State v. Sloan

542 So. 2d 788, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 756, 1989 WL 36991
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 19, 1989
DocketNos. CR88-637, CR88-638
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 542 So. 2d 788 (State v. Sloan) 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. Sloan, 542 So. 2d 788, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 756, 1989 WL 36991 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

DOUCET, Judge.

The above numbered and entitled appeal was consolidated with an appeal entitled State v. Williams, 542 So.2d 787 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1988). Both appeals arise out of convictions and sentences for the same criminal offense. We decide all issues presented in both appeals in this opinion, but render a separate decree in the companion appeal.

Defendants were each originally charged with attempted first degree murder and attempted armed robbery. In plea bargain agreements the state agreed to dismiss the attempted first degree murder charges in [789]*789exchange for the defendants’ pleas of guilty to attempted armed robbery. Pursuant to these agreements, on November 3, 1987, defendants, Johnny Sloan, Jr. and Stanford Dwayne Williams, each being represented by attorney Joseph Toups, Jr. of Mansfield, after being advised by the court of the nature of the charges and rights they were giving up by not going to trial, after agreeing with the factual bases of the charges as recited by the trial court, and after withdrawing their previously entered pleas of not guilty with court approval, each pleaded guilty to the charge of one count of attempted armed robbery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and R.S. 14:64. The court, after accepting the pleas, ordered that pre-sentence investigations be conducted. On February 25, 1988, after having received and examined the pre-sentence reports, Judge Claude R. Sledge sentenced each of the defendants to twenty years confinement at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Defendants each appeal this sentence based on three assignments of error which are combined for argument in defendants’ briefs.

FACTS:

On or about February 24, 1987, defendants Johnny Sloan, Jr. and Stanford Dwayne Williams entered the City Hall in Zwolle, Louisiana, each wearing a brown stocking pulled over his head and face. Being armed with a twenty-five caliber automatic pistol, they went behind the counter and attacked an employee who was on duty there. Defendants proceeded to beat the employee, Ms. Sharon Leone, severely with their fists and with the pistol. The victim suffered numerous cuts and bruises about the head, face, shoulders, arms and hands which necessitated her getting medical treatment, including approximately twelve stitches. Defendants stopped beating the victim and fled only when persons working in another room of the City Hall came out in response to the victim’s screams for help. One of the workmen, observing the defendants as they fled the scene, recognized one of them as he removed the stocking mask from his face. Subsequently, police were summoned, a search was conducted, and the two defendants were arrested. Defendants later confessed that they did go to Zwolle City Hall with the intention of committing a robbery.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 1 AND 2

By these assignments of error, defendants assert that the trial court erred in failing to properly apply the sentencing guidelines set forth in La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1 and in failing to state for the record the considerations taken into account and the factual basis therefor in imposing sentence on the defendants, as is required by that article.

A trial judge is required to state for the record both the considerations he has taken into account and the factual basis for imposition of sentence. La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1; State v. Schaeffer, 414 So.2d 730 (La.1982). In order to comply with article 894.1, the sentencing court need not articulate every aggravating and mitigating circumstance in the article. However, the record must affirmatively reflect that adequate consideration was given to these codal guidelines in particularizing the defendant’s sentence. State v. Smith, 433 So.2d 688 (La.1983); State v. Sims, 410 So.2d 1082 (La.1982). The requirements of article 894.1 are fulfilled when the record affirmatively shows that the trial court considered the statutory sentencing guidelines. State v. McDermitt, 406 So.2d 195 (La.1981); State v. Rainwater, 448 So.2d 1387 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1984). The important factors that should be considered include the defendant’s personal history, prior criminal record, seriousness of the particular offense, and the likelihood of rehabilitation or recidivism. State v. Soco, 441 So.2d 719 (La.1983); State v. Ezernack, 408 So.2d 907 (La.1981).

In the instant cases, defendants were each charged with attempted first degree murder and attempted armed robbery. Pursuant to a plea bargain agreement, the defendants pleaded guilty to armed robbery and the attempted first degree murder charges were dismissed. After an ex[790]*790amination of the pre-sentence investigation reports, the trial court sentenced each defendant to twenty years imprisonment at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

In imposing the sentences of imprisonment in the instant cases, the trial judge stated for the record that a review of the pre-sentence investigation reports for both defendants convinced him that both were “in need of incarceration in a custodial environment that could only be provided through commitment to an institution.” The judge stated that defendants were “arrested after a serious and life-threatening incident” in which defendants “did considerable physical damage and harm” to the victim. The judge later stated that he thought that any lesser sentence would deprecate the seriousness of the defendants’ offenses. The judge also stated that there was a real risk that each defendant would commit another crime if he were placed on probation. The previous criminal records of the defendants, which were contained in the presentence investigation reports reviewed by the judge, provide a factual basis for this statement by the judge. These statements by the judge indicate that he found present in each case the three conditions for which La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1(A) provides that a judge should impose a sentence of imprisonment. Therefore, we find that the imposition of sentences of imprisonment in these cases was proper.

As to the sentencing judge’s application of article 894.1(B), the record clearly shows that the judge went through a thorough and detailed procedure in particularizing the sentence for each defendant. In fact, the judge considered and weighed every factor listed in article 894.1(B).

As previously stated, the judge mentioned that each defendant’s conduct caused and threatened serious harm. He stated that each must have contemplated that his criminal conduct would cause or threaten serious harm. The judge found that neither defendant acted under provocation and that the crime was in fact planned in advance and entered into actively and consciously by each defendant. He further stated that there were no grounds tending to excuse either defendant’s conduct, that the victim did not facilitate the commission of the offenses, and that compensation of the victim was not a factor in this case.

With regard to defendant Williams, the judge noted that he had two prior convictions for theft and one for burglary of an inhabited dwelling. He further noted that defendant was given probated sentences for two of these crimes and sentenced to fifteen days of community service for the third conviction, which he was serving when the instant offense occurred.

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Bluebook (online)
542 So. 2d 788, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 756, 1989 WL 36991, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sloan-lactapp-1989.