State v. Post

729 So. 2d 38, 1999 WL 62132
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 10, 1999
Docket98-KA-869
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 729 So. 2d 38 (State v. Post) 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. Post, 729 So. 2d 38, 1999 WL 62132 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

729 So.2d 38 (1999)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Peter POST.

No. 98-KA-869.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

February 10, 1999.

*39 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Ellen S. Fantaci, John J. Molaison, Quentin P. Kelly, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, Louisiana, Attorneys for Appellee.

Laurie A. White, New Orleans, Louisiana, Attorney for Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges H. CHARLES GAUDIN, SOL GOTHARD and MARION F. EDWARDS.

EDWARDS, Judge.

Defendant/appellant Peter R. Post appeals the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court for committing armed robbery in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:64. The conviction of the defendant was without error and is hereby affirmed. The method by which the trial court imposed sentence was erroneous, therefore it is the opinion of this Court that the sentence be vacated and the case remanded to the trial court for re-sentencing.

On December 26, 1996, defendant Peter R. Post was charged with armed robbery in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:64. The defendant was arraigned on January 22, 1997 and pled not guilty.

On March 12, 1997, a twelve person jury was selected and empaneled. On March 13, 1997, before the trial commenced, defendant filed a motion for a continuance and a motion to represent himself pro se. The trial court denied the motion for a continuance, but allowed the defendant to proceed pro se. After a trial on the merits, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty as charged.

On March 19, 1997, the State filed a multiple offender bill of information alleging that the defendant was a third felony offender. Defendant denied the allegations set forth in the multiple bill. On April 17, 1997, the trial court sentenced the defendant to ten (10) years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parol or suspension of sentence. On September 3, 1997, after a hearing on the multiple offender bill of information, the trial court found the defendant to be a third felony offender, vacated the previous sentence, and sentenced defendant to life imprisonment without benefit of probation, parol, or suspension of sentence.

*40 On September 3, 1997, defendant filed a motion to reconsider sentence which was granted by the trial court. The trial court determined that the predicate offenses listed in the multiple offender bill of information, and upon which defendant was found a third felony offender, were not in the proper sequence in order to comply with the multiple bill statute. Thereafter, the trial court vacated the previously imposed sentence and sentenced defendant as a second felony offender to fifty (50) years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parol, or suspension of sentence.

A Motion for Appeal was filed by the defendant and granted by the trial court on May 12, 1998. The case is now before this Court for review.

The facts and circumstances of this case took place on Thanksgiving day, November 28, 1996. A robbery was committed at Clearview Supermarket in Metairie and reported by William Arguello, the night assistant manager. Mr. Arguello testified that on the date in question, he was working with cashier Odette Madere, when at approximately 2:30 p.m., he heard someone enter the store. Mr. Arguello turned around and saw a man with a bandanna around his face and a knife in his hand. The man headed towards the register and told Mr. Arguello to "give him the money." Mr. Arguello unsuccessfully tried to lure the man away from the register, but the man went back towards the register and told Ms. Madere to give him the money. Ms. Madere opened the register, the man took the money out of the register, jumped over the counter and headed for the door. Mr. Arguello testified that as the perpetrator grabbed the money, the bandanna he was wearing fell off of his face, and Mr. Arguello got a good look at him. Mr. Arguello described the perpetrator as a white male, with dark hair, approximately 23 years old, wearing black clothing, approximately 5'11", 130 pounds. At trial, Mr. Arguello positively identified the defendant as the perpetrator. He followed the defendant out of the store and chased him for about four blocks, when the defendant turned a corner and disappeared. After Mr. Arguello turned the corner he saw a gentleman (Hermgenes Rodriguez) working on his car. He asked Mr. Rodriguez if he had seen anything and Mr. Rodriguez told him he saw somebody get in a car and "take off." Mr. Arguello testified that approximately 45 minutes later Deputy Donald Behler took him to the Candlelight Inn on Airline Highway where they presented two men for him to identify. Mr. Arguello positively identified the defendant as the perpetrator of the crime. Deputy Behler testified that when he picked up Mr. Arguello he told him he had "two subjects he wanted him to look at." Deputy Behler told the jury that he did not imply to Mr. Arguello that he had a "robber in custody," and he did not imply to Mr. Arguello that he should make an identification, or make any suggestions of any kind. Mr. Arguello also positively identified State Exhibits 1-3, respectively, as the bandanna the defendant was wearing, the knife the defendant was carrying, and the jacket the defendant was wearing. Ms. Madere corroborated Mr. Arguello's testimony and gave a positive in-court identification of the defendant.

Deputy Christopher Gai of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office told the jury that he was on patrol on November 28, 1996. He testified that on that date he was dispatched to the Clearview Supermarket to investigate an armed robbery. He told the jury that in connection with the robbery he interviewed Mr. Rodriguez who told him he saw a white male, wearing a black jacket with a blue bandana, run and get into a car with another white male. Mr. Rodriguez told Deputy Gai that the car was a late model Cutlass with the license plate CDO-595. Mr. Rodriguez told Deputy Gai that he was not positive about the "CDO" but that he was positive that the last numbers of the license plate were 595. Deputy Gai told the jury that, as he was on patrol later that evening, he saw a late model brown two door Monte Carlo occupied by two males. He followed the car and observed the license plate to be EDQ-595. Deputy Gai turned on his police lights and pulled the car over. Deputy Gai told the jury that, when he pulled the car over, its occupants got out and started walking towards his vehicle. Deputy Gai pulled his weapon for his safety, and secured the two men in the back of his car.

*41 Meanwhile, Deputy Donald Behler, who had taken Mr. Arguello's statement, arrived on the scene with Mr. Arguello. After Mr. Arguello positively identified the defendant as the perpetrator of the robbery, Deputy Gai arrested the defendant and then searched the car. Pursuant to the search Deputy Gai recovered a black knife, a blue bandanna, a black jacket and $610.11 in cash.

The defendant offered no witnesses or testimony on his own behalf, and based on the foregoing, the jury found the defendant guilty as charged.

ANALYSIS

Defendant alleges three assignments of error in his appeal. The first is that the trial court erroneously permitted him to proceed to trial in proper person and relinquish his right to counsel. The second assignment of error is that the trial court erred in failing to rule on defense counsel's pretrial motions to suppress the evidence and identification. The third assignment of error is that defendant was erroneously adjudged a multiple offender for purposes of LSA-R.S. 15:529.1. Furthermore, the record was reviewed for errors patent.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
729 So. 2d 38, 1999 WL 62132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-post-lactapp-1999.