State v. Sanders

900 So. 2d 221, 2005 WL 767111
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 6, 2005
Docket39,645-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 900 So. 2d 221 (State v. Sanders) 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. Sanders, 900 So. 2d 221, 2005 WL 767111 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

900 So.2d 221 (2005)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee
v.
Donald P. SANDERS, Appellant.

No. 39,645-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

April 6, 2005.

*222 Louisiana Appellate Project, by G. Paul Marx, Paula C. Marx, Lafayette, for Appellant.

Jerry L. Jones, District Attorney, David O. Harkins, Jr., Assistant District Attorney, for Appellee.

Before STEWART, GASKINS and CARAWAY, JJ.

STEWART, J.

Donald Sanders ("Sanders") was tried by jury and convicted of aggravated battery and illegal use of a dangerous weapon. He admitted to being a second felony habitual offender and was sentenced to serve the enhanced sentence of twelve years imprisonment at hard labor for aggravated battery, to run consecutively to a previously imposed sentence for aggravated battery after his probation was revoked because of the instant matter. Sanders was sentenced to serve two years imprisonment at hard labor for illegal use of a dangerous weapon, to run concurrently with the sentence imposed for aggravated battery. Following our review of the record, we affirm the defendant's aggravated battery conviction and sentence. The habitual offender adjudication is also affirmed.

FACTS

In May 2003, Brenda Brown had been dating Sanders for about three years, and they were living together in what she described as her home at 1105 South Ninth Street, in Monroe. Brown's disabled mother also lived in the home. On May 6, 2003, Brown and Sanders had an argument, and she asked the defendant to leave, but he refused. Later, while she and Sanders were at the Dollar Store, Brown left him, hurriedly returned home to get her mother out of the house, locked the front door, and left.

Later that evening, Brown arrived at the residence of her best friend, Deborah Hendrix ("Hendrix"). She told Hendrix about her fight with the defendant. At about midnight, Brown gave Hendrix the keys to her car and asked her to go to her house to get a change of clothes and to turn on some lights. Brown apparently thought that the defendant would not be at her home because she told him to leave. Hendrix took her boyfriend, Brian McNeal, with her.

Upon her arrival at Brown's home about 1:00 a.m., Hendrix used Brown's key to *223 open the door while McNeal waited in the car. Sanders stepped out from behind the door and began questioning Hendrix regarding Brown's whereabouts. He looked upset. As the defendant followed Hendrix through the house, Hendrix told the defendant that she did not know where Brown was located. Hendrix was unable to get any of Brown's clothes because the defendant was following her and making her nervous.

Sanders then followed Hendrix outside to the car. He got into the back seat of the vehicle and Hendrix told him to get out. He then walked to the driver's side of the vehicle and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Next, Sanders threatened to shoot Hendrix and McNeal, and began to walk to the house to get his gun. Hendrix and McNeal got out of the vehicle, and Hendrix used her cell phone to attempt to call the police. Before she could make the call, Sanders came back out with a gun, pointed it at her and demanded that she surrender her cell phone. Hendrix complied. Sanders then asked Hendrix for some money, but she said she did not have any.

As McNeal turned to run away, the defendant hit McNeal in the back of the head with the gun. The gun accidently fired off one shot. However, Sanders then fired two more shots directly at McNeal as McNeal ran down the street. After the defendant went inside the house, Hendrix went down the street and located McNeal. McNeal's head was bloody and he had a gash in the back of his head. They used a neighbor's telephone to call the police.

Sanders was charged by bill of information with armed robbery, aggravated battery, and illegal use of a dangerous weapon. The state filed an amended bill of information on June 3, 2003, to which he entered a plea of not guilty.

At the trial on the merits, Hendrix and McNeal testified to the facts and circumstances of the crimes as related hereinabove. The state further presented the testimony of Detective Roderick Jackson of the Monroe Police Department. Detective Jackson testified that he observed abrasions on McNeal's head. During the course of the investigation of the crimes, Detective Jackson took a recorded statement from the defendant, which was freely and voluntarily given. During that statement, Sanders related the same basic facts as testified to by Hendrix and McNeal. Sanders admitted to Detective Jackson that he was behind the door when Hendrix arrived. However, he claimed that he did not point the gun at Hendrix, but rather that he had the gun visibly displayed in the waistband of his pants, when he took the cell phone from Hendrix. Sanders also stated that he struck McNeal in the head with the barrel of the gun when McNeal came to Hendrix's aid as she scuffled with him for the gun. Sanders further admitted firing one gunshot at McNeal and Hendrix as they were going down the street.

During the trial, the defense called Brown as a witness, who testified regarding the circumstances of her fight with the defendant and her request for Hendrix to go secure her home. The parties stipulated that if Corporal Kevin Willis of the Monroe Police Department were called to testify, he would relate that after speaking to McNeal, he put in his report that the defendant fired the gun twice in the air, and then fired two or more shots at McNeal and Hendrix after they began to flee on foot. The jury acquitted the defendant of armed robbery, and convicted the defendant of aggravated battery and illegal use of a dangerous weapon.

The defendant was subsequently charged as a habitual offender. The habitual *224 offender bill alleged that on or about April 7, 2004, the defendant was convicted in this proceeding of a felony, "TO-WIT: AGGRAVATED BATTERY AND ILLEGAL USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON, WHICH OFFENSE WAS COMMITTED ON MAY 6, 2003." The habitual offender bill further alleged that the defendant had previously been convicted of the felony offense of aggravated battery on June 21, 2002, Docket # 01-F0726.

At the habitual offender and sentencing hearing, the defendant admitted to being a second felony habitual offender. He was sentenced to serve the enhanced sentence of twelve years imprisonment at hard labor for aggravated battery, to run consecutively with the previously imposed sentence. The defendant was sentenced to serve two years imprisonment at hard labor for illegal use of a dangerous weapon, to run concurrently with the sentence imposed for aggravated battery. This appeal ensued.

DISCUSSION

Sufficiency of the Evidence

The defendant argues that he acted in self-defense. He contends that the evidence presented at trial showed that he was living with Brown, and that he was attacked by Hendrix and McNeal in his own residence early in the morning. The defendant argues that Hendrix and McNeal had no right to be there, and he only used force as needed to make them leave. He notes that justification is an affirmative defense, and suggests that justification can be based on circumstances which make the accused's conduct excusable on policy grounds, established by a preponderance of the evidence. The defendant asserts that this case involved two people who intervened in a domestic squabble that was none of their business, and created a second conflict by going to the defendant's residence and trying to remove property.

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Related

State v. Wesley
161 So. 3d 1039 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
State v. Robinson
108 So. 3d 830 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013)
State v. Davenport
978 So. 2d 1189 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
900 So. 2d 221, 2005 WL 767111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sanders-lactapp-2005.