State v. Lanier

477 So. 2d 889, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9868
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 11, 1985
DocketNo. KA-2545
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 477 So. 2d 889 (State v. Lanier) 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. Lanier, 477 So. 2d 889, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9868 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

CIACCIO, Judge.

Defendant, Robert Lanier pled guilty to the crime of a theft of wallets, valued at $150.00, from the Rumor Corporation. R.S. 14:67. He was sentenced to serve on year in Parish Prison. This sentence was suspended and defendant was placed on one year active probation. Upon the State’s motion, this sentence was vacated, as illegal. The court thereafter sentenced the defendant to two years in Parish Prison and an additional six months, for contempt of court.1 Therefore, the defendant was, found to be a multiple offender. The two year sentence was vacated and he was re-sentenced to serve three years at hard labor to run concurrently with the six month sentence imposed for contempt of court.

The defendant appeals his theft conviction. We affirm. However, we reverse the finding of the trial court that defendant was a multiple offender and vacate the sentence imposed on that conviction. We remand the case for resentencing.

At the multiple bill hearing the state introduced a copy of a bill of information which charged the defendant with “theft of property in violation of Arkansas Statute Annotated Sec. 41-2203” in that on or about October 8, 1982 the defendant did “unlawfully, feloniously, with the purpose of depriving the owner of its property, take unauthorized control over property of a value in excess of $100.00, such being the property of J.C. Penny Department Store, 300 South University, Little Rock, Arkansas.” The State also introduced the defendant’s Louisiana guilty plea to felony theft and a copy of his Arkansas guilty plea to theft, a copy of his fingerprints taken by the Louisiana law enforcement agency and by the Arkansas law enforcement agency, as well as a copy of the minute entries on the Arkansas theft case. An expert in fingerprint identification, Leland Comeaux, testified that there were 16 points of similarity in the left thumb print taken pursuant to the defendant’s theft charges in Louisiana and Arkansas and therefore he concluded that this defendant was the same person who was involved in both cases.

On the basis of this evidence the trial judge found Lanier to be a multiple offender.

The defendant contends that the trial court erred in finding that he was a multiple offender, in that the prior Arkansas conviction which formed the basis of the multiple offender bill would have been a misdemeanor if committed in Louisiana. Accordingly, he argues that this offense cannot be used as the basis for enhancement of his sentence. R.S. 15:529.1(A).

The Louisiana Habitual Offender Statute provides for enhanced punishment for any person who, “after having been convicted under the laws of any other state or of the United States ... of a crime which, if committed in this state would be a felony” is subsequently convicted of a felony within this state. La.R.S. 15:529.1(A). See: State v. Berndt, 416 So.2d 56 (1982); State v. [891]*891Jones, 408 So.2d 1285 (1982). A felony in Louisiana is any crime for which the offender may be sentenced to death or imprisonment at hard labor. R.S. 14:2(4).

The defendant’s Arkansas conviction for theft of property in excess of $100.00 was a violation of Arkansas Statute Annotated, Section 41-2203, which reads as follows:

41-2203. Theft of property.-(1) A person commits theft of property if he:
(a) knowingly takes or exercises unauthorized control over, or makes an unauthorized transfer of an interest in, the property of another person, with the purpose of depriving the owner thereof; or
(b) knowingly obtains the property of another person, by deception or by threat, with the purpose of depriving the owner thereof.

In Louisiana, theft of property valued in excess of $100 would be a violation of Louisiana Revised Statute Title 14 Section 67, which reads as follows:

Theft is the misappropriation or taking of anything of value which belongs to another, either without the consent of the other to the misappropriation or taking, or by means of fraudulent conduct, practices, or representations. An intent to deprive the other permanently of whatever may be the subject of the misappropriation or taking is essential. (Emphasis Supplied)
aft * * * ⅝ jje

Thus, defendant argues that “theft” as defined by the Arkansas statute would not be “theft” as defined in Louisiana because the Arkansas statute does not mandate that the offender have the intent to permanently deprive the victim of the goods stolen. (Emphasis Supplied). Ark.Stat.Annot. Sec. 41-2203. La.R.S. 14:67.

In Arkansas, the statutory definition of “deprive” is: Ark.Stat.Ann. Sec. 41-2201(4):

(a) to withhold property or to cause it to be withheld either permanently or under circumstances such that a major portion of its economic value, use, or benefit is appropriated to the actor or lost to the owner; or
(b) to withhold property or to cause it to be withheld with the purpose to restore it only upon the payment of a reward or other compensation; or
(c) to dispose of property or use it or transfer any interest in it under circumstances that make its restoration unlikely-

In the Official Comments to this statute a further explanation is given:

Deprive:
As is the case with most former larceny offenses, the theft offenses defined in this chapter require a purpose to deprive the owner of property. Traditionally, larceny required an intent to permanently appropriate the property to the actor’s own use. As defined in subsection (4), “deprive” includes the notion of permanent appropriation, but it also encompasses three additional situations.
The first is where the actor did not intend that the property be permanently withheld from the owner, but did intend that the period of appropriation would constitute a major portion of the useful life of the property. For example, the man who borrows a tool that he plans to return as soon as it wears out intends to deprive the owner of the tool.
The second situation in which the actor intends to deprive is when he plans to return the property to the owner, but only after payment of a ransom, reward, or repurchase price. A deprivation under these circumstances has substantially the same pecuniary effect on the owner as a permanent deprivation.
The third situation, described in subsection (4)(c), applies to the person who temporarily takes money or other property, which he then uses under circumstances that subject it to a substantial risk of loss. An example is the bookkeeper who borrows funds from his employer to place a bet on what he considers a “sure thing.”

Additionally, the Official Comments to Arkansas Statute Annotated Sec. 41-2203 [892]*892recognizes that state’s liberal interpretation of the term “deprive.”

The Comments to Sec. 41-2203 provide in part:

Regardless of the fashion in which appropriation occurs, it must be accomplished with “the purpose to deprive the owner thereof.” Though this restates the common law larceny requirement that has long been followed in Arkansas, Fulton v. State, 13 Ark. 168 (1852), the definition of “deprive,” as explained in the commentary to Sec.

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Related

State v. Smith
681 So. 2d 978 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
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Bluebook (online)
477 So. 2d 889, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9868, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lanier-lactapp-1985.