. Jefferson, 735 So. 2d 769, 1999 WL 314981 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

735 So.2d 769 (1999)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Caroline JEFFERSON.

No. 97-KA-2949.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

April 21, 1999.

*770 Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Darryl W. Bubrig, Sr., District Attorney, Pointe-a-la-Hache, and Gilbert V. Andry III, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, Counsel for State.

Pamela S. Moran, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, Counsel for Defendant.

Court composed of Judge WILLIAM H. BYRNES, III, Judge CHARLES R. JONES, and Judge Pro Tempore JAMES A. GRAY, II.

BYRNES, Judge.

Caroline Jefferson appeals her conviction of an unauthorized use of a motor vehicle for which she was sentenced to serve six years at hard labor. We affirm.

Statement of the Case

On June 5, 1996, defendant, Caroline Jefferson, Donald Stevenson and Patrick Stevenson were charged by bill of information with illegal possession of stolen things in violation of La. R.S. 14:69. Defendant Jefferson entered a plea of not guilty at her arraignment on July 1, 1996. Discovery and suppression motions were filed by Jefferson on July 9, 1996. A preliminary and suppression hearing was held on September 9, 1996. The trial court found probable cause and denied Jefferson's motion to suppress evidence. Jefferson's motions to suppress identification and confession were determined to be moot. On September 25, 1996, the bill of information *771 was amended to charge Jefferson and her co-defendants with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle of a value in excess of one thousand dollars. The bill of information was amended again on November 19, 1996 to delete "of a value in excess of $1,000.00." On November 20, 1996, after a two-day jury trial, the defendant, Caroline Jefferson, was found guilty as charged. Co-defendant Donald Stevenson was also found guilty as charged. Co-defendant Patrick Stevenson was acquitted. Jefferson filed a motion for new trial on February 5, 1997. The trial court denied Jefferson's motion for new trial on June 2, 1997. On the same day, the trial court sentenced Jefferson to serve six years at hard labor to run concurrent with a sentence in a case in which Jefferson's parole was revoked. She was given credit for time served. The trial court granted Jefferson's motion for appeal. Jefferson filed a motion to reconsider sentence on June 10, 1997, which was subsequently denied.

Statement of the Facts

After midnight on April 25, 1996, Sergeant David Klegin observed a vehicle going southbound in the Jesuit Bend area of Plaquemines Parish. The vehicle, a white Nissan Altima, had a Tennessee license plate. As the officer passed the vehicle, the vehicle slowed down. The officer slowed down from fifty-five miles per hour to thirty-five miles per hour. The white vehicle never passed him. The officer then pulled off the road. When the vehicle passed the officer, the officer got behind the vehicle and checked the vehicle's license plate through the police dispatcher. The officer learned that the vehicle was stolen. Sergeant Klegin requested assistance and state troopers, who were in the area, stopped the white vehicle. There were three occupants in the vehicle: Donald Stevenson was the driver; Caroline Jefferson was in the front passenger seat; and Patrick Stevenson was in the back seat. A rental agreement was found in the glove compartment. However, none of the occupants' names was on the rental agreement or any of the documentation found in the vehicle.

The three subjects were arrested and the vehicle was impounded. Sergeant Klegin spoke with defendant Jefferson at the lockup to determine the ownership of the vehicle. Jefferson told him that she did not own the vehicle. She told the officer that she borrowed the vehicle from a woman who lived in New Orleans East. Jefferson only knew the woman's first name but not her last name, address or telephone number. Sergeant Klegin testified that the vehicle's steering wheel was not defeated, and the occupants had the vehicle's ignition key.

State Trooper Byron Sims testified that he and Trooper Robert Vittitoe were on routine patrol in Plaquemines Parish when they received a request for assistance from Sergeant Klegin. As the troopers passed Sergeant Klegin on Belle Chase Highway, Sergeant Klegin informed them that the vehicle in front of him had been reported stolen. The troopers initiated a traffic stop. They asked the driver of the vehicle to step out of the vehicle and produce his driver's license and vehicle registration. The vehicle was a 1995 Nissan Altima with a Tennessee license plate. The driver produced his driver's license but did not have a vehicle registration. The troopers ran the license plate number through the NCIC and learned that the vehicle was stolen. The driver and two passengers were arrested for possession of stolen property, and the vehicle was impounded.

John Hosty, regional security manager for Budget Rent-A-Car, was notified that the vehicle in question was recovered in Louisiana. He was told to contact the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office to retrieve the vehicle. The vehicle had been leased to a Janet W. Naff on June 29, 1995 at the Nashville, Tennessee airport. The vehicle was to be returned on July 5, 1995. Budget Rent-A-Car reported the vehicle stolen on July 28, 1995, when the vehicle was not returned. The theft was reported to the Nashville Metro Police Department. *772 When Hosty retrieved the vehicle, he observed that the vehicle was in good condition. The steering wheel was not defeated, and there were no broken windows.

Errors Patent

A review of the record for errors patent reveals that the trial court sentenced Jefferson immediately after denying her motion for new trial. Jefferson did not waive her right to a twenty-four delay between the denial of her motion for new trial and sentencing. La.C.Cr.P. article 873. In State v. Augustine, 555 So.2d 1331 (La.1990), the Louisiana Supreme Court held that failure to waive the twenty-four hour delay voided the defendant's sentence if the defendant attacks his sentence, even though the defendant fails to specifically allege this failure as an error on appeal.

However, there are instances where the failure to observe the 24-hour delay is determined not to be reversible error although the sentence is challenged on appeal. In State v. Seals, 95-0305 (La.11/25/96), 684 So.2d 368, certiorari denied by Seals v. Louisiana, 520 U.S. 1199, 117 S.Ct. 1558, 137 L.Ed.2d 705 (1997), the Louisiana Supreme Court noted that the mandatory nature of the sentence distinguished the case from Augustine, supra, and found that the reversal of the sentence for failure to wait 24 hours between the denial of the motion and imposition of sentence was not warranted in the absence of prejudice. See also State v. Allen, 94-1895 (La.App. 4 Cir. 9/15/95), 661 So.2d 1078, writs denied 95-2557 & 95-2475 (La.2/2/96), 666 So.2d 1087; State v. Diaz, 93-1309 (La.App. 3 Cir.4/6/94), 635 So.2d 499, writ denied 94-1189 (La.9/16/94), 642 So.2d 191; State v. Williams, 97-970 (La. App. 5 Cir. 1/27/98), 708 So.2d 1086.

In State v. Bentley, 97-1552 (La.App. 4 Cir. 10/21/98), 1998 WL 790691, 728 So.2d 405, this court held that any error in failing to observe the 24-hour delay in sentencing after the denial of a motion for new trial did not prejudice a defendant whose original sentence was vacated and he was then found to be a habitual offender. See also State v. Brown, 95-124 (La. App. 5 Cir. 5/30/95), 656 So.2d 1070.

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Bluebook (online)
735 So. 2d 769, 1999 WL 314981, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jefferson-lactapp-1999.