State v. Jones

975 So. 2d 21, 7 La.App. 5 Cir. 512, 2007 La. App. LEXIS 2336, 2007 WL 4554019
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 27, 2007·No. No. 07-KA-512·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

Panel composed of Judges EDWARD A. DUFRESNE, JR., MARION F. EDWARDS, and WALTER J. ROTHSCHILD.

MARION F. EDWARDS, Judge.

| ?Defendant/appellant, Wynn S. Jones, Jr. (“Jones”), appeals his conviction on four counts of armed robbery, one count of simple robbery, and one count of attempted simple robbery. We affirm his convictions and remand with instructions.

Jones entered a plea of not guilty and filed several pre-trial motions, including motions to suppress his confession, evidence, and identification, all of |swhich were denied after a hearing. Prior to trial, Jones withdrew his not guilty plea and entered a plea of guilty pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford1 and State v. Crosby.2 On counts one through four, Jones was sentenced to 49 years of imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. Additionally, he was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment at hard labor on count five and three years and six months of imprisonment at hard labor on count six. The court ordered all sentences to run concurrently.

The following facts are taken from the suppression hearing: Detective Dax Russo (“Detective Russo”) of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office participated in an investigation regarding a series of robberies [23]*23that occurred from December 2004 until January 19, 2005. Jones was arrested on January 19 for a robbery of a cellular telephone business, NEXTECH, that had occurred that day. A search incident to an arrest was conducted, and, as a result of the search, Detective Russo received a 20 dollar bill, a nine millimeter live cartridge, a pay-out stub for NEXTECH, and a roll of coins, which was consistent with items taken in the robbery.

On the day Jones was arrested, Detective Russo advised him of his rights and Jones signed a waiver of rights form, acknowledging he understood his rights. Two recorded statements were taken, one at 7:50 p.m. and the second at 8:34 p.m. that same evening. At the beginning of his first statement, Jones acknowledged he understood his rights and was waiving them. At the beginning of his second statement, Jones was reminded of his rights and acknowledged that he again was waiving them. Detective Russo testified that Jones was not forced or coerced or promised anything of value for his statements.

UAccording to Detective Russo, the first statement concerned the NEXTECH robbery while the second statement concerned other robberies that occurred from December 2004 until January 19, 2005 on the Westbank. The statements were admitted into evidence. In his first statement, Jones admitted he received money from the register after he grabbed an employee by her arm and put a kitchen knife to her throat during the robbery. In his second statement, Jones admitted he robbed a cashier at Philly’s Steak House with a knife and was given money from the cash register. He then admitted that, on another occasion, he robbed a different employee at the Philly’s Steak House using the same knife and that he took money out of the register himself. Jones then stated he robbed a gas station on the Expressway, snatching money from the register while unarmed. He also discussed two other robberies at gas stations. He explained that, in one attempt, he tried reaching into the register after purchasing a drink at a Shell Station on the Expressway, but the employee closed the register, grabbed a baseball bat, and ran him out of the store. He did not get any money and was unarmed. Jones then discussed a second robbery on the same day at a Shell Station on Ames and Lapalco. He explained that he asked the employee for change for his dollar to use the phone, and, when the cashier tried to give him change, he reached and grabbed the money. He stated that he showed the cashier a knife, and she backed up. Jones identified himself as the person shown in photographs, taken from surveillance video, given him by the detective.

Detective Russo testified that, as to the NEXTECH robbery, three employees gave an account of what happened and were taken to the scene where Jones was apprehended. All three employees identified him as the suspect. Regarding the other robberies that occurred prior to January 19, photographic line-ups that included Jones’ photograph were used. Detective Russo testified that Julia |fiMartin identified Jones from a photographic lineup as the suspect in the January 14, 2005 robbery of the Shell Gas Station on Lapal-co Boulevard. Rosie Johnson identified Jones in a photographic line-up as the suspect in a January 14, 2005 robbery at the Shell Gas Station on the Westbank Expressway.

Detective Kevin Decker of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office also participated in the investigation of the robberies. He testified that he showed a photographic lineup to victim Carl Howell and witness Henry Diamond regarding a December 22, 2004 [24]*24robbery at Philly’s Steak House on the Westbank Expressway. Separately, both identified Jones in a photographic lineup. With regard to a January 9, 2005 robbery at the Shell Gas Station on the Westbank Expressway, Haroon Iqbal identified Jones in a photographic lineup. In both of these robberies, a still photograph from the surveillance video was available.

On appeal, counsel for Jones argues his statements were given involuntarily because he was under the influence of heroin and cocaine, and also because, after he resisted arrest (but prior to questioning), he was intimidated and manhandled by the police, causing injuries that had to be treated at Charity Hospital. Jones urges that he was in no physical condition to comprehend the seriousness of the charges and waiver of rights, and, thus, had a diminished capacity to fully understand either his rights and/or their waiver. He argues he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily enter his pleas with a full understanding of the pleas and their consequences. Jones urges that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his attorney failed to object to the admission of his statements during the suppression hearing, making his guilty pleas invalid as being coerced.

Jones also makes a pro se argument that his attorney was ineffective in failing to object to the trial court’s acceptance of his plea under Alford without | ^ascertaining that he had a full understanding of the elements of the crime, and that there was no factual basis established in the record to support such plea.

Although a guilty plea normally waives all non-jurisdictional defects in the proceedings leading up to the plea and precludes review of such defects either by appeal or post-conviction relief, a defendant may be allowed appellate review if at the time he enters a guilty plea, he expressly reserves his right to appeal a specific adverse ruling in the case.3 To the extent that Jones entered his guilty pleas pursuant to Crosby, he did not specify the pre-trial ruling he wished to reserve for appeal. Neither the waiver of rights form nor the plea colloquy refers to any pretrial rulings. A defendant’s failure to specify which pre-trial ruling he desires to reserve for appeal as part of a guilty plea entered pursuant to Crosby may limit the scope of appellate review, but does not preclude review altogether.4

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State v. Jones, 975 So. 2d 21, 7 La.App. 5 Cir. 512, 2007 La. App. LEXIS 2336, 2007 WL 4554019 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

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