State v. Perez

582 So. 2d 337, 1991 La. App. LEXIS 1823, 1991 WL 101473
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 5, 1991
DocketNo. 91-KA-23
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 582 So. 2d 337 (State v. Perez) 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. Perez, 582 So. 2d 337, 1991 La. App. LEXIS 1823, 1991 WL 101473 (La. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinions

ELORA C. FINK, Judge Pro Tem.

On July 23, 1990, Juan Perez was convicted by a jury of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:62.2. On appeal he contends the State failed to produce sufficient evidence to identify him as one of the perpetrators of the crime. We affirm, for the reasons that follow.

FACTS

Around 12:30 or 12:45 p.m. on January 5, 1990, Curtis Petit, Jr., was driving home when he saw three men outside the residence of his friends Chandra and Butch Burge in Luling. One of the men was pulling on a window, another was backing a car into the carport, and the third was watching the car back up. Mr. Petit circled the block; as he went past a second time, [338]*338he noticed the window was open and the three men were no longer outside.

Mr. Petit drove to a nearby convenience store and telephoned the Sheriffs Office, then returned to the scene to wait for a deputy to arrive. As Petit drove back to the Burge residence he saw the three men driving away. Simultaneously, Deputy Harold Yicknair, Jr., of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office drove up. Petit flagged him down and informed him that the car ahead of him contained the three men who had just exited the Burges’ home. They were heading off toward the town of Ama.

Chandra Burge testified she received a telephone call on January 5, 1990 from a policeman who told her her house had been broken into and burglarized. She immediately went home, where she noticed several things missing, including a camera, a VCR, a stereo, some coats, and a “lot of change” that had been in a bedroom closet. She identified photographs that depicted a pillowcase taken off one of the beds, the change that was in the closet, a camera lense that was taken from the house, her stereo equipment, camera, coats and hats. She stated these pictures were taken when she went to the evidence room to pick up her things. She also stated she did not know the defendant and had not given him permission to take things out of her house.

Deputy Harold Vicknair, Jr., of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office testified he was dispatched to the Burge home in response to a report there was a burglary in progress. On his arrival he was flagged down by Mr. Petit, who informed him that the three men he had seen at the Burges’ had gotten in their car and that it was the car directly in front of Vicknair’s unit. Vicknair caught up with the car and called headquarters to give a description of the car and its occupants. He then followed the car into Ama, where he attempted a traffic stop, but the vehicle sped up and a high-speed chase ensued. He followed the car as it turned down Palmer Drive in Ama, a dead-end street, and onto an airstrip at the end of the street, where it crashed into a tree at the edge of a wooded area.

Vicknair, who said he had stopped approximately 20 to 25 feet behind and slightly to the left of the getaway car, watched the three occupants of the car flee into the woods. He said the driver ran in an easterly direction and the right-front and right-rear passengers ran in a westerly direction. During the chase, Vicknair had dispatched descriptions of the getaway car’s occupants to headquarters, in which he described the driver as a dark-skinned Negro male wearing dark clothing and the right-rear passenger as a white male wearing a light shirt, with shoulder-length curly brown hair and a brown mustache and beard. He said neither of these men was the defendant. He was unable to see the right-front passenger during the chase because he was “shrunk down in his seat”, but during the radio dispatch he described this passenger as “possibly a Negro male wearing dark clothing.”

Vicknair testified that when the three men abandoned the getaway car, he focused his attention on the right front passenger and “got a glimpse of him as he was running away.” He stated that the suspect was wearing blue jeans, but did not remember the color of his shirt, but admitted he did not get a good look at his face.

With the assistance of another officer and a K-9, Deputy Vicknair pursued the two men who had fled west. The dog followed a scent into a wooded swampy area near two sets of railroad tracks. While Vicknair was searching for the men in the woods, Detective Olga Fourroux informed him by radio that she had one of the suspects in custody. The suspect she had collared was the defendant and the site at which she found him was approximately a 20-minute walk from the place Vicknair was when he received the call. Vicknair said it was about 3:30 or 4:00 by that time. Vicknair testified he told Fourroux the suspect “did resemble the person I saw from the — it would be front, right passenger. The clothing description matched, and you know, I really didn’t get a good look at the guy’s face, but it did look — appeared to be him.” Later in his testimony, Vicknair said, “The defendant matched the clothing [339]*339description, and I just got a glimpse of his face, but everything else matched.” Deputy Vicknair testified further that the defendant, like Vicknair, was muddy from his knees down.

Detective Olga Fourroux, the arresting officer, testified that at 1:30 or 2:00 p.m. on the day of the burglary she and another detective were assigned to watch Ninth Street in Ama to support and back up the search. Two sets of railroad tracks intersect Ninth Street, which ends at the second set of tracks. Fourroux estimated the tracks are a quarter of a mile from one another, specifically disagreeing with the estimate made by Deputy Vicknair, who approximated the distance as two miles.

Fourroux stated they had been parked for about an hour near the first set of tracks from River Road, when they noticed two people running on the second set of tracks, heading west; the detectives drove to the end of the street and proceeded on foot to follow the two men, who were out of sight by then. A passing train briefly prevented the detectives from crossing the tracks during their pursuit, but after it passed they started walking toward two empty box cars located about a block to a block-and-a-half away from Ninth Street.

At this point, Detective Fourroux noticed the defendant hiding in a thicket to her left, croached down with his back to the tracks. She ordered him to stand up, turn around, and walk toward her. Then, with the assistance of the other detective, she handcuffed the defendant and the detectives brought him to the squad car on Ninth Street. Fourroux stated that the defendant was wearing blue jeans, that he was muddy and wet from the feet on up, and had grass and twigs on his clothing.

Darwyn Grabert, a crime scene technician, testified no latent fingerprints were found on the abandoned getaway car or on the stolen property recovered from it, which included stereo equipment, personal items, and a large bag of money. None of the fingerprints collected at the Burge residence matched the defendant’s fingerprints.

The defendant presented alibi testimony to account for his whereabouts on the day of the burglary. He testified that on January 5, 1990, he had spent the preceding night at the home of his friend Sheila Johnson in Destrehan and was there until 12:30 p.m. He said after he left he “hitched a ride” with two men to Boutte to buy marijuana; he testified he had $250 on him and that he paid the men $5 for the ride. They took him to Ama, telling him he could find marijuana there. The defendant claimed they drove him to “a long street with houses on either side,” beat him, took his money, and told him to walk down the street without looking back.

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Related

State v. Brumley
700 So. 2d 876 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)

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Bluebook (online)
582 So. 2d 337, 1991 La. App. LEXIS 1823, 1991 WL 101473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-perez-lactapp-1991.