State v. Parker

195 So. 3d 1242, 2015 La.App. 4 Cir. 1013, 2016 WL 3421246, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1236
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 22, 2016
DocketNo. 2015-KA-1013
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 195 So. 3d 1242 (State v. Parker) 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. Parker, 195 So. 3d 1242, 2015 La.App. 4 Cir. 1013, 2016 WL 3421246, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1236 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

JAMES F. McKAY III, Chief Judge.

| j Defendant, Desmond Parker, was convicted of one count of tampering with a monitoring device in violation of La. R.S. 14:110.3, and one count of simple criminal damage to property in violation of La. R.S. 14:56. Defendant is appealing his convictions. For the reasons set forth below we affirm in part and reverse in part."

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On January 15, 2015, Defendant was charged by bill of information with tampering with a monitoring device and with simple criminal damage to property in violation of La. R.S. 14:110.3 and La. R.S. 14:56,. respectively. The bill of information provides that on December 13, 2014, Defendant “committed criminal mischief by tampering with [an] EMP system” and [1244]*1244“committed simple criminal damage to an EMP bracelet belonging to [the] Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office, with damage amounting to less than five hundred dollars.”

Defendant elected to have a judge trial on the criminal damage charge and a jury-trial on the tampering with the monitoring system charge. The trials were held simultaneously. Defendant was found guilty on both counts.

| ¡.Defendant filed a pro se motion for new trial, asserting that the convictions placed him in double jeopardy. The motion for new trial was denied, and Defendant was sentenced to one year imprisonment at the Department of Corrections for violating La. R.S. 14:110.8 and six months imprisonment at Orleans Parish Prison for violating La. R.S. 14:56, to run concurrently and with credit for time served. This appeal followed.

STATEMENT OF FACT

Deputy Gene Law III, assigned to the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office Electronic Monitoring Program (“EMP”), testified that he attached an EMP monitor to Defendant’s ankle on December 10, 2014. He stated that prior to attaching the monitor he explained the rules and regulations regarding the electronic monitoring to Defendant. Defendant signed a contract acknowledging those terms. The last page of the contract contains the signatures of both Dep. Law and Defendant. Dep. Law identified both signatures in open court. Dep. Law testified that Defendant acknowledged that he understood the conditions of the contract when he signed the contract. Dep. Law stated that when the Defendant left, the monitor was securely attached to Defendant’s ankle and was working properly. When presented with an electronic monitor by the State, Dep. Law demonstrated how it is affixed to the ankle.

On cross-examination, Dep. Law stated that Defendant did not have an attorney present when he explained the terms of the contract. He stated that Defendant had to agree to conditions of the contract before being released from jail.

Deputy Terrance Calais, in charge of monitoring compliance with the EMP, testified that on December 13, 2014, he received a “strap tamper alert” from ^Defendant’s monitor. He explained that this alert occurs when a monitor’s strap has been cut and microfibers inside the strap send an alert to the device. Dep. Calais subsequently relocated to 1016 Louis Street to investigate the incident. When he arrived he observed a monitor and a strap that had been cut inside a parking lot. Dep. Calais identified the strap collected at the scene. He testified that he also unsuccessfully attempted to contact Defendant with the cell phone number he had provided. Dep. Calais prepared an arrest warrant and identified the warrant in open court. Defendant was later apprehended.

On cross-examination, Dep. Calais testified that Omnilink is the system that keeps track of the devices. He stated when he received a signal from Defendant’s monitor they were able to pinpoint the location and retrieve the monitor that was previously attached to Defendant. Dep. Calais said that the only damage to the device was the cut strap. He further explained that the monitor identified in court , by Dep. Law was not the actual one placed on Defendant, but an example or a “mock version of the ankle monitor” used by the EMP.

ERRORS PATENT

A review of the record for errors patent reveals none.

DISCUSSION

Defendant has made only one assignment of error on appeal. In this assign[1245]*1245ment, he alleges that his convictions of both tampering with a monitoring device and simple criminal damage to property violate the constitutional prohibitions against placing him in double jeopardy. He argues that the very same action (cutting the strap) and evidence that constituted the tampering, charge was then used to find him guilty of the simple criminal damage to property charge.

14At the outset, we note that the State takes issue with the fact that Defendant did not raise double jeopardy via a motion to quash. However, La. C.Cr.P. art. 594 provides that “[djouble jeopardy may be raised at any time.” In this case, Defendant raised the issue in his pro se motion for new trial. Moreover, this Court has addressed a claim of double jeopardy raised for the first time on appeal. See, State v. Roe, 13-1434, p. 40 (La.App. 4 Cir. 10/8/14), 151 So.3d 838, 862 (recognizing on appeal a violation of a defendant’s right against double jeopardy to be an error patent); State v. Gibson,' 03-0647, p. 7 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/4/04), 867 So.2d 793, 798 (noting that double jeopardy has been recognized as a patent error, but addressing it as an assignment of error because the defendant raised it as such, apparently for the first time on appeal). Accordingly, we will address the merits of Defendant’s assignment of error.

Both the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, 15 of the Louisiana Constitution guarantee that no person shall be twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense. State v. Butler, 14-1016, p. 4 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/11/15), 162 So.3d 455, 459; see also La. C.Cr.P. art. 591 (providing that “[n]o person shall be twice put in jeopardy of life or liberty for the same offense”). La. C.Cr.P. art. 596 establishes the requirements for double jeopardy as follows:

Double jeopardy exists in a second trial only when the charge in that trial is:
(1) Identical with or a different grade of the same- offense for which the defendant was in jeopardy in the first trial, whether or not a responsive verdict could have been rendered in the first trial as to the. charge in the second trial; or
(2) Based on a part of a continuous offense for which offense the defendant was in jeopardy in the first trial.

| ¡¡Although article 596 refers to double jeopardy in terms of a second prosecution for the same offense, the jurisprudence clarifies that the prohibition against double jeopardy also protects an accused from multiple punishment for the same criminal conduct. Gibson, 03-0647, p. 8, 867 So.2d at 798. - “The Double Jeopardy Clauses of the federal and Louisiana constitutions not only prohibit successive trials for the same offense but also ‘protect[ ] against multiple punishments for the same offense.’ ” State v. Murray, 00-1258, p. 3 (La.9/18/01), 799 So.2d 453, 454-55 (citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 2076, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969)).

The tests utilized in determining double jeopardy were explained by this Court in State v. German, 12-1293, p. 28 (La.App. 4 Cir.

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

Related

State v. Fortenberry
197 So. 3d 786 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
195 So. 3d 1242, 2015 La.App. 4 Cir. 1013, 2016 WL 3421246, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-parker-lactapp-2016.