State v. Jones

132 So. 3d 505, 2014 WL 229890, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 147
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided January 22, 2014·No. Nos. 48,624-KA, 48,625-KA·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinions

LOLLEY, J.

hDerrick D. Jones appeals his convictions and sentences by the 42nd Judicial District Court, DeSoto Parish, State of Louisiana. Following a consolidated bench trial, Jones was found guilty of: one [507]*507misdemeanor, false imprisonment, in violation of La. R.S. 14:46; and, one felony, aggravated second degree battery, a violation of La. R.S. 14:34.7. He was sentenced to six months in jail for false imprisonment and to three years’ imprisonment at hard labor for the aggravated second degree battery, the sentences to run concurrently. Jones now appeals these convictions and sentences.

Facts

On January 14, 2012, law enforcement officers were summoned to the home of Jones and his fiancée, Rhonda Wilson. According to police, she was covered with blood and severely injured when they arrived. At the time, Rhonda reported that she and Jones had argued and fought, and she needed medical attention. Jones had left the house by the time police responded to Rhonda’s call. At the hospital, where she repeated her accusations against Jones, Rhonda received stitches and staples for the injuries to her head, neck, and shoulder. Jones was arrested the next day and charged by separate bills of information with false imprisonment, aggravated second degree battery, and domestic abuse battery. On motion of the defendant, the charges were consolidated for bench trial.

The trial began with testimony from Rhonda.1 She described that she was living with Jones and her two children in a house in Mansfield, Louisiana. When the prosecution asked her about the incident resulting in |gthe 911 phone call, Rhonda answered there was no fight between the two, just a disagreement. At this point the prosecution requested and was granted permission, over a defense objection, to treat Rhonda as a hostile/uncooperative witness under La. C.E. art. 611.

Rhonda testified that after she was injured, she woke her daughter and asked her to call 911, because she needed a doctor to check the bleeding from her head and arm. On the witness stand, she denied that the injuries were caused by Jones, despite what she had initially told police. Rhonda described that at the hospital she was treated for the injuries to her back and neck and she received stitches in her shoulder and staples in the back of her head.

The state admitted into evidence its exhibits — photos showing the injuries to Rhonda’s head, neck, and shoulders. Even viewing those, Rhonda still denied that Jones hit her with anything and insisted that the injuries were caused when she and Jones fell onto a glass table by the front door. Rhonda said she did not tell the officers this on the night of the incident, because she was lying to incriminate Jones. She explained how she tried to stop Jones from leaving and during the struggle they fell and she was injured. Rhonda testified that she broke the broom handle into two pieces and threw one at Jones and when he threw it back at her, it hit her arm, causing an open wound. On the stand, Rhonda maintained that despite her statements to police that night, there was “no beating” and that both kids were asleep during the incident. She agreed, after viewing another exhibit, a picture of the table, that there was no blood on the table where she claimed she received the majority of the wounds that caused her heavy bleeding.

Nathaniel Anderson was the Mansfield Police Department patrol | ^officer who responded to the 911 call from Rhonda’s home. At trial, he testified that he found Rhonda in the doorway wearing a bloody gown, with blood all over her and blood coming from her head, neck, and arms. [508]*508According to Anderson, Jones was not there and the children were on the couch. Anderson said Rhonda was “pretty upset and hysterical,” and that she said she feared for the safety of herself and her children. Rhonda told the officer that Jones caused her injuries using a metal broomstick and a wooden piece with a nail in it, both of which were found at the scene. Anderson identified the state’s exhibits, a bloodied bent metal broomstick and a piece of wood with a nail in it. Anderson testified that Rhonda told him that Jones tried to choke her with the broomstick and then hit her in the face and head with the wooden stick, which she said came from the back door. According to Anderson, at the time, Rhonda also told him that Jones would not allow her in the other rooms in the house and would not allow her access to the phone to call for help. Anderson reviewed and verified the pictures he took that night of Rhonda’s injuries: the back of Rhonda’s head with staples; the gash on Rhonda’s back and neck; the injuries to Rhonda’s shoulder; the table by the door with the broken glass; and Rhonda’s shoulder after it was stitched up.

Jason Dean Ambrose, with the Mansfield Police Department, testified that he spoke with Rhonda at the hospital and she was shaken up, scared, and kept asking the officers to secure her house. He noted that Rhonda kept repeating that Jones was going to kill her, he held her against her will, and he struck her several times with the broom handle and other objects.

After the state rested, Jones took the stand to testify in his defense. |4He stated that he and Rhonda struggled that night and knocked furniture over while the children were asleep. He denied that he kept Rhonda from leaving and said that she struggled to stop him from leaving the house. Jones said he was simply trying to defend himself from Rhonda because she was “real mad” and that he needed to calm her down. Jones was questioned by the prosecution about a letter he had written on February 14, 2013, to Richard Johnson, the DeSoto Parish District Attorney. In the letter, Jones stated that the event was an “isolated accident” that occurred when he failed to take antibiotics for an infection and had been drinking heavily. He wrote that he did not know or remember what he was doing that night. Jones testified that some of the things he wrote in the letter were stated only in an attempt to get out of jail.

At the conclusion of the trial, the trial court held that the state had proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, all the elements of false imprisonment and aggravated second degree battery. The trial court ruled that Jones was guilty as charged on both counts and ordered a presentence investigation report (the “PSI”).

After consideration of the PSI and the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, Jones was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at hard labor, with credit for time served for aggravated second degree battery. For false imprisonment, Jones was sentenced to six months in parish jail, with credit for time served, to run concurrently to the other sentence. After a motion for reconsideration of his sentence was denied, this appeal ensued.

Discussion

Sufficiency of the Evidence

|fiJones’s first two assignments of error address the sufficiency of the evidence for his convictions of false imprisonment and aggravated second degree battery. On both charges, he claims that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the convictions.

The proper test for determining a claim of insufficiency of evidence in a crim[509]*509inal case is whether, on the entire record, a rational trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

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State v. Jones, 132 So. 3d 505, 2014 WL 229890, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 147 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

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