State v. Martin

141 So. 3d 933, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0628, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1412, 2014 WL 2440786
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 28, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-KA-0628
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 141 So. 3d 933 (State v. Martin) 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. Martin, 141 So. 3d 933, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0628, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1412, 2014 WL 2440786 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

ROLAND L. BELSOME, Judge.

h The defendant, Anthony Martin, was convicted of manslaughter; two counts of attempted second degree murder; six counts of attempted armed robbery with a firearm; one count of attempted aggravated burglary; and one count of illegal use [936]*936of weapons by discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence. Several errors patent and a sentencing error result in this matter being affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In a thirteen count grand jury indictment,1 the defendant was charged with second degree murder (Count I); illegal use of weapons by discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence (Count II); aggravated burglary of an inhabited dwelling (Count III); attempted second-degree murder (Counts IV, V, and VI); attempted armed robbery with a firearm (Counts VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII); and possession of a firearm after having been previously convicted of an enumerated felony (Count XIII).2 He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.

12Subsequently, the trial court denied his motion to quash the indictment.3 After a twelve-person jury trial, he was found guilty of the responsive verdicts of manslaughter as to Count I, and attempted aggravated burglary as to Count III. He was found not guilty as to Count V, attempted second degree murder of Victor Garcia. The defendant was found guilty as charged on the remaining nine counts: one count of illegal discharge of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime (Count II), three counts of attempted see-ond degree murder (Counts. IV and VI), and six counts of attempted armed robbery (Counts VII through XII).

The trial court denied the defendant’s motion for new trial4 and sentenced him to forty years at hard labor for manslaughter Count I; fifteen years at hard labor on Count II; twelve years at hard labor on Count III; fifty years at hard labor on Counts IV and VI; and forty-nine and one-half years at hard labor on Counts VII through XII. All sentences were imposed without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, and ordered to be served consecutively. On the same day, he was adjudicated a second-felony habitual offender as to Count IV (attempted second degree murder) only; the trial court vacated the original sentence imposed on that count and sentenced him to one hundred years at hard | dab or, without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The trial court denied his motion to reconsider the sentence,5 and this appeal followed.

FACTS

On August 22, 2007, three men forced their way into a residence located at 4810 Nighthart Street, in New Orleans. At the time of the incident, there were five men and two women at home: Jose Guevara, [937]*937Julio Benitez-Cruz, Danilo Garcia Pavón,6 Victor Garcia, Michael Sanchez Ramirez,7 Fanny Villalta Flores, and Jessica Maldonado. Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Pavón were outside eating when they were accosted by the men at gunpoint, and quickly moved inside to the living room.

Once inside, they were held face-down on the floor at gunpoint, while the other perpetrators gathered the remaining occupants, except Mr. Garcia, into íhe living room and ordered them to lie on the ground as well. When Ms. Flores was ordered to lie face down in the living room, one of the male victims explained to the perpetrators that she could not lie on the ground because she was pregnant. Ms. Flores was then ordered to sit while the perpetrators demanded the victims’ money. Following a brief struggle with one of the gunmen, Mr. Benitez-Cruz was shot in the chest. After hearing the shot, Mr. Guevara jumped on the defendant in an attempt to commandeer his gun. During the struggle, the defendant fired twice, striking Mr. Ramirez in the arm and right side of the chest. Mr. Garcia exited from a room in the rear of the home and was also shot by the defendant.

| .(Ultimately, Mr. Guevara was able to take hold of the gun. When the defendant attempted to flee, Mr. Guevara grabbed him by the shorts, pulling his shorts and tennis shoes off. The police later recovered the defendant’s identification card from the shorts left at the scene.8 Mr. Pavón, Mr. Guevara, Ms. Flores, and Mr. Ramirez all identified the defendant in a photographic lineup. He was later apprehended in Mississippi, and extradited to New Orleans.

ERRORS PATENT

A review of the record reveals two major errors.

First, the minute entry and transcript from the sentencing are inconsistent. Though the minute entry from sentencing reflects that all of the defendant’s sentences are to be served without benefits, the transcript reflects that the trial court restricted benefits in the multiple offender sentence on Count IV only. The minute entry further reflects that the multiple offender sentence is to run consecutively to the other sentences; however, the transcript is silent. Generally, when there is a discrepancy between the minute entry and the transcript, the transcript prevails. State v. Lynch, 441 So.2d 732, 734 (La.1983). Accordingly, the entries should be amended to delete both the restriction of benefits and the consecutive sentence on Count IV, then the amendments should be forwarded to the officer in charge of the institution to which the defendant has been sentenced, as well as to the legal department of the Department of Corrections. See |fiLa.C.Cr.P. art. 892(B)(2); State ex rel. Roland v. State, 06-244 (La.9/15/06), 937 So.2d 846 (per curiam).9

[938]*938Next, the trial court failed to expressly impose an additional five year sentence on Counts VII-XII, for using a firearm in connection with an attempted armed robbery, on each of those counts, as required by La. R.S. 14:64.3.10 The defendant was convicted of six counts of attempted armed robbery with a firearm, and sentenced to forty-nine and one-half years at hard labor on each count, the maximum. In State v. Burton, 09-826, p. 3 (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/14/10), 43 So.3d 1073, 1076, this Court held that in cases where it is unclear whether the trial court imposed a firearm enhancement, the sentence is indeterminate, requiring it to be vacated and the matter remanded for resentencing for clarification of whether the defendant’s sentence includes the additional punishment pursuant to La. R.S. 14:64.3. See also State v. Adams, 10-1140 (La.App. 4 Cir. 6/1/11), 68 So.3d 1165; and State v. Carter, 13-74, p. 5 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/11/13), 131 So.3d 153, 158. Thus, the defendant’s sentences in Counts VII-XII are vacated and remanded for resentencing.

¡«DISCUSSION

On appeal, the defendant assigns four errors in reference to three issues: 1) the motion to quash; 2) the habitual offender plea; and 3) the sentencing.11 The defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash, which was based on the allegation that the State abused its prosecutorial discretion by improperly entering a nolle prosequi as to his first indictment, on the morning his second trial12 was set to begin, and then reinsti-tuting prosecution the following day.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Louisiana v. Tyrone A. Stewart
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2025
State Of Louisiana v. Terance Roshell Dawson
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2020
State of Louisiana v. Darrel Brown Mathieu
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019
State v. Degregory
274 So. 3d 902 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019)
State v. Turner
259 So. 3d 1089 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State v. Contreras
247 So. 3d 858 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State v. Price
216 So. 3d 1019 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State v. Hill
194 So. 3d 1262 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State v. Lambert
191 So. 3d 630 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State v. Paulson
177 So. 3d 360 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
State v. Jones
165 So. 3d 217 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
141 So. 3d 933, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0628, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1412, 2014 WL 2440786, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-martin-lactapp-2014.