State v. Jones

839 So. 2d 439, 2003 WL 251938
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided February 5, 2003·No. 02-1176·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

839 So.2d 439 (2003)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Westley JONES, Jr.

No. 02-1176.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

February 5, 2003.
Rehearing Denied March 26, 2003.

J. Phil Haney, District Attorney, Thomas C. Senette, Assistant District Attorney, Franklin, LA, for State/Appellee, State of Louisiana.

Louisiana Appellate Project, Carey J. Ellis, III, Rayville, LA, for Defendant/Appellant, Westley Jones, Jr.

*440 Court composed of JOHN D. SAUNDERS, BILLIE COLOMBARO WOODARD and ELIZABETH A. PICKETT, Judges.

PICKETT, Judge.

On May 10, 2001, the defendant, Westley Jones, Jr., was indicted by a grand jury for the charges of aggravated rape, in violation of La.R.S. 14:42, and second degree kidnapping, in violation of La.R.S. 14:44.1. On May 30, 2001, the defendant was arraigned, and he pled not guilty to the charges. Jury selection began in this matter on March 4, 2002, and the trial lasted until March 7, 2002.

On March 7, 2002, the jury returned guilty verdicts as to both charges. Defense counsel filed a Motion for New Trial on March 13, 2002, and this motion was denied on the same day. On March 13, 2002, the defendant waived sentencing delays and was sentenced to life imprisonment without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for the offense of aggravated rape and to forty years at hard labor for the offense of second degree kidnapping. Defense counsel moved to appeal the defendant's convictions on this same date.

The defendant presents one assignment of error in this appeal: "[t]he State failed to present sufficient evidence to support the verdicts, convictions of second degree kidnapping and aggravated rape."

FACTS

On the morning of March 11, 2001, the defendant kidnapped the victim from the parking lot of a Wal-Mart store in Lafayette. The defendant repeatedly threatened to kill the victim, and the victim was stabbed multiple times while the defendant brought the victim to a secluded area in St. Martin Parish. The defendant raped the victim in the secluded area of St. Martin Parish, and the victim was only able to escape from the defendant when she jumped out of the moving vehicle which the defendant was driving.

ERRORS PATENT

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed for errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we note one error patent involving the defendant's sentence for second degree kidnapping. La. R.S. 14:44.1 requires that at least two years of the sentence be imposed without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. For second degree kidnapping, the defendant was sentenced to serve forty years at hard labor to run concurrently with the sentence he received for aggravated rape. The judge failed to impose any portion of the sentence without benefits; thus, the defendant received an illegally lenient sentence.

The supreme court has held that an appellate court may recognize an illegally lenient sentence on its own pursuant to La.Code Crim.P. art. 882. State v. Williams, 00-1725 (La. 11/28/01); 800 So.2d 790. Thus, this court may recognize the trial court's failure to impose at least two years of the sentence without benefits. Therefore, we vacate the sentence imposed for second degree kidnapping and remand for resentencing consistent with this opinion.

DISCUSSION

In his sole assignment of error, the defendant contends that "[t]he State failed to present sufficient evidence to support the verdicts, convictions of second degree kidnapping and aggravated rape." The defendant asserts that he is not the person who committed these crimes and that this is a case of mistaken identity. The defendant points out in his brief that "[t]hroughout *441 this proceeding, the Defendant did not deny that these horrible crimes had occurred, but maintained that he was not the person who committed them." Although the defendant suggests that this case is about mistaken identity, due to the general nature of his brief, we will conduct a full review of the sufficiency of the evidence.

The analysis for sufficiency claims is well-settled:

When the issue of sufficiency of evidence is raised on appeal, the critical inquiry of the reviewing court is 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, rehearing denied, 444 U.S. 890, 100 S.Ct. 195, 62 L.Ed.2d 126 (1979); State ex rel. Graffagnino v. King, 436 So.2d 559 (La. 1983); State v. Duncan, 420 So.2d 1105 (La.1982); State v. Moody, 393 So.2d 1212 (La.1981). It is the role of the fact finder to weigh the respective credibility of the witnesses, and therefore, the appellate court should not second guess the credibility determinations of the triers of fact beyond the sufficiency evaluations under the Jackson standard of review. See State ex rel. Graffagnino, 436 So.2d 559 (citing State v. Richardson, 425 So.2d 1228 (La.1983)). In order for this Court to affirm a conviction, however, the record must reflect that the state has satisfied its burden of proving the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

State v. Kennerson, 96-1518, p. 5 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/7/97); 695 So.2d 1367, 1371, appeal after remand, 97-1682 (La.App. 3 Cir. 6/3/98); 715 So.2d 518.

The defendant was charged with the offenses of aggravated rape and second degree kidnapping. With respect to the charge of aggravated rape, La.R.S. 14:42(A) provides:

A. Aggravated rape is a rape committed upon a person sixty-five years of age or older or where the anal, oral, or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without lawful consent of the victim because it is committed under any one or more of the following circumstances:

(1) When the victim resists the act to the utmost, but whose resistance is overcome by force.

(2) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act by threats of great and immediate bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution.

(3) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the offender is armed with a dangerous weapon.

(4) When the victim is under the age of twelve years. Lack of knowledge of the victim's age shall not be a defense.

(5) When two or more offenders participated in the act.

(6) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the victim suffers from a physical or mental infirmity preventing such resistance.

With respect to the charge of second degree kidnapping, La.R.S. 14:44.1 provides, in pertinent part:

A. Second degree kidnapping is the doing of any of the acts listed in Subsection B wherein the victim is:
(1) Used as a shield or hostage;

(2) Used to facilitate the commission of a felony or the flight after an attempt to commit or the commission of a felony;

*442 (3) Physically injured or sexually abused;

(4) Imprisoned or kidnapped for seventy-two or more hours, except as provided in R.S. 14:45(A)(4) or (5); or

(5) Imprisoned or kidnapped when the offender is armed with a dangerous weapon or leads the victim to reasonably believe he is armed with a dangerous weapon.

B. For purposes of this Section, kidnapping is:

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State v. Jones, 839 So. 2d 439, 2003 WL 251938 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

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