State v. O'NEAL

976 So. 2d 297, 2008 WL 375553
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 13, 2008
Docket43,055-KA
StatusPublished

This text of 976 So. 2d 297 (State v. O'NEAL) 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. O'NEAL, 976 So. 2d 297, 2008 WL 375553 (La. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

976 So.2d 297 (2008)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee
v.
Johnny Lee O'NEAL, Appellant.

No. 43,055-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

February 13, 2008.

*299 Louisiana Appellate Project, by Mark Owen Foster, for Appellant.

Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, Catherine M. Estopinal, Lea R. Hall, Jr., Brady D. O'Callaghan, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.

Before CARAWAY, MOORE and LOLLEY, JJ.

LOLLEY, J.

This criminal appeal arises from the First Judicial District Court, Parish of Caddo, State of Louisiana, where a unanimous jury convicted defendant, Johnny Lee O'Neal, of second degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. O'Neal was sentenced to life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. O'Neal now appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

During the early evening hours of December 23, 2005, 43-year-old Calvin Moore began mowing the lawn at his house located in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. The defendant, O'Neal, lived next door to Moore. Tony Randall lived next door to O'Neal and two doors down from Moore. Randall was standing in his front yard and saw Moore mowing his lawn and noticed O'Neal walking towards Moore. Randall testified that he could hear Moore telling O'Neal to "get out of my face," but he could not hear what O'Neal was saying. Randall explained that he stepped behind the car in his driveway sensing something was about to happen and then heard Moore say, "Man, get the hell away from me. Get the hell away from me." Randall then heard eight or nine gunshots and took off running inside his house, from where he heard more gunshots fired. Because Randall did not have a telephone, he drove around the block to use someone else's telephone; but by this time, he saw police driving towards the scene. Around the same time, Huey Pickard was stopped at a stop sign while on his way to his mother's house when he noticed Moore down the street mowing his lawn. Pickard looked down for a moment but looked up when he heard shots fired. Pickard testified that when he looked up he saw a man shooting at O'Neal.

After the shooting, O'Neal went inside his house and called 911, alleging that he was standing in his front yard and that his next door neighbor had tried to run him over with the lawnmower. At approximately 6:00 p.m., Shreveport Police Officer Corley Lovett was dispatched to O'Neal's residence in response to his 911 call. Officer Lovett testified that O'Neal told him that Moore continued cutting the grass on O'Neal's property after he had asked Moore to stop, and that this had been an ongoing problem with Moore. O'Neal explained to Officer Lovett that when he asked Moore to stop cutting the grass, Moore came at him with the lawnmower with the blades up. O'Neal then told Officer Lovett that he pulled out his gun and shot at Moore; Officer Lovett testified that this was the first time he heard that there was shooting involved.

Officer Lovett asked O'Neal if he actually shot Moore, and O'Neal said he did not know. At this time, Officer Lovett went to *300 Moore's home to check on him, but no one answered. In the meantime, another neighbor, Shawn Fuller, had called 911 to report that a man was lying down in the middle of the street. The Shreveport Fire Department was dispatched to check on the man's condition. Just after Officer Lovett rang Moore's doorbell, he heard sirens and observed the Shreveport Fire Department arriving on the scene; Officer Lovett then saw Moore lying in the grass. Moore was found 10-15 yards away from the lawnmower in his driveway. As Shreveport Fire Department rendered aid to Moore, Officer Lovett took O'Neal into custody and read the Miranda rights to him. After O'Neal indicated that he understood his Miranda rights, Officer Lovett asked O'Neal about the gun, and O'Neal indicated that it was on a shelf in his front room. After obtaining permission to go into the house, Officer Lovett found the gun where O'Neal had indicated.

While O'Neal was in the back of a Shreveport Police Unit, he told Detective James Cromer that Moore had attempted to attack him with a lawnmower and that Moore had the lawnmower up with the blades showing. O'Neal told Detective Cromer that he fired his gun at least five times before going inside his house, where he then reloaded the weapon because he was afraid that Moore might come back and shoot him. Moore ultimately died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. O'Neal was indicted and convicted by a unanimous jury for second degree murder. The trial court sentenced him to mandatory life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. This appeal ensued.

LAW AND ARGUMENT

Sufficiency of the Evidence

Self-Defense

In his first assignment of error, O'Neal argues that the evidence is not sufficient to support his conviction, because the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not act in self-defense. Conceding that there is no question regarding the fact that he shot and killed Calvin Moore, O'Neal argues that the state's failure to prove the exact location of the property line prevented it from negating the possibility that Moore was trespassing with a deadly weapon, the lawnmower, in order to pick a fight with O'Neal. O'Neal further argues that Moore's trespassing onto his property with a deadly weapon in the dark gave him a subjectively reasonable apprehension of danger and that it does not require much effort for a lawnmower to inflict great bodily harm.

The reason for reviewing sufficiency first is that the accused may be entitled to an acquittal under Hudson v. Louisiana, 450 U.S. 40, 101 S.Ct. 970, 67 L.Ed.2d 30 (1981), if a rational trier of fact, reviewing the evidence in accord with Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could not reasonably conclude that all of the elements of the offense have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Hearold, 603 So.2d 731, 734 (La.1992); State v. Bosley, 29,253 (La.App. 2d Cir.04/02/97), 691 So.2d 347, 348, writ denied, XXXX-XXXX (La.10/17/97), 701 So.2d 1333.

The standard of appellate review for a sufficiency of the evidence claim is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, supra. In the absence of internal contradictions or irreconcilable conflict with physical evidence, the testimony of *301 one witness is sufficient support for a requisite factual conclusion if that witness is believed by the trier of fact. State v. Jones, 31,613 (La.App. 2d Cir.04/01/99), 733 So.2d 127, 138, writ denied, XXXX-XXXX (La.10/01/99), 748 So.2d 434, citing State v. Ford, 28,724 (La.App. 2d Cir.10/30/96), 682 So.2d 847, writ denied, XXXX-XXXX (La.05/15/99), 745 So.2d 12.

This standard, now legislatively embodied in La. C. Cr. P. art. 821, does not provide the appellate court with a vehicle to substitute its own appreciation of the evidence for that of the fact finder. State v. Robertson, XXXX-XXXX (La.10/04/96), 680 So.2d 1165, 1166. The appellate court does not assess the credibility of witnesses or reweigh evidence. State v. Smith, XXXX-XXXX (La.10/16/95), 661 So.2d 442, 443.

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