State v. Solomon

923 So. 2d 954, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 489, 2006 WL 544509
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 8, 2006
DocketNo. 40,659-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 923 So. 2d 954 (State v. Solomon) 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. Solomon, 923 So. 2d 954, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 489, 2006 WL 544509 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

BROWN, C.J.

11 After being convicted of simple burglary, defendant, Otis Bernard Solomon, was sentenced as a third felony offender to 12 years at hard labor without benefit. Defendant has appealed his conviction and sentence. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

Discussion

Sufficiency of the Evidence

On May 19, 2004, Corporal Gregory Washington went home early from his patrol shift with the Shreveport Police Department to study for an upcoming test with the Air Force Reserve. Corporal Washington lives rent free as a result of serving as a security or courtesy officer for the Southern Village Apartment Complex. At approximately 3:30 a.m., as Cpl. Washington was studying in his apartment, he heard a “banging” noise and looked out his window to see defendant crouched between two cars in the complex parking lot. Corporal Washington went outside and observed defendant breaking into a Buick. Corporal Washington returned to his apartment to get his boots and “gun rig.”

When Cpl. Washington got back to the parking lot, defendant walked away. Cpl. Washington pursued defendant and radioed police headquarters to report the offense and give a description of the suspect. Cpl. Washington testified that he maintained sight of defendant except once as he rounded the corner of the apartment building. According to Cpl. Washington, a child told him that the man running had just broken “into that lady’s car.” The [956]*956child’s mother later refused to let police interview him. Corporal Washington stated that Cpl. Jerry Curtis had already detained defendant by pthe time he caught up with him. Corporal Washington identified defendant at the time of arrest and at trial as the man who was breaking into the Buick.

Corporal Curtis, an officer with the K-9 unit, stated that he was conducting a routine security check of a local business and talking with Patrolman Stevie Gillis when the two officers heard Cpl. Washington radio for assistance. Corporal Curtis said the officers answered the call because the apartment complex was just down the road from where they were parked. Officer Gillis, who arrived on the scene first, testified that he saw defendant walking out toward the sidewalk from the area of the woods. Defendant was near the location reported by Cpl. Washington and matched the officer’s description of a black male wearing a black leather jacket and jeans.

Corporal Curtis testified that defendant “had something shiny in his hand” that the officers thought might be a weapon. Corporal Curtis ordered defendant to drop his weapon and the officer unholstered his gun. Defendant dropped the cell phone he held and followed the officers’ commands while Officer Gillis handcuffed defendant. Officer Gillis searched defendant and found a car stereo system, the face plate for that system, another cell phone, and several burglary tools, including a screwdriver, two sets of nail clippers, a pocket knife, and a fork. Tara Alexander, the Buick’s owner and a resident of the Southern Village Apartments, identified the stereo, face plate, and two cell phones as property stolen from her vehicle. Ms. Alexander testified that she did not know defendant and had not given him permission to enter her car.

^Defendant testified that he had been playing dominoes at a friend’s apartment in the Southern Village Apartment Complex that evening. According to defendant, he left his friend’s residence and walked toward the field, passing Cpl. Washington along the way. Defendant stated that Cpl. Washington never asked him to stop. Defendant also testified that he was never in the parking lot of the apartment complex. According to defendant, he found the stereo equipment, face plate, cell phones, and burglary tools “stacked together” “right at the corner of the back of the apartments.” Defendant stated that he had been wearing a brown rubber jacket that night. Defendant acknowledged that he had previously pled guilty to burglary of an inhabited dwelling and possession of stolen things.

Defendant asserts that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he committed the offense of simple burglary by making an unauthorized entry into Ms. Alexander’s vehicle. According to defendant, Corporal Gregory Washington was not close enough to clearly see and identify the man breaking into the car. Defendant claims that his version of the events presented a “reasonable hypothesis of innocence,” and while the state may have had a successful case for possession of stolen things, it failed to prove an unauthorized entry.

Simple burglary is the unauthorized entering of any dwelling, vehicle, watercraft, or other structure, movable or immovable, or any cemetery, with the intent to commit a felony of any theft therein. La. R.S. 14:62(A). The proper standard of appellate review for a sufficiency of the evidence claim 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 proven beyond a [957]*957reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Bosley, 29,253 (La.App.2d Cir.04/02/97), 691 So.2d 347, writ denied, 97-1203 (La.10/17/97), 701 So.2d 1333. The Jackson standard is applicable in cases involving both direct and circumstantial evidence. An appellate court reviewing the sufficiency of evidence in such cases must resolve any conflict in the direct evidence by viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. When the direct evidence is thus viewed, the facts established by the direct evidence and inferred from the circumstances established by that evidence must be sufficient for a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of every essential element ■ of the crime. State v. Sutton, 436 So.2d 471 (La.1983); State v. Owens, 30,903 (La.App.2d Cir.09/25/98), 719 So.2d 610, writ denied, 98-2723 (La.02/05/99), 737 So.2d 747.

This court’s authority to review questions of fact in a criminal case is limited to the sufficiency of the evidence evaluation under Jackson, supra, and does not extend to credibility determinations made by the trier of fact. La. Const. art. 5, § 10(B); State v. Williams, 448 So.2d 753 (La.App. 2d Cir.1984). A reviewing court accords great deference to a judge or jury’s decision to accept or reject the testimony of a witness in whole or in part. State v. Gilliam, 36,118 (La.App.2d Cir.08/30/02), 827 So.2d 508, writ denied, State ex rel. Gilliam v. State, 02-3090 (La.11/14/03), 858 So.2d 422. In the absence of internal contradiction or irreconcilable conflict with 1 ¡^physical evidence, one witness’s testimony, if believed by the trier of fact, is sufficient support for a requisite factual conclusion. State v. White, 28,095 (La.App.2d Cir.05/08/96), 674 So.2d 1018, units denied, 96-1459 (La.11/15/96), 682 So.2d 760, 98-0282 (La.06/26/98), 719 So.2d 1048.

Having reviewed the testimony presented at trial, we find it sufficient to support defendant’s conviction. Corporal Washington identified defendant as the man he saw' attempting to break into Ms. Alexander’s car and then fleeing the scene. Tara Alexander identified the stereo equipment, face plate, and cell phones found on defendant as items stolen from her car.

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930 So. 2d 336 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
923 So. 2d 954, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 489, 2006 WL 544509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-solomon-lactapp-2006.