State v. Lopez

235 So. 2d 394, 256 La. 108, 1970 La. LEXIS 3828
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMay 4, 1970
DocketNo. 50173
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 235 So. 2d 394 (State v. Lopez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lopez, 235 So. 2d 394, 256 La. 108, 1970 La. LEXIS 3828 (La. 1970).

Opinion

HAMLIN, Justice.

Defendant was charged by bill of information in the First Parish Court for the Parish of Jefferson as follows:

“ * * * on or about the THIRD (3rd) day of AUGUST in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and SIXTY-EIGHT (1968) with force [111]*111and arms, in the Parish aforesaid * * * did willfully and unlawfully commit the crime of Vagrancy' as defined in R.S. 14:107 in that he did loiter at Wabash and Harvard, without being able to account for his lawful presence thereat,
“Count 2) And the District Attorney further gives the Court to be informed and to understand that the said Donald Lopez did then and there willfully and unlawfully disturb the peace by using loud and boisterous language, in such a manner as would foreseeably disturb and alarm the public at Wabash and Harvard,
“Count 3) And the District Attorney further gives the Court to be informed and to understand that the said Donald Lopez did then and there intentionally oppose and resist officers of the law, one Deputy H. Toepfer, and Deputy Daniel Samrow * * * ”

On July 9, 1969, defendant was tried, found guilty, and sentenced on Count 1, “Vagrancy,” to pay a fine of $50.00 and costs or serve 25 days; on Count 2, “Disturbing the Peace,” to pay a fine of $25.00 and costs or serve 25 days; and on Count 3, “Resisting Arrest,” to pay a fine of $325.00 and serve 90 days in the Parish Prison, plus an additional 90 days if the fine was not paid.

Thelma Brockhoff, defendant’s companion at the time of his arrest, was simultaneously arrested with defendant and charged with “Vagrancy.” Her case was-consolidated for trial with that of the defendant. During the course of trial, the trial court sustained her motion for a directed verdict; she was thus acquitted of “Vagrancy.”

On appeal to the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court from the convictions of “Vagrancy” and “Disturbing the Peace,” trial being de novo, the defendant was found not guilty. Therefore, insofar as defendant was found guilty in the First Parish Court for the Parish of Jefferson of the offenses of “Vagrancy” and “Disturbing the Peace,” we find that the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court had appellate jurisdiction on appeal from the convictions, and that the defendant has been exonerated of the charges against him for said offenses. Art. VII, Sec. 36, La.Const. of 1921; State v. Cumming, 251 La. 416, 204 So.2d 769.

Defendant appeals to this Court from his conviction of the offense of “Resisting Arrest” 1 and his sentence imposed there[113]*113for. The record contains four bills of exceptions reserved to the rulings of the trial judge. Bills of Exceptions Nos. 2 and 4 will not be considered because they relate to defendant’s convictions of the offenses of “Vagrancy” and “Disturbing the Peace.” Our finding, infra, that Bill of Exceptions No. 3 is with merit precludes the necessity of our consideration of Bill of Exceptions No. 1 taken to the refusal of the trial judge to defer sentencing the defendant.

In his four bills of exceptions filed October 2, 1969, defendant did not pray that the testimony of record be made a part of and attached to the bills of exceptions, but, on September 12, 1969, his counsel filed a motion to complete the record. The motion was signed by the trial judge; we interpret it to mean that the entire transcript is submitted for our consideration in connection with the bills of exceptions reserved.2

[115]*115BILL OF EXCEPTIONS NO. 3.

Bill of Exceptions No. 3 was reserved when the trial judge refused to grant defendant a directed verdict.3

Although there is some conflict in the testimony, the evidence attached to the bills of exceptions reflects that defendant was arrested for the offense of “Vagrancy” before he allegedly resisted arrest. Defendant’s testimony is as follows:

“Q. At what point did he tell you you were under arrest ?
“A. After he had one handcuff on me, on one arm.
“Q. Are you sure he didn’t tell you that before ?
“A. I’m positive. When he got me under the arm, he said, ‘You’re under arrest, Donald.’ That’s what he told me.
“Q. And after that occurred, what happened ?
“A. Why, I told him to put the other handcuff on me, and he put them behind my back, real tight, and by that time, another — some more police cars come up, and they were standing around talking, and I seen the Sergeant we talked to a couple of nights before, and I said, ‘Sergeant, I thought this wasn’t going to happen any more,’ and when I did that, he said, ‘Get away, punk,’ and he pushed on me.
“Q. And then they took you down to jail from there?
“A. Yes.
“Q. At any time were you loud and boisterous ?
“A. Maybe I was when we were fighting, but I wasn’t, just talking to him, until he pushed on me.
“Q. And the reason you struggled with him is because he pushed on you?
“A. Yes, sir. Not ‘they,’ one of them.
[117]*117“Q. Which one ?
“A. Toepfer.”

Defendant testified at the time of trial that he was eighteen years of age, lived with his father, and would return to Warren Easton High School in the Fall. He said that he was working on August 3, 1968, and that immediately prior to his arrest, approximately 3:30 A.M. to 4:00 A. M., he had been riding with his girl friend, and they had had a little argument. “ * * * we had stopped to discuss it, and I had just pulled off the — you know— big street and stopped to discuss it away from the traffic and all, and I just stopped the car, and when it stops, it gets kind of hot; it don’t start easy.” He further testified that the police arrived five minutes at the most after they had parked; that they were just sitting and talking; that he was using his aunt’s car; that his car had been stolen and wrecked. As to the actions of his aunt’s car, he testified:

“A. * * * She gave me this one here to use, rather than my wrecked one.
“Q. Had this car stopped before on you like this?
“A. Yes, sure, plenty of times.
“Q. When this car stops like this, what procedure do you use to get the car back into motion ?
“A. I have to just sit there and wait for it to cool off; it just gets hot.
“Q. Will it start when it’s hot like that ?
“A. Very seldom.”

Defendant stated that he had seen Officer Toepfer three or four days before his arrest. Concerning the events which transpired at the time of the arrest and the events which transpired a few days before the arrest, his testimony is as follows:

AT THE TIME OF THE ARREST.
“Q. And what did the officer say to you or you say to the officer?
“A.

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Bluebook (online)
235 So. 2d 394, 256 La. 108, 1970 La. LEXIS 3828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lopez-la-1970.