State v. Morgan

63 So. 3d 261, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 416, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 372, 2011 WL 1135516
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 29, 2011
DocketNo. 10-KA-416
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 63 So. 3d 261 (State v. Morgan) 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. Morgan, 63 So. 3d 261, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 416, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 372, 2011 WL 1135516 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

MARION F. EDWARDS, Chief Judge.

| gThis is Ronald J. Morgan’s (“Morgan”), defendant/appellant, fifth appeal. The procedural history of this case is taken from this Court’s most recent opinion as follows:1

[264]*264In defendant’s first appeal, this Court affirmed defendant’s convictions for forcible rape and aggravated incest and the finding that defendant was a third felony offender. State v. Morgan, 06-529 (La.App. 5 Cir. 12/12/06), 948 So.2d 199. This Court vacated defendant’s sentences and remanded the case to the trial court for a ruling on defendant’s outstanding counseled motion for new trial....
On remand, the trial judge resen-tenced defendant on Count 1, forcible rape, to imprisonment at hard labor for 20 years, and on Count 2, aggravated incest, to imprisonment at hard labor for 10 years, with both sentences to run concurrently. State v. Morgan, 07-943, p. 2 (La.App. 5 Cir. 3/11/08), 982 So.2d 172, 173. Three months later, the trial judge, Judge Robert Burns, denied defendant’s pro se motion for new trial after a hearing. One week later, Judge Burns vacated the original sentences and resentenced defendant as a third felony offender to a term of 40 years to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on both counts to run concurrently. State v. Morgan, 07-943 at 2-3, 982 So.2d at 173.
|3In the second appeal, this Court again vacated defendant’s sentences and remanded for a ruling on the outstanding counseled motion for new trial, since the trial court erroneously ruled on defendant’s pro se motion for new trial, which had already been denied, instead of his outstanding counseled motion for new trial three months after sentencing. State v. Morgan, 07-943 at 3, 982 So.2d at 173. This Court stated that, if the trial judge denied the motion and subsequently resentenced defendant, it reserved defendant’s right to appeal an adverse judgment with respect to his sentencing. Id.
On remand, the trial judge, Judge Donald Rowan, denied defendant’s motion for new trial after a hearing on October 3, 2008. Afterwards, the trial judge resentenced defendant on Count 1, forcible rape, to imprisonment at hard labor for 20 years, with “at least two” years to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, and on Count 2, aggravated incest, to imprisonment at hard labor for ten years, with Count 1 to run consecutively with Count 2. The trial judge then vacated the original sentence and resen-tenced defendant as a third felony offender on Count 1 to imprisonment at hard labor for 40 years without benefit of parole or suspension of sentence and on Count 2 to imprisonment at hard labor for 10 years “without benefits,” with the sentences on both counts to run consecutively. Defendant filed a motion to reconsider sentence that was denied. State v. Morgan, 08-1299 at 2-4, 15 So.3d at 1027-28.
In his third appeal, defendant appealed his sentence and the trial court’s ruling on his motion to reconsider sentence. He argued that the trial court erred by increasing his sentence without justification following his successful appeal. He contended that vindictiveness must reasonably be inferred from the record. This Court stated that it was possible, based on the record that the trial judge may not have had a personal animus against defendant, but rather he may have thought concurrent sentences were too lenient considering the disturbing facts of this case, that defendant raped his own biological daughter numerous times over a period of years. Since the trial court did not provide reasons for the increased sentence on remand after appeal, this Court vacated defendant’s enhanced sentence and re[265]*265manded the matter to the trial court for resentencing with orders that the trial court provide reasons for the sentence imposed. State v. Morgan, 08-1299 at 10, 15 So.3d at 1031-32.
Additionally, this Court vacated the trial court’s order denying defendant’s motion to reconsider sentence and remanded this matter to the trial court. State v. Morgan, 08-1299 at 13, 15 So.3d at 1033. This Court also found that the ten-year enhanced sentence on Count 2 was illegally lenient because it was below the mandatory minimum of 13.3 years. As such, this Court instructed the trial court to take note of this error when resentencing on remand. Id., 08-1299 at 14, 15 So.3d at 1034.
On July 10, 2009, on remand, the trial judge resentenced defendant on Count 1, forcible rape, to imprisonment at hard labor for 20 years, with the first two years to be served without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, and on Count 2, aggravated incest, to imprisonment at hard labor for ten years, with the sentences to run consecutively to each other. The trial judge then vacated the original sentence on Count 1, forcible rape, and resen-tenced defendant as a third felony offender to imprisonment at hard labor for 40 years without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence. He also resen-tenced defendant as a third felony offender on Count |42, aggravated incest, to imprisonment at hard labor for 15 years without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence, with the sentences on Counts 1 and 2 to run consecutively with each other. Defendant filed a timely motion for appeal that was granted.

In his fourth appeal, Morgan argued that the sentencing judge erred by increasing his sentence following his successful appeal without justification, and the increase in harshness was motivated by vindictiveness. Morgan challenged not only the consecutive nature of the sentences but also the increased enhanced sentence on Count 2, which he also claimed was based on the judge’s vindictiveness. In that appeal, we found that the increased sentence was based on the sentencing judge’s strong view of Morgan’s actions and the judge’s concern for the child victim, and not on Morgan’s successful appeals.2 Additionally, we stated that the sentencing judge increased the sentence on Count 2 from 10 to 15 years because this Court had found that the mandatory minimum sentence was 13.3 years and that the 10-year sentence was illegally lenient. We determined that the sentencing judge did not err by imposing consecutive sentences (which increased the total number of years) or by increasing the enhanced sentence on Count 2.

In that appeal, Morgan also argued that the trial court should not have enhanced both of his convictions because they were obtained on the same date. We held that the trial court did not err by enhancing both of Morgan’s convictions that were obtained on the same date, even though they appeared to have arisen out of a single criminal episode.3 We affirmed the sentence on Count 2, but we found that the enhanced sentence on Count 1, forcible rape, had to be vacated and the case remanded for resentencing on that count only because the judge did not order that at least two years of the sentence be served without benefit of parole.

[266]*266lüOn March 19, 2010, on remand, Judge Donald Rowan resentenced Morgan on Count 1 to imprisonment at hard labor for 40 years, with the first two years to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, and with the remainder of the sentence to be served without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence.

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

Related

State of Louisiana v. Charles Carter
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2021
State v. Mouton
78 So. 3d 245 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 So. 3d 261, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 416, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 372, 2011 WL 1135516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-morgan-lactapp-2011.