State v. Simmons

190 So. 3d 1274, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 791, 2016 WL 1719957, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 807
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 27, 2016
DocketNo. 15-KA-791
StatusPublished

This text of 190 So. 3d 1274 (State v. Simmons) 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. Simmons, 190 So. 3d 1274, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 791, 2016 WL 1719957, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 807 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

■ ROBERT A. CHAISSON, Judge.

12Pefendant, Peter Simmons, appeals his conviction and sentence for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. In his sole- assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court improperly allowed the admission of other crimes or bad acts evidence pursuant to La. C.E. art. 404(B). For the reasons that follow, we find no merit to defendant’s argument and accordingly affirm his conviction and sentence.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On January 21, 2014, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant with -unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, in violation of La. R.S. 14:68.4. Defendant pled not guilty and thereafter proceeded to trial before a six-person jury. After considering the evidence . presented, the jury, on July 30, 2015, found defendant guilty as charged.

On August 10, 2015, the trial court sentenced defendant to imprisonment for eighty months. The State thereafter filed a bill of information pursuant to La. R.S. |s15:529.1, alleging defendant to be a third felony offender. After being advised of his rights, defendant" admitted to the allegations in the multiple offender bill. The trial court then vacated defendant’s original sentence and resentenced him under the'multiple bill statute to imprisonment at hard labor for eighty months without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence. Defendant now appeals.

FACTS

On July 1, 2011, Steven Mang parked his older model gold GMC truck on Heebe Street next to the side of the building where he worked. He locked the truck and -put the only set of keys to the vehicle in his pocket. Mr. Mang left his truck parked there over the holiday weekend, and when he returned to work on July 5, 2011, his vehicle was gone. After verifying that his truck was not at his house, Mr. Mang called the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office to report that his vehicle had been stolen.

Thereafter, on July 15, 2011, Detective Judd Harris of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office was on patrol, and at approximately 2:50 a.m., he was notified that a stolen vehicle was in the area of the West-bank Expressway and Estalote Avenue. Detective Harris immediately proceeded to that area, and within five minutes, he located the vehicle' at 1800 Brown Avenue.1 [1277]*1277As Detective Harris drove by the truck to verify the license plate number, he observed a passenger, later identified as Van Hughes, exit.the truck and walk towards the front of it. Detective Harris then pulled up, saw another black male sitting in the driver’s seat of the truck, and ordered both subjects to approach his police unit and place their hands on it for officer safety. Both subjects complied and put their hands on the hood of the police unit. As Detective Harris was placing Mr. Hughes in handcuffs, the ^individual who had been sitting in the driver’s seat and who was subsequently identified as defendant, fled. Detective Harris then notified headquarters about the fleeing suspect/at which point the passenger hit Detective Harris and attempted to run away. However, Detective Harris was able to stop and detain Mr. Hughes by deploying his taser.

Deputy Ryan Singleton of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office Crime Scene Division arrived on the scene and dusted both the police unit and the stolen vehicle for fingerprints. According to Deputy Singleton, he was able to obtain four slides-one from the hood of the police unit, two from the exterior front driver’s door of the stolen vehicle, and one from the packaging of a halogen light bulb on the front seat of the stolen vehicle. Nikki Passalaqua, án expert in latent print examination, compared the fingerprints obtained from the crime scene' to defendant’s fingerprints. The latent print taken from the hood of the police vehicle was identified to defendant’s left ring finger, and the print from the exterior of the halogen light bulb package was identified to defendant’s left middle finger.

Approximately two years later, in August of 2013, Detective Chad Dear of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office called Detective - Harris and told him he had received information about a fingerprint in connection with the instant case and asked him to look at a- photograph. Detective Harris subsequently viewed the photograph and immediately recognized defendant as the driver who fled the scene in the instant case on July 15, 2011.. Defendant was subsequently arrested pursuant to a warrant and brought- to the detective bureau for an interview.

After being advised of his rights and waiving them, defendant gave a recorded statement, in which he initially claimed to have no specific recollection of the incident with the gold GMC‘ truck. He maintained that his fingerprints could have been found-on the truck because he was a mechanic who worked on many | Scars and could have also been found on the patrol unit because he - had been on police cars numerous times. Later in the interview, defendant recalled the incident and admitted to being in the truck. However, he claimed that he was just checking out the transmission for Van Hughes,2 who had told-defendant earlier that the truck “slipped.” As defendant was sitting in the truck by himself, the police arrived. Defendant explained that he initially put his hands on the police car but then left the scene when he saw the police officer'deploy his taser on Mr. Hughes.

In addition to giving a statement, defendant testified at trial. According to defendant, on the night in question, he, Mr. Skinner, and Mr. Hughes were shooting pool at a pool hall on Barataría Boulevard. They left the ■ pool hall and went to Mr. Hughes’ house where defendant first saw the 1989 GMC truck. At that point, it was approximately 2:00 a.m. They engaged in a conversation about transmissions, after which defendant walked over to the truck, [1278]*1278got inside, noticed the steering- column was broken,.and started it up. ■■Defendant explained that he then exited the -vehicle, and as he did so, the police arrived. He further -claimed that the police officer pulled out his taser and told him and Mr, Hughes to come put their hands on the police car, Mr. Hughes asked the officer why he was there, and the officer replied that he was there .because of a disturbance.

Defendant testified that the officer and Mr. Hughes got into a, tussle. He explained that -since. the disturbance had nothing to do with him, and he did not want to be “tased,” he walked away, got into Mr. Skinner’s truck, and left. Defendant testified that he did not steal. Mr., Mang’s.. truck, nor did he -know that the truck was stolen. He explained that defeated steering columns,.were “common,” and the fact that this truck had a defeated steering column did not alert him to the fact that it might be stolen.

J¡¡OTHER CRIMES EVIDENCE

In his sole assignment of error, defendant challenges the admission of other crimes evidence under La. C.E. art. 404(B). Defendant maintains that the other crimes evidence,- which reflected his involvement with stolen.or unlawfully possessed vehicles or vehicle parts, was overwhelmingly prejudicial and had no probative value to the charged offense.

On April'29, 2015, the State filed a “Motion to Admit Prior Bad Acts Pursuant to Article, 404(B) of the Code of Evidence.” In that motion, the State noticed its intent to introduce at trial twelve prior bad acts similar to the instant case, wherein defendant was involved with stolen vehicles or unlawful, possession of vehicles or vehicle parts.

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Bluebook (online)
190 So. 3d 1274, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 791, 2016 WL 1719957, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 807, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-simmons-lactapp-2016.