State v. Jones

779 So. 2d 109, 0 La.App. 4 Cir. 1699, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 218, 2001 WL 128452
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 24, 2001
DocketNo. 2000-KA-1699
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 779 So. 2d 109 (State v. Jones) 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. Jones, 779 So. 2d 109, 0 La.App. 4 Cir. 1699, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 218, 2001 WL 128452 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

J^PLOTKIN, Judge.

Dejuan Jones was charged by bill of information on December 21, 1999, with armed robbery, a violation of La. R.S. 14:641 At his arraignment on January 4, 2000, he pleaded not guilty. Probable cause was found, and the motion to suppress the identification was denied on January 19, 2000. A twelve-member jury found him guilty as charged after trial on February 2, 2000. He was sentenced on April 18, 2000 to serve twenty years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The State filed and then withdrew a multiple offender bill charging the defendant as a second offender. The defendant’s motion for reconsideration of sentence was denied, and his motion for an appeal was granted.

At trial, Officer Salvator Caronna testified that just before midnight on October 31,1999, he investigated an armed robbery that occurred at about 11:30 p.m. on Milan Street. The officer transported the victim to St. Charles Avenue and Delachaise Street where two suspects were being held. Police had stopped the suspects in the victim’s vehicle at the intersection of Louisiana Avenue and Carondelet Street. The victim identified one man as the gunman, but had some ^difficulty identifying the other as the accomplice. Officer Car-onna left the scene in order to search for the gun, and during that time the victim named the second man, Dejuan Jones, as the accomplice. The victim described the gunman as wearing a navy blue bandanna over the lower portion of his face, a black shirt, black pants and light-colored tennis shoes during the holdup. He stated the accomplice was wearing a face-mask that [111]*111covered his forehead, eyes, and nose, a black long-sleeved sweat shirt, dark pants and dark tennis shoes. Jones’ clothing, which matched the victim’s description, was introduced into evidence. When Jones was arrested, he would not give his name to police. Officer Caronna testified that he looked at the police report prepared by Officer Nancy Overstreet, in which she wrote that the victim did not identify the defendant as the accomplice. Officer Caronna stated that Officer Over-street was incorrect. Under cross-examination, Officer Caronna said that he first looked at the police report several days after the incident when it had been approved and submitted.

Officer Overstreet testified that she answered the call for assistance from Officers Dowall Barrett and Damion Ranson who spotted a stolen car at the Corner Pocket Bar on the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Carondelet Street. Once there, she spoke with the victim who described his assailants. The victim could not provide a facial description of the accomplice, but did provide Officer Over-street with a clothing description. The victim noticed that the accomplice wore dark-colored tennis shoes with an orange check and white soles. Officer Overstreet was not in hearing range when the victim identified the two men. She was near her car getting supplies for the report. However, she stated that she saw the victim identify each of the men as his assailants. She explained the discrepancy in the lapolice report by noting that initially the victim could not give any facial description of the accomplice.

Officer Dowall Barrett testified that he heard an announcement on the police radio concerning an armed robbery of a green Land Rover with a Tennessee license plate. Twenty minutes later, Officer Barrett observed the ear emerging from a fast food restaurant near Louisiana Avenue and Carondelet Street, about a mile, from the site of the robbery. While the car was stuck in traffic, the officer and his partner approached it on foot. Two men were inside the vehicle, with Dejuan Jones in the driver’s seat. When the victim arrived, he noted that Jones was wearing an orange shirt, and at the time of the robbery, the accomplice had on a black shirt. However, after the officer had Jones remove the orange shirt, they observed that Jones was wearing a black shirt underneath the orange one. The victim identified Jones as the accomplice in the robbery.

Stephen Burns testified that he was parking his 1998 green Land Rover at his home on October 31, 1999, when two men approached him. One man had a gun, which he pointed at Burns’ temple, while demanding Burns’ car keys. Burns held the keys out to the gunman. The gunman was wearing a bandana. The second man was wearing a black shirt, black pants and black high-top tennis shoes with an orange circle near the sole. Burns could see only part of the accomplice’s face during the robbery, but as he left, the accomplice removed a mask, and Burns could see the entire face as he drove away. Burns called the police, and within four minutes two officers arrived and took down a description of the car and the robbers. Less than thirty minutes later, the officers transported Burns to St. Charles Avenue to view two suspects. Burns identified both of the men. The gunman was not wearing the bandanna, but it was found in his pocket. The 1 ¿accomplice had on an orange football jersey, a different shirt from that worn during the robbery; however, underneath the orange jersey, the accomplice was wearing the black knit top that Burns remembered. Burns admitted that the first time he mentioned that the accomplice was wearing a mask was about six weeks, prior to trial; he had overlooked that fact when describing the situation to the police on the night that it occurred.

In a single assignment of error, defendant claims his sentence is excessive.

The defendant was convicted of a violation of La. R.S. 14:64, which provides [112]*112for a sentence of imprisonment at hard labor for not less than ten years and not more than ninety-nine years, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. The defendant was sentenced to twenty years at hard labor without benefits, a term twice the minimum and about twenty per cent of the maximum.

Article I, Section 20 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 provides that “No law shall subject any person ... to cruel, excessive or unusual punishment.” A sentence within the statutory limit is constitutionally excessive if it is “grossly out of proportion to the severity of the crime” or is “nothing more than the purposeless imposition of pain and suffering.” State v. Caston, 477 So.2d 868, 871 (La.App. 4 Cir.1985). Generally, a reviewing court must determine whether the trial judge adequately complied with the sentencing guidelines set forth in La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1 and whether the sentence is warranted in light of the particular circumstances of the case. State v. Soco, 441 So.2d 719, 720 (La.1983); State v. Quebedeaux, 424 So.2d 1009, 1014 (La.1982).

If adequate compliance with article 894.1 is found, the reviewing court must determine whether the sentence imposed is too severe in light of the particular defendant and the circumstances of his case, keeping in mind that maximum |Bsentences should be reserved for the most egregious violators of the offense so charged. Quebedeaux, 424 So.2d at 1014; State v. Guajardo, 428 So.2d 468, 473 (La.1983).

In State v. Soraparu, 97-1027 (La.10/13/97), 703 So.2d 608, the Louisiana Supreme Court, held:

On appellate review of sentence, the only relevant question is “ ‘whether the trial court abused its broad sentencing discretion, not whether another sentence might have been more appropriate.’ ” For legal sentences imposed within the range provided by the legislature, a trial court abuses its discretion only when it contravenes the prohibition of excessive punishment in La.

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Related

State v. Francois
817 So. 2d 213 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
779 So. 2d 109, 0 La.App. 4 Cir. 1699, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 218, 2001 WL 128452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jones-lactapp-2001.