State v. Perow

616 So. 2d 1336, 1993 WL 96634
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 31, 1993
Docket24,582-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 616 So. 2d 1336 (State v. Perow) 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. Perow, 616 So. 2d 1336, 1993 WL 96634 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

616 So.2d 1336 (1993)

STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Theodess M. PEROW, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 24,582-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

March 31, 1993.

*1338 Richard E. Hiller, Indigent Defender Office, Shreveport, for defendant-appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., Paul J. Carmouche, Dist. Atty., Mark A. Perkins and Catherine M. Estopinal, Asst. Dist. Attys., Shreveport, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before NORRIS, LINDSAY and VICTORY, JJ.

NORRIS, Judge.

The defendant, Theodess J. Perow, appeals his conviction for second degree murder. La. R.S. 14:30.1. Perow, 15 years old at the time of the offense, was charged by grand jury indictment and tried before a jury as an adult. La. R.S. 13:1570. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. For the reasons assigned below, we affirm the defendant's conviction and sentence.

FACTS

Shortly before 11:00 p.m. on January 15, 1991, Perow, along with Michael Stockholm, Timothy Wallace, and Earl Jackson, walked from Jackson's home to the Shell Mart on Hearne Avenue in Shreveport. After Wallace, the only adult in the group, purchased four cans of beer, the four began to walk back to Jackson's home, taking a worn path that ran from the rear of the Shell Mart parking lot, behind several vacant homes and on to James Street. Wallace walked ahead as the three juveniles lingered behind.

At approximately the same time, Cora Fisher drove into the Shell Mart parking lot on a flat tire. Erskine Bridges, whom Mrs. Fisher knew as an acquaintance of her son, happened to be present at the Shell Mart and offered to change the tire. While he changed the tire, Mrs. Fisher went into the store and made a purchase. After the clerk warned Mrs. Fisher about recent purse snatchings outside the store, another customer Harold Reynolds agreed to escort the 56-year-old Mrs. Fisher back to her car.

Perow, now standing on the back steps of one of the vacant houses located behind *1339 the Shell Mart, watched Mrs. Fisher and Mr. Reynolds as they walked across the parking lot. He pulled a Marlin .22 caliber rifle from beneath his trenchcoat and told Jackson that he was "fixing to shoot him somebody." (R.p. 432). After Jackson puportedly asked Perow not to do it, both Jackson and Stockholm watched Perow point the rifle toward Mrs. Fisher and Mr. Reynolds, adjust his aim as they moved across the parking lot, and fire a single shot. The bullet struck the left rear portion of Mrs. Fisher's head, killing her almost instantly.

Karen Jackson, who recognized Perow, Earl Jackson, and Stockholm, was walking across the parking lot toward the store when she saw the three juveniles standing behind the Shell Mart near the vacant houses. She saw Perow pull the rifle from beneath his trenchcoat, heard a single gunshot, and saw Mrs. Fisher fall to the ground. When she looked back toward the vacant houses, she saw the three juveniles running away, with Perow still holding the rifle in his hand.

The three juveniles ran back to Earl Jackson's home, passing Wallace along the way. Marcus Jenkins, another juvenile who had remained at Jackson's the entire time, heard Perow joke that he "didn't shoot her, the bullet shot her." (R.p. 518).

Perow was convicted of second degree murder following a jury trial in May 1992. He subsequently filed a motion for new trial, a motion for post verdict judgment of acquittal, and a motion in arrest of judgment. After a June 5, 1992 hearing, the trial judge denied each motion and imposed the statutorily mandated sentence of life imprisonment without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. La.R.S. 14:30.1 B. Perow now appeals.

DISCUSSION

Perow raises seven assignments of error. However, he has failed to brief three assignments addressing the propriety of the sentence and certain evidentiary rulings. Assignments of error which are neither briefed nor argued are considered abandoned. URCA Rule 2-12.4; State v. Schwartz, 354 So.2d 1332 (La.1978); State v. Kotwitz, 549 So.2d 351 (La.App. 2d Cir.1989), writ denied 558 So.2d 1123 (1990). Thus, we do not consider Perow's second, fifth, or seventh assignments of error.

Sufficiency of Evidence

Perow contends that the trial court erred when it denied his motions for new trial and for post verdict judgment of acquittal. Both motions urge that the evidence presented by the prosecution was insufficient to support the conviction for second degree murder. These arguments are without merit.

A motion for new trial shall be granted by the court if the verdict is contrary to the law and the evidence. La.C.Cr.P. art. 851. A motion for a post verdict judgment of acquittal shall be granted by the court only if it finds that the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the state, does not reasonably permit a finding of guilt. If the court finds that the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the state, supports only a conviction of a lesser included responsive offense, the court, in lieu of granting a post verdict judgment of acquittal, may modify the verdict and render a judgment of conviction on the lesser included responsive offense. La.C.Cr.P. art. 821.

The constitutional standard of review for the sufficiency of evidence to support a conviction is whether, 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 beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676 (La.1984); State v. Bellamy, 599 So.2d 326 (La.App. 2d Cir.), writ denied 605 So.2d 1089 (1992).

When circumstantial evidence is used to prove the commission of the offense, every reasonable hypothesis of innocence must be excluded as to that element of the crime which the circumstantial evidence tends to prove. La.R.S. 15:438. However, this rule of circumstantial evidence does not establish a standard of appellate *1340 review separate from that set out in Jackson. State v. Wright, 445 So.2d 1198 (La.1984); State v. Chism, 436 So.2d 464 (La.1983). Ultimately, all evidence, both direct and circumstantial, must be sufficient under Jackson to satisfy a rational juror that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis of innocence is therefore a component of the more comprehensive reasonable doubt standard, where circumstantial evidence is used to convict. State v. Wright, supra.

The elements of second degree murder, as charged in the instant case, are set forth in La.R.S. 14:30.1 A(1):

A. Second degree murder is the killing of a human being:

(1) When the offender has a specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm[.]

Perow argues that the verdict is contrary to law because the prosecution's evidence was insufficient to prove both that he was the person who fired the shot and that he had specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm. In the event that the evidence was sufficient to establish that he fired the shot, he argues in his post trial motions, the court should have modified the verdict to manslaughter which, unlike second degree murder, does not require a showing of specific intent.[1]

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Bluebook (online)
616 So. 2d 1336, 1993 WL 96634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-perow-lactapp-1993.