State v. Small

147 So. 3d 1274, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 1334, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2054, 2014 WL 4243150
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 27, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-KA-1334
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 147 So. 3d 1274 (State v. Small) 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. Small, 147 So. 3d 1274, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 1334, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2054, 2014 WL 4243150 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

PAUL A. BONIN, Judge.

11 Ricky Small appeals his convictions for the attempted first degree murders of Ti-jai Andrews and Lyndon Henry. Claiming that the prosecution failed to exclude every reasonable possibility that he was misidentified as one of the perpetrators, Mr. Small first seeks a Jackson v. Virginia review for the sufficiency of the evidence on that limited issue. Next, should his argument for acquittal on appeal fail, Mr. Small contends that inflammatory remarks made by the prosecutor during rebuttal closing argument entitle him to a new trial either because his trial attorney provided ineffective assistance by failing to move for a mistrial or because the trial judge erred in refusing to admonish the jury despite his attorney’s specific request.

Mr. Small also appeals the sentences imposed upon him. The trial judge, following a hearing under the Habitual Offender Law, vacated Mr. Small’s two concurrent ten year sentences and imposed two concurrent twenty-five year sentences despite the prosecution only seeking a multiple bill on one count. Mr. Small moved for a deviation in his sentencing below the statutorily-mandated minimum sentence, which the trial judge, expressing his view that he lacked legal authority, refused.

| {¡With respect to both his convictions and sentences, Mr. Small assigns as additional error that the appellate record is incomplete, thus preventing our full judicial review to which he is entitled by law. He itemized the portions of the record which were not included at the time of its lodging.

Based upon our Jackson v. Virginia review, we find that, viewing all of the evi[1278]*1278dence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational fact-finder could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Small was identified as one of the perpetrators of both attempted murders. We find that Mr. Small’s trial counsel’s assistance was not deficient and thus not ineffective. And, only due to the trial judge’s vigilance, oversight, and quick intervention to terminate early the prosecutor’s improper and suggestive remarks, we find no error in his refusal to admonish the jury under the facts of this ease. We also find that, with respect to his convictions, those still-missing portions of the record identified by Mr. Small are unnecessary to conduct a full appellate review. We thus affirm Mr. Small’s convictions.1

With respect to the sentences imposed upon Mr. Small, however, we have detected an error patent regarding the enhancement of the penalties on both counts. We thus conclude that it is necessary that we vacate both sentences imposed under the Habitual Offender Law and remand the matter to the district court for re-sentencing. Also, because the trial judge expressed an erroneous view of his sentencing authority, we direct on remand that he consider and decide Mr. Small’s motion for downward departure from the legislatively-mandated minimum | .^sentence, reserving unto the parties the right to appeal any adverse rulings. We thus vacate the sentences and remand for re-sentencing.

We explain our decision in greater detail in the following parts.

I

We begin our explanation by considering Mr. Small’s first argument, the only made by appellate counsel, that the evidence is insufficient to negate any reasonable probability of misidentification such that an element essential to his conviction is missing which mandates his acquittal. See State v. Woodfork, 99-0859, pp. 4-5 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/17/00), 764 So.2d 132, 134-35. See also State v. Edwards, 97-1797, p. 12 (La.7/2/99), 750 So.2d 893, 902 ('When identity is disputed, the state must negate any reasonable probability of misidentification in order to satisfy its burden to establish every element of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt.”).

Here, just as in Woodfork and Edwards, Mr. Small does not contest whether the essential elements of the crime charged were proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but instead, by his alibi defense, has made identity “a key issue at trial.” Edwards, 97-1797, p. 12, 750 So.2d at 902; Woodfork, 99-0859, pp. 4-5, 764 So.2d at 134-35. In reviewing for the sufficiency of evidence under the specific claim that mis-identification had not been negated by the prosecution, we apply the general rules for sufficiency review set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, which announced a federal constitutional rule or standard of review, to guarantee that a fact-finder had applied the correct standard of proof. 443 U.S. 307, 316-18, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). And we also apply the particular criteria for evaluating the reliability of 1 identification evidence set out in Manson v. Brathwaite.2 See State v. Paul, 11-0252, pp. 3-4 (La.App. 4 Cir. 4/18/12), 90 So.3d 1191, 1194; State v. Stewart, 04-2219, p. 6 (La.App. 4 Cir. 6/29/05), 909 So.2d 636, 639.

A

Before considering the evidence of the identification of Mr. Small at his trial, we [1279]*1279detail the limited factual review both authorized and required under Jackson v. Virginia. The “critical inquiry” is “to determine whether the record evidence could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson, 443 U.S. at 318, 99 S.Ct. 2781. “But this inquiry does not require a court to ‘ask itself whether it believes that the evidence at the trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Id. at 318-19, 99 S.Ct. 2781 (quoting Woodby v. INS, 385 U.S. 276, 282, 87 S.Ct. 483, 17 L.Ed.2d 362 (1966)) (bold in original). “Instead, the relevant question is whether, after viewing 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.” Id. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781 (emphasis in original).

The fact-finder’s “role as weigher of the evidence” is thus “preserved through a legal conclusion that upon judicial review all of the evidence is to be considered in the light most favorable to the prosecution.” Id. (emphasis in original). Importantly, the standard “gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.” Id.

And in applying this general standard of constitutional review, we emphasize that we determine whether “any” — and not “every” — rational trier of fact could have found proof of all the essential elements, including the defendant’s | identity as the perpetrator of the crime, because “|j’]ury verdicts finding guilty beyond a reasonable doubt are regularly sustained even though the evidence was such that the jury would have been justified in having a reasonable doubt....” Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 U.S. 356, 362, 92 S.Ct. 1620, 32 L.Ed.2d 152 (1972).

B

Although there were two victims, Tijai Andrews, one of the victims, was the only witness to identify Mr. Small as the perpetrator. A positive identification by only one witness, however, can be sufficient to support a conviction. See State v. Neal, 00-0674, p.

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Bluebook (online)
147 So. 3d 1274, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 1334, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2054, 2014 WL 4243150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-small-lactapp-2014.