State v. Rounds

476 So. 2d 965
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 8, 1985
DocketKA 84 1535
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 476 So. 2d 965 (State v. Rounds) 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. Rounds, 476 So. 2d 965 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

476 So.2d 965 (1985)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Raymond E. ROUNDS.

No. KA 84 1535.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

October 8, 1985.

*966 Alexander L. Doyle, Asst. Dist. Atty., Houma, for plaintiff and appellee State of Louisiana.

Indigent Defenders Office, Houma, for defendant and appellant Raymond E. Rounds.

Before EDWARDS, LANIER and JOHN S. COVINGTON, JJ.

LANIER, Judge.

The defendant, Raymond E. Rounds, was charged in a bill of information with simple burglary in violation of La.R.S. 14:62. He pled not guilty, waived his right to a trial by jury and was found guilty as charged by the trial judge. He was sentenced to serve three years in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections. This appeal followed.

FACTS

Cycle World is a business operated in a building located at 1910 Canal Boulevard in the City of Thibodaux, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Cycle World is open to the public for business from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday and from 8:00 a.m. through 12:00 noon on Saturday. Cycle World had a silent alarm system connected to the Thibodaux Police Department.

At approximately 9:00 p.m. on September 3, 1983, Captain Keith Estevens of the Thibodaux Police Department was in his police vehicle a short distance from Cycle World when he received a call from police headquarters that the silent alarm had gone off at Cycle World. Estevens immediately responded to the call and arrived at Cycle World in approximately ten seconds. As Estevens turned into the Cycle World parking lot, he observed the glass broken out of the right-hand side of the front door. The hole in the glass was large enough for a person to fit through it. Estevens called for backup and put his headlights on bright. He saw a person about fifteen feet inside the building crouched down behind some motorcycles. As Estevens exited his vehicle, the person in the building stood up and began walking toward the building door. Estevens recognized the person in the building as Raymond "Beau" Rounds. Estevens observed that Rounds had a walking cane in his hand. Estevens told Rounds to put the cane down and come outside the building. Rounds responded he needed the cane to walk and came through the broken glass to the outside of the building. Estevens told Rounds to put his hands in the air, drop the cane and get into the police vehicle. Rounds then acted excited and, in a loud voice, told Estevens that "the bitch that done it is running this way". Rounds pointed with the cane down the street. Rounds then lunged at Estevens. Estevens feared he would be hit with the cane, drew his service revolver and attempted to shoot, but the gun misfired. Rounds grabbed the gun barrell and cylinder and Estevens and Rounds fought over *967 the gun. Rounds told Estevens "I'm going to kill you, you bitch".

At this time, Hal J. Ribboll, a Louisiana State Policeman, and Michael S. Russell, an officer in the United States Customs Service, were traveling on Canal Boulevard with their wives. The officers observed the revolving blue light on Estevens' vehicle and saw a uniformed officer struggling with a person over a pistol. Ribboll and Russell drove into the Cycle World parking lot. As they arrived, Rounds flipped Estevens onto his back. Rounds stood over Estevens and Estevens held the pistol in his hand and pointed it at Rounds. Ribboll and Russell assisted Estevens in subduing Rounds.

Nothing belonging to Cycle World was found in Rounds' possession. Rounds did not have a mask, gloves, flashlight, sack or burglary tools in his possession. The only weapon Rounds had was the cane. No evidence was presented to show that anything belonging to Cycle World had been taken or moved.

OTHER CRIMES EVIDENCE

Rounds contends the trial court committed prejudicial error when it allowed the State to introduce evidence of the attack by Rounds upon Estevens.

The general prohibition against the use of other crimes evidence does not bar admission of criminal acts which are an inseparable part of the whole deed and, thus, are part of the res gestae. Other crimes evidence is admissible when it is related and intertwined with the charged offense to such an extent that the State could not have accurately presented its case without reference to it. See State v. Sanford, 446 So.2d 1381 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1984) and the cases cited therein. An essential part of a burglary is a safe and undetected retreat (escape) from the premises with the fruits of the crime. State v. Holmes, 451 So.2d 1175 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1984), writ denied, 456 So.2d 1008 (La. 1984).

It can reasonably be inferred that Rounds' attack on Estevens was motivated by a desire to avoid apprehension and to perfect an escape. In this factual posture, the attack on Estevens for the purpose of escaping is related to and intertwined with the charged offense to such an extent that the State could not accurately present its case without reference to it and is part of the res gestae. See State v. Anthony, 427 So.2d 1155 (La.1983) and the cases cited therein.

Further, flight and/or attempt to avoid apprehension indicate consciousness of guilt and, therefore, are circumstances from which a trier of fact may properly infer guilt. State v. Fuller, 418 So.2d 591 (La.1982); State v. Aitch, 465 So.2d 27 (La.App. 1st Cir.1984); State v. Davis, 463 So.2d 733 (La.App. 4th Cir.1985). Flight from the scene of a crime and/or resisting arrest are considered as admissions by conduct which constitute circumstantial evidence of consciousness of guilt. E. Cleary, McCormick's Handbook of the Law of Evidence, § 271, pp. 655-656 (2nd ed. 1972). Thus, even though it is part of the res gestae, evidence of flight and/or resisting arrest has independent relevance to the merits of a criminal case.

This assignment of error is without merit.

SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE

The defendant contends the trial court committed error by denying his motion for a new trial because there was insufficient evidence of the essential elements of the crime of simple burglary and the circumstantial evidence upon which the State relied was not sufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.[1] Specifically, the defendant contends the State "offered no evidence whatsoever to *968 prove that the defendant had intent to commit a felony or theft."

In State v. Mathews, 375 So.2d 1165 (La.1979), a majority of the Louisiana Supreme Court determined that the United States Supreme Court case of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) required that the standard of review when considering the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction is whether, after reviewing 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. This standard for the appellate review of facts in criminal cases has been made statutory. La.C.Cr.P. art. 821; State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676 (La.1984); State v. Korman, 439 So.2d 1099 (La.App. 1st Cir.1983). The Jackson standard of Article 821 is an objective standard for testing the overall evidence, direct and circumstantial, for reasonable doubt. When analyzing circumstantial evidence, La.R.S. 15:438 provides that the finder of fact must be satisfied the overall evidence "excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence". La.R.S.

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Bluebook (online)
476 So. 2d 965, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rounds-lactapp-1985.