State v. Jones

63 So. 3d 330, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 786, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 475, 2011 WL 1561560
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 27, 2011
DocketNo. 10-786
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 63 So. 3d 330 (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, 63 So. 3d 330, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 786, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 475, 2011 WL 1561560 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

KEATY, Judge.

| iDefendant, Jarman Gerard Jones, appeals his adjudication as a fourth felony offender and his sentence of thirty years at hard labor, with credit for time served. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s adjudication and sentence.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On or about March 31, 2007, the victim, Denise LeBlanc (LeBlanc), and two of her friends went to the Buck Wild Saloon in New Iberia, Louisiana, in LeBlane’s 1994 Honda Accord. Upon their arrival, Le-Blanc put the car keys in her front pocket and the trio entered the bar. Approximately forty-five minutes later, LeBlanc [332]*332prepared to leave and noticed that her vehicle was missing from the parking lot and that the keys were missing from her pocket. She then reported the car as stolen to the Iberia Parish Sheriffs Office.

On April 1, 2007, the vehicle was involved in a pursuit spanning two parishes, St. Landry and Jefferson Davis. The driver of the vehicle, Defendant, was arrested and booked in both parishes. On April 5, 2007, during a recorded interview, Defendant admitted to taking LeBlanc’s vehicle, claiming he found the keys on the ground.

Although initially booked in St. Landry Parish, Defendant was later transferred to the Iberia Parish jail. Following an investigation, he was arrested on April 8, 2008, for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, in violation of La.R.S. 14:68.4. At his June 4, 2008 arraignment, Defendant pled not-guilty, requested counsel and reserved his right to a jury trial. On February 3, 2009, after presiding over a hearing on a motion for other crimes evidence and a La.Code Crim.P. art. 767 hearing,1 the trial | ¡>court found the evidence admissible except for certain lines in a Boykin colloquy2 that all counsel agreed to exclude.

On February 5, 2009, a petit jury found Defendant guilty as charged. After the jury was released, the State filed a multiple offender bill of information in open court, alleging that Defendant had been convicted of four felonies including the February 5, 2009 conviction, and that he should be sentenced as a habitual offender pursuant to La.R.S. 15:529.1. Defendant pled not guilty. The trial court advised defense counsel that she had fifteen days to file an objection.

On April 2, 2009, the trial court conducted a multiple offender hearing. Because no objections were filed, the only issue at the hearing was the identity of Defendant as being the same person who was previously convicted of the felonies giving rise to the State filing the multiple offender bill. As it presided over both hearings, the trial court took judicial notice that the defendant at the multiple offender hearing was the same defendant convicted of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle on February 5, 2009 in docket number 08-776.

The State filed the bill of information, minute entry, and Boykin colloquy for each of three felonies it was alleging Defendant had been convicted of prior to his February 5, 2009 conviction. Defense counsel did not object to the exhibits being filed and the trial court called for them to be entered. The State then called Officer Patrick Freyou to the stand. Officer Freyou had the opportunity to supervise a man | .¡named Jarman Jones in his capacity as a probation/parole officer with the State of Louisiana. He positively identified Defendant as the man he supervised. He then testified that he supervised Defendant after he was granted parole for docket numbers 98^90 and 03-1948, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and possession of cocaine, respectively. He recited De[333]*333fendant’s birthday and social security number.

The State then asked Officer Freyou to read certain lines from the transcripts of the Boykin colloquies of the three prior felonies; each time, Officer Freyou read a name, date of birth, and social security number. The biographical data read each time was identical to the biographical data he had previously testified belonged to Jarman Jones, whom he had identified earlier in the hearing as Defendant. Officer Freyou also testified that he was familiar with Defendant’s signature and, when shown a condition of probation form, positively identified the signature thereon as belonging to Defendant. He also confirmed that the biographical information on a pre-sentence investigation belonged to Defendant.

After the hearing, the trial court found that the State proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Defendant was previously convicted of attempted simple burglary in docket number 97-743, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in docket number 98-490, possession of cocaine in docket number 03-1948, and unauthorized |4use of a motor vehicle in docket number 08-776,3 and that Defendant was a fourth felony offender.

On April 23, 2009, the trial court sentenced Defendant to thirty years at hard labor with credit for time served after all counsel confirmed that pursuant to La.R.S. 14:68.4 and La.R.S. 15:529.1, the minimum sentence was twenty years and the maximum was life. In its oral reasons for ruling, the trial court stated that it had considered Defendant’s “extensive criminal record” and that it found that “there is an undue risk that [Defendant] will commit another crime as [he has] shown that [he] commit[s] one crime after another.” The trial court continued, stating “that a lesser sentence would deprecate the seriousness of [the] crime because not only did [Defendant] commit the crime of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, upon the police attempting to stop [him, Defendant] led them on a chase through several different parishes.”

The trial court found that Defendant “knowingly created a risk of great bodily harm to not only [himself] but to the police that were trying to stop [him] and to all motorists who may have been on the highway while that chase was going on.” It found that Defendant was “persistently involved in similar offenses,” that he had “no respect for the property of others,” and that there were no mitigating circumstances applicable to Defendant’s case under La.Code Crim.P. art. 894.1.

| f,Counsel for Defendant made an oral motion for reconsideration of sentence and the trial court denied the motion but gave Defendant credit for time served. No other objections or motions were made at that time.

On October 1, 2009, Defendant filed a post-conviction relief form, seeking an out of time appeal and appointment of appellate counsel. He was granted an out of time appeal on November 13, 2009.

[334]*334Defendant is now before this court on appeal arguing four assignments of error: in his pro se brief, he seeks a review for errors patent and asserts that his sentence is excessive. Through counsel he argues that the State failed to prove Defendant’s conviction in docket number 98-490, that his thirty-year sentence is excessive, and that the trial court erroneously allowed dissimilar and highly prejudicial evidence to be introduced at trial.

ERRORS PATENT

In accordance with La.Code CrimJP. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed for errors patent on the face of the record. After carefully reviewing the record in this case, we find that there are no errors patent.

DISCUSSION

State’s Failure to Prove Defendant’s Conviction

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 So. 3d 330, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 786, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 475, 2011 WL 1561560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jones-lactapp-2011.