State v. Segura

979 So. 2d 524, 2008 WL 324892
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 6, 2008
Docket07-KA-685
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 979 So. 2d 524 (State v. Segura) 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. Segura, 979 So. 2d 524, 2008 WL 324892 (La. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

979 So.2d 524 (2008)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Tracy A. SEGURA.

No. 07-KA-685.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

February 6, 2008.

*526 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Twenty-Fourth Judicial District, Parish of Jefferson, Terry M. Boudreaux, Andrea F. Long, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, Louisiana, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Jane L. Beebe, Attorney at Law, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, Louisiana, for Defendant/Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges EDWARD A. DUFRESNE, JR., SUSAN M. CHEHARDY, and CLARENCE E. McMANUS.

EDWARD A. DUFRESNE, JR., Chief Judge.

On December 11, 2006, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant, Tracy Segura, with theft of goods valued at $500.00 or more, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:67.10. On April 10, 2007, the matter proceeded to trial before a six person jury. After considering the evidence presented, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of the lesser included offense of attempted theft of goods valued at $500.00 or more, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:27 and 14:67.10.

On April 13, 2007, defendant filed a motion for post verdict judgment of acquittal or a new trial. The trial court denied the motion and then sentenced defendant to two years at hard labor. The court suspended the sentence, placed defendant on active probation for two years, and imposed a $300.00 fine. Defendant now appeals.

FACTS

At trial, Barbara Quates, the customer service manager for the Harvey Wal-Mart store, testified that on November 14, 2006, she saw a customer walk across in front of the registers and proceed to the grocery door to exit. According to Ms. Quates, the customer, whom she identified in court as defendant, was pushing a shopping cart that contained a 32-inch television set. Ms. Quates saw defendant stop and show the door greeter a piece of paper that appeared to be a store receipt. Ms. Quates then approached defendant and looked at the receipt. She saw that it was not for the television he had in the shopping cart, but for a 42-inch plasma television purchased the previous day at the Marrero Wal-Mart store. Defendant told her he had left the 42-inch television at the customer service counter, and that he was exchanging it for the 32-inch set.

At that time, Deputy Kevin Ridge, who was working a security detail at the store, stayed with defendant while Ms. Quates went to the customer service counter. When Ms. Quates learned that no one had attempted to exchange a 42-inch plasma television there, the parties involved relocated *527 to the store's loss prevention office. According to Deputy Ridge, defendant then changed his story and claimed his wife was at the store with the 42-inch set and also produced credentials that identified him as a deputy with the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriffs Office. After the surveillance videotape confirmed that defendant did not enter the store with a television, Officer Ridge allowed defendant the opportunity to contact his wife and produce the larger television. Defendant was still unable to produce the television and now claimed that his wife was at the Wal-Mart store in Marrero.

At trial, the surveillance videotape was introduced into evidence as well as the receipt that defendant had in his possession. Ms. Quates testified the receipt defendant had, dated November 13, 2006, was for a purchase in the amount of $1,397.00, and the television defendant had in the cart was priced at $847.00. Kortney Rodgers, a protection coordinator with Wal-Mart and custodian of the surveillance tapes, testified that the tape showed defendant entering Wal-Mart at 3:57 p.m. Defendant walked to the electronics department in the back of the store. He then attempted to leave the store with the television at 4:03 p.m. through the side opposite the entrance he used. The surveillance tape was played for the jury.

After the prosecution rested its case, defendant testified on his own behalf. He said he and his wife bought a 42-inch plasma television set for their home at the Wal-Mart store in Marrero on November 13, 2006. This television was too large to fit in their entertainment center, so they decided to exchange it for a smaller one. According to defendant, on November 14, 2006, he and his wife agreed to meet at Wal-Mart to exchange the television. They went in separate cars, and Mrs. Segura took the 42-inch television in her car because it would not fit in defendant's car. When defendant arrived at the Manhattan store, he went to the electronics department and found a 32-inch television. The store employee in that department told him he could take the set to the front of the store himself. As he walked to the front of the store with the television, his wife called him on his cellular telephone to tell him she was in front of the store with the larger set. Defendant testified that he approached the greeter at the exit and showed her the cashier's receipt for the larger television. He asked the greeter if she would hold the 32-inch television while he went outside to meet his wife. At that point, the store manager and employees from the loss prevention department approached and accused him of attempting to steal the television.

Defendant testified he was taken to the store's loss prevention office. The store manager and Mr. Rodgers told defendant that if he would admit to stealing the television they would let him go, with the understanding that he would no longer be allowed in the store. Defendant told them he would not admit to something he did not do. They then told defendant he was going to jail.

Defendant said his wife called him on his cellular telephone, and he had a female employee from the loss prevention department explain the situation to her. It was then that defendant learned his wife had gone to the Marrero Wal-Mart, and not the one on Manhattan. Mrs. Segura offered to bring the 42-inch television to the Manhattan store. The store manager said he did not want to talk to Mrs. Segura, and that defendant was going to jail.

Mrs. Segura also testified at trial, and her testimony basically corroborated her husband's version of events.

*528 ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

In his first assignment of error, defendant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion for post verdict judgment of acquittal or new trial. In that motion defendant argued that the State failed to prove he had the intent to fraudulently deprive Wal-Mart of merchandise.[1] Defendant now argues, as he did in his motion, that the State did not produce sufficient evidence to support his conviction for attempted theft of goods.

In reviewing the sufficiency of evidence, an appellate court must determine whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Tilley, 99-0569 (La.7/6/00), 767 So.2d 6, 24, cert. denied, 532 U.S. 959, 121 S.Ct. 1488, 149 L.Ed.2d 375 (2001).

Under LSA-R.S. 15:438, "[t]he rule as to circumstantial evidence is: assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence." This requirement does not establish a standard separate from the

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Bluebook (online)
979 So. 2d 524, 2008 WL 324892, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-segura-lactapp-2008.