State v. Moyers

167 So. 3d 740, 2014 La.App. 1 Cir. 0673, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2702, 2014 WL 5794290
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 7, 2014
DocketNo. 2014 KA 0673
StatusPublished

This text of 167 So. 3d 740 (State v. Moyers) 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. Moyers, 167 So. 3d 740, 2014 La.App. 1 Cir. 0673, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2702, 2014 WL 5794290 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

DRAKE, J.

12The defendant, Jimmie Howard Moy-ers, was charged by amended bill of information with one count of theft greater than five-hundred dollars, but less than fifteen-hundred dollars, a violation of La. R.S. 14:67(B)(2). At his arraignment, he pled not guilty. Following trial, he was found guilty as charged by a unanimous jury. The defendant filed motions for post-verdict judgment of acquittal and new trial, which were denied. He was sentenced to five years at hard labor. A motion to reconsider sentence was filed but also denied by the trial court.

The State subsequently filed a habitual offender bill of information seeking enhancement of the defendant’s sentence. Following a hearing, the defendant was adjudged a fourth-felony habitual offender 1 and was sentenced to twenty years at [742]*742hard labor without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence and with credit for time served. He now appeals, assigning error to the sufficiency of the evidence and to the trial court’s denial of his motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal. For the following reasons, we affirm the defendant’s conviction, habitual offender adjudication, and enhanced sentence.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On October 10, 2013, Christopher Lowe, a loss prevention officer with Home Depot, received notice from a store associate that “she just had a gentleman run out of the store with a basket full of product.” Lowe proceeded to speak to the associate, who described the man (the defendant), as an “elderly white male.” Lowe was informed that the associate called the defendant back to verify his receipt, but that he “didn’t stop” and “kept going.” He was also able to speak to |3two customers who provided a partial license plate number of the vehicle in which the defendant left. Lowe also spoke with the associate in the hardware department who was assisting the defendant and was advised the defendant asked for two nail guns, two compressors, and three boxes of nails. Additionally, another Home Depot associate conducted an inventory search to determine which items were missing and provided the information to Lowe. Accordingly, Lowe identified that the only two items which were missing from the store were two boxes of nails, valued at $79.63 per box.

Lowe later retrieved the store’s surveillance footage, which was played before the jury. The footage indicated a white Dodge pickup truck pulled underneath the eon-tractor’s canopy, and the defendant entered the store empty handed. The defendant then parked his buggy, exited the store to look outside, then returned to his buggy, and began to leave with the items. Lowe testified at trial that as the defendant left the store, the returns cashier “holler[ed] at him for his receipt, and he looks at her and keeps going.” From the surveillance footage, Lowe was able to identify four items in the defendant’s buggy. As the defendant exited the store, he approached the white Dodge pickup, where •a white female exited the truck from the passenger side and assisted the defendant in tossing the items into the truck’s bed. Lowe specifically testified the female threw one item, and the defendant threw three.

After reviewing the surveillance footage, Lowe created a training receipt reflecting the'value of the items taken. He identified a welder, valued at $269.00, an air compressor, valued at $159.00, and two boxes of framing nails, valued at $79.63 a piece. Lowe admitted that upon his review of the footage, he was unable to read the labels on the nail boxes, but after he conducted an “on hand” count and compared the results to the store’s inventory, he was able to determine the specific boxes of nails which were stolen.

| ¿Deputy Bubba Stipe of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office was dispatched to the Home Depot store after learning of the theft. When he arrived at the store, Deputy Stipe spoke with Lowe, who provided a description of the defendant’s vehicle, information regarding a distinctive window decal on the vehicle, a partial license plate number, and information that the defendant was in the truck’s bed with [743]*743the stolen items. Deputy Stipe did not have sufficient information to further his investigation, so he requested assistance from his supervisor Sergeant Alex Dantag-nan.

Sergeant Dantagnan did not respond to Home Depot, but rather, using the descriptive information of the defendant’s vehicle obtained by Deputy Stipe, conducted a search using the Automatic License Plate Recognition program. Sergeant Dantagnan located the defendant’s vehicle using the program, obtained a complete license plate number, and identified the home address connected to the license plate.

Later that evening, Deputy Stipe and Sergeant Dantagnan traveled to the identified address. Though the defendant was not present, the officers made contact with the defendant’s mother, who provided them with the defendant’s cell phone number. Deputy Stipe spoke with the defendant by phone, and though the two arranged a meeting, the defendant did not appear. The officers then turned the case over to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office investigations department.

Detective Jeffrey Roberts, who picked up the investigation, was unable to reach the defendant by telephone and, therefore, traveled to the address identified on the defendant’s driver’s license to arrange a meeting at his office. The defendant was present upon Detective Robert’s arrival and, after being informed of |fihis Miranda rights,2 verbally agreed to waive his rights. The defendant agreed to meet with Detective Roberts the next day.

Because the defendant did not have a means of transportation, Detective Roberts returned to the defendant’s house the following day to pick him up for the scheduled meeting. Prior to meeting, Detective Roberts had obtained an arrest warrant and advised the defendant that he was under arrest. Along their way to the sheriffs office, the defendant led Detective Roberts to the house where the compressor, which remained unopened, was stored. Once the two were back at Detective Robert’s office, the defendant was re-read his Miranda rights. The defendant acknowledged these rights and signed a waiver of rights form.3 Based on the interview, Detective Roberts learned that the defendant pawned the welding machine at Cash America Pawn. Further, Detective Roberts was told by the defendant that his intent was to obtain nail guns from the Home Depot associate, but because of store policy, he was not allowed to have custody of them. Also, during this interview, the defendant told Detective Roberts that he was able to obtain a welding machine, two packs of nails, specifically “grip tight nails,” and an air compressor. Moreover, the defendant informed Detective Roberts [744]*744that his plan was for another person to return the stolen items back to Home Depot where he could obtain store credit and then purchase additional tools. The defendant also informed Detective Roberts that if the store associate would have given him the nailers from the top shelf, rather than place them on the counter, he would have [(¡stolen them as well. Detective Roberts retrieved and returned the air compressor and welding machine to Home Depot but never located the missing boxes of nails.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

In his first assignment of error, the defendant argues the evidence is insufficient to support the jury’s verdict.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
167 So. 3d 740, 2014 La.App. 1 Cir. 0673, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2702, 2014 WL 5794290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-moyers-lactapp-2014.