State v. Morehead

239 So. 3d 330
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 15, 2018
Docket17–765
StatusPublished

This text of 239 So. 3d 330 (State v. Morehead) 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. Morehead, 239 So. 3d 330 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

AMY, Judge.

The State charged the defendant with illegal possession of stolen things over $1,500.00 after he was found to be in possession of two allegedly stolen all-terrain vehicles. A jury convicted the defendant as charged. The defendant was subsequently adjudicated a second felony offender due to a prior federal conviction. The trial court thereafter sentenced the defendant to nine years at hard labor. For the following reasons, we affirm with instructions.

Factual and Procedural Background

In the early morning hours of May 18, 2015, the Allen Parish Sheriff's Office received information regarding a suspicious truck leaving a home. The dispatcher informed Deputy Michael Dotson that the vehicle was travelling "at a high rate of speed" and that it had "a trailer that possibly had some four-wheelers on [ ]it that may have been stolen." Deputy Dotson positioned himself along the highway, waiting for the truck to arrive at his location. He explained that after the described white truck approached him, he "r[a]n the truck down and made a traffic stop." Deputy Dotson explained that, after he removed the driver from the vehicle, he identified the driver as the defendant, Allen Joseph Morehead. The defendant's passenger was subsequently found to be Austin Brown.

Deputy Dotson testified that, when he questioned the defendant as to the ownership of the all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) on the trailer, the defendant explained that he had purchased the vehicles earlier in the day. However, the defendant could not produce related paperwork.

According to Deputy Scotty Paul, who also responded to the dispatch, the officers "started investigating the vehicle, the truck and the four-wheelers." He explained that the investigation included running "the VIN numbers on both the four-wheelers and the trailer[,]" and that "they c[a]me back to different people that was in the truck [sic]." The ATVs were registered to Joshua LeBlanc, whereas the trailer was registered to Albert LeBlanc. Deputy Paul explained that the defendant and Mr. Brown were transported to the sheriff's office at that time.

On September 28, 2015, the State charged the defendant with illegal possession of stolen things over $1,500.00, a violation of La.R.S. 14:69(B)(1). After a jury convicted the defendant as charged, the State filed a bill of information, alleging the defendant to be a habitual offender, second offense. In the bill, the State noted *333both the subject conviction under La.R.S. 14:69(B)(1) and a purported April 2012 conviction in federal district court for one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. On March 30, 2016, the court adjudicated the defendant as a habitual offender and sentenced him to nine years at hard labor.

The trial court granted the defendant's motion for out of time appeal. Now appearing before the court, and in counseled assignments of error, the defendant alleges that:

I. The State failed to sufficiently prove Allen Morehead was guilty of possessing stolen things over $1500.
II. The trial court erred in finding Allen a second felony offender because the State failed to meet its burden of proof regarding any prior conviction.
III. The trial court erred by denying counsel's motion to quash the jury venire when Allen Morehead was forced to sit in front of the jury pool all morning before trial, in plain view of potential jurors, some of whom noticed he was wearing prison attire. The court's ruling violated Allen's rights to be presumed innocent and to due process.

By supplemental brief filed in proper person, the defendant contends that "the comments of prosecution, infected and mislead [sic] the trial court and jury from the 'bias[ed] statement' made by the prosecution, as an infringement of rights to due process[.]" The defendant also questions whether the presence of the trial judge's brother-in-law on the jury resulted in "unwarranted influence on deliberations."

Discussion

Errors Patent

In addition to those errors assigned on appeal, La.Code Crim.P. art. 920(2) requires consideration of errors "discoverable by a mere inspection of the pleadings and proceedings and without inspection of the evidence." Our review in that regard reveals one such error. Namely, at the July 7, 2016 hearing on the defendant's motion for retrial, the trial court advised him that: "you have two years that your date-that your conviction becomes final to file post-conviction relief." The record indicates that the defendant thereafter filed an application for post-conviction relief on July 29, 2016.

Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 930.8 provides that the time period for applying for post-conviction relief is two years, beginning to run when a defendant's conviction and sentence become final under the provisions of La.Code Crim.P. arts. 914 or 922. Accordingly, the trial court is directed to inform the defendant of the provisions of Article 930.8 by sending appropriate written notice to the defendant within ten days of the rendition of the opinion and to file written proof in the record that the defendant received the notice. See, e.g., State v. Thibodeaux , 16-542 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/15/17), 216 So.3d 73, writ denied , 17-0642 (La. 12/5/17), 231 So.3d 628.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

We first address the defendant's contention that the State failed to prove the value of the items at issue beyond a reasonable doubt. In particular, he contends that the State lacked sufficient evidence of the condition of the trailer and the subject ATVs so as to establish fair market value of $1,500.00 or more.

*334At the time of the May 2015 offense at issue, La.R.S.14:691 provided, in part:

A. Illegal possession of stolen things is the intentional possessing, procuring, receiving, or concealing of anything of value which has been the subject of any robbery or theft, under circumstances which indicate that the offender knew or had good reason to believe that the thing was the subject of one of these offenses.B. (1) Whoever commits the crime of illegal possession of stolen things, when the value of the things is one thousand five hundred dollars or more, shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than ten years, or may be fined not more than three thousand dollars, or both.

In State v. Kelly , 15-0484, pp. 3-4 (La. 6/29/16), 195 So.3d 449, 451, the Louisiana Supreme Court explained that:

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Bluebook (online)
239 So. 3d 330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-morehead-lactapp-2018.