State v. Lagarde

960 So. 2d 1105, 2007 WL 1545652
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 29, 2007
Docket07-KA-123
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 960 So. 2d 1105 (State v. Lagarde) 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. Lagarde, 960 So. 2d 1105, 2007 WL 1545652 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

960 So.2d 1105 (2007)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Felton D. LAGARDE.

No. 07-KA-123.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

May 29, 2007.

*1108 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Juliet Clark, Donald Rowan, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Gwendolyn K. Brown, Louisiana Appellate Project, Baton Rouge, LA, for Defendant/Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges THOMAS F. DALEY, WALTER J. ROTHSCHILD, and GREG G. GUIDRY.

THOMAS F. DALEY, Judge.

Defendant, Felton D. Lagarde, appeals his conviction for armed robbery, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:64. On appeal, he assigns five errors of the trial court:

1. The trial court erred by denying the Motion for Mistrial.
2. The trial court erred by denying the Motion for New Trial.
3. The trial court erred by imposing an excessive sentence.
4. The trial court erred by failing to comply with the sentencing mandates of La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1.
5. Defendant-appellant was denied the effective assistance of counsel as a result of his counsel's failure to file a motion to reconsider sentence to preserve for appellate review his right to object, on specific grounds, to the excessiveness of his sentence.

After careful consideration of the law and evidence, we affirm defendant's conviction, *1109 and remand for further proceedings.

FACTS

On August 3, 2004, at approximately 11:00 p.m., the victim, Tina Sage, left her employment at Wynhoven nursing home. She drove her Toyota 4-Runner to pick up her son, who was visiting friends in the Beachgrove neighborhood in Westwego, where they used to live. She looked for her son at Brother's, which is a food market near the Beachgrove neighborhood and which is where he normally waited for her.

Because her son was not at Brother's, Ms. Sage drove into the neighborhood. Ms. Sage saw her son at the back of the parking lot. She also saw a man standing on the sidewalk. Ms. Sage's son put some clothing and other belongings into the vehicle, when the man who had been on the sidewalk asked if Ms. Sage would give him a ride out of the neighborhood. When Ms. Sage told him that her boyfriend was "up front," he pushed her son out of the vehicle and jumped inside.[1] The man put a gun to her head and told her to get out. Ms. Sage said she heard a "click" and saw something silver in her face. She got out of the car and ran toward a neighbor's house and called the police. Ms. Sage testified that someone called her cell phone and told her to tell the police that the "boy's name was Felton Lagarde, and he's probably heading to the St. Bernard Project."

At trial, Detective Russo of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department identified State's Exhibit 22 as the application for a search warrant of the defendant's property at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center. The search warrant application contains background information leading up to the defendant's arrest by Jefferson Parish authorities.

The application indicates that, on August 4, 2004 at 9:00 a.m., Detective Decker of the Jefferson Parish Robbery Division discovered through a computer check that the defendant was arrested at 1:25 a.m. on August 4, 2004 in the 1000 block of St. Ann Street in New Orleans. Detectives Russo and Decker went to New Orleans at 11:00 a.m. to search for the victim's vehicle, which they found in the 800 block of Rampart Street. The vehicle was towed to the Investigations Bureau for processing. Other officers then went to pick the defendant up from New Orleans, where, in his personal property, they discovered a set of keys containing a Toyota key. It was later determined that the key belonged to the victim's vehicle. At trial, Ms. Sage identified State's Exhibit 2 as the keys that were in the 4-Runner when it was taken.

Detective Russo testified that, during the inventory of Ms. Sage's vehicle, the police found a .25 caliber Raven Arms handgun and a gray bandanna under the front passenger seat. The police also discovered a pair of black jeans in the back of the vehicle.

When Ms. Sage obtained her vehicle later that week, she discovered that her son's T-shirt and shorts were missing. She also noticed the clothing in the back seat, but both of her sons told her it was not theirs. She also found a crack pipe, or an "iron thing" with several lighters in her car. She placed everything inside of a bag and brought it to the police station. Ms. Sage described her son's missing clothing to the police. Detective Russo recalled that the defendant had been wearing a similar outfit at the time he was booked in New Orleans.

*1110 On September 22, 2004, the police executed a search warrant on the defendant's possessions at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center and found some clothing, which Ms. Sage identified at trial as the clothing that her son was placing inside her car immediately before the armed man jumped inside.

Ms. Sage testified that she did not get a good look at the armed man and could not identify anyone from a photo lineup. She also was unable to make a positive identification of the defendant at trial.

On August 4, 2004, the defendant made a tape-recorded statement to Sergeant Larry Dyess of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office after being advised of and waiving his rights.[2] In his statement, the defendant said that he and a white female had been smoking crack in the crack house in an abandoned area in the back of Beachgrove.[3] The defendant said that he and the woman left the house at the same time, and he asked her for a ride. The woman refused and said something about her husband. The defendant said her refusal made him feel frustrated. The defendant entered the back seat and grabbed the keys and he "tussled" with her after he entered the car. When the woman jumped out, the defendant sat in the driver's seat and drove away. The defendant said he had a gun in his pocket, but he denied pointing the gun at the woman. The defendant said he drove across the river and went downtown.

Sergeant Dyess testified he believed the defendant minimized his involvement in the crime, but stated that the police believed the defendant was the perpetrator because the defendant supplied facts that only the perpetrator would know.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NUMBER ONE AND TWO

In these Assignments of Error, the defendant contends that the trial judge should have granted his Motion for a Mistrial and thereafter, his Motion for a New Trial because the State introduced inadmissible evidence of other crimes. Specifically, the defendant contends that a mistrial was warranted when the jury viewed an edited version of the defendant's statement that failed to omit a reference to the defendant's arrest for second degree murder. The defendant filed a Motion for a New Trial on the same basis. The State responds that the defendant failed to preserve this claim for appellate review because he viewed the statement before the jury saw it and made no objection. The State further responds that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying either motion.

Immediately before questioning Sergeant Dyess about the defendant's statement, the prosecutor initiated a bench conference that was not transcribed. However, it is clear from the record that the purpose of the bench conference was to remove references in the statement to the defendant's arrest for second degree murder.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
960 So. 2d 1105, 2007 WL 1545652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lagarde-lactapp-2007.