State v. Staden

154 So. 3d 579, 2014 La.App. 1 Cir. 0459, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2289, 2014 WL 4735548
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 24, 2014
DocketNo. 2014 KA 0459
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 154 So. 3d 579 (State v. Staden) 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. Staden, 154 So. 3d 579, 2014 La.App. 1 Cir. 0459, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2289, 2014 WL 4735548 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

CRAIN, J.

|2The defendant, Jeffery Staden, was charged by amended bill of information on count one with attempted first degree murder, a violation of Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:30 and 14:27, and on count two with armed robbery, a violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:64. He pled not guilty and, following a jury trial, was found guilty on count one of the responsive verdict of aggravated battery, a violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:34, and guilty as charged on count two. On count one, the trial court sentenced the defendant to ten years imprisonment at hard labor; and on count two, he was sentenced to fifty years imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, to be served concurrently. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion to reconsider sentence. The defendant now appeals, arguing that his constitutional right against double jeopardy was violated. We affirm the convictions and sentences.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On December 1, 2009, the defendant and two accomplices entered Alby’s Market & Deli on North Sherwood Forest Boulevard in Baton Rouge. As the defendant approached the counter of a check-cashing station in the store, he pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at the employee working behind the counter. The defendant ordered the employee, Sam Tran, to get down on the floor. When Tran failed to immediately comply, the defendant jumped over the counter, hit Tran in the head with the gun, and pushed him to the floor. One perpetrator bound Tran’s wrists and placed a bag over his head; then the perpetrators proceeded to take the cash from the store’s cash registers. After removing all of the cash from the [582]*582cash registers, the defendant then demanded that Tran disclose the location of more money in the store. When Tran replied that the store had a safe but that it would take ten minutes to open it, the defendant repeated the demand several times |sand shot Tran in the leg. Shortly thereafter, all of the perpetrators exited the store and fled the scene.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

In his sole assignment of error, the defendant asserts that his constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy was violated when he was tried for attempted first degree murder, which included the commission of an armed robbery as an essential element (sometimes referred to herein as “attempted felony murder”), and tried and sentenced for the underlying felony of armed robbery. As a consequence, according to the defendant, he received multiple punishments for the same criminal conduct. Although the defendant did not raise the double jeopardy issue in the trial court, we consider its merits because double jeopardy can be raised at any time. See La.Code Crim. Pro. art. 594; State v. Petitto, 12-1670 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/26/13), 116 So.3d 761, 772, writ denied, 13-1183 (La.11/22/13), 126 So.3d 477.

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the federal and state constitutions not only prohibits successive trials for the same offense but also protects against multiple punishments for the same offense. See U.S. Const, amend. V; La. Const. art. I, § 15; La.Code Crim. Pro. art. 591; State v. Murray, 00-1258 (La.9/18/01), 799 So.2d 453, 454-55 (per curiam,). The defendant was subjected to only one trial, so he does not contend that his right to be free from multiple trials for the same offense has been violated. Rather, he invokes the Double Jeopardy Clause’s protection against multiple punishments for the same offense.

With respect to cumulative sentences imposed in a single trial, the Double Jeopardy Clause does no more than prevent the sentencing court from prescribing greater punishment than the legislature intended. Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359, 366, 103 S.Ct. 673, 678, 74 L.Ed.2d 535 (1983); State v. Allen, 01-2494 (La.6/21/02), 824 So.2d 344, 345. While the Double Jeopardy Clause may ^protect a defendant against cumulative punishments for convictions on the same offense, it does not prohibit the state from prosecuting a defendant for such multiple offenses in a single prosecution. Ohio v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 493, 500, 104 S.Ct. 2536, 2541, 81 L.Ed.2d 425 (1984); State v. Hall, 12-0601 (La.6/29/12), 91 So.3d 302, 303 (per cu-riam). When a question arises as to whether the same evidence required to convict a defendant of one offense is also the same evidence required to convict him of the other crime, the court should defer ruling on a motion to quash until the trial has fully developed the factual context of a claim that the prosecution has implicated the double jeopardy prohibition of multiple punishments for the same offense. Hall, 91 So.3d at 303. In the event that the evidence at trial supports a claim that the defendant has been punished in a single proceeding twice for the same offense, the court may take appropriate action by granting the motion to quash and vacating the conviction on the less seriously punishable offense. Hall, 91 So.3d at 303.

Pursuant to these principles, our courts have recognized that once a defendant is convicted of attempted felony murder, he is punished for the felony which he was perpetrating at the time of the attempted murder, and he cannot be punished a second time for the same offense. See State v. Stewart, 400 So.2d 633, 635 n. [583]*5834 (La.1981); State v. Cotten, 438 So.2d 1156, 1160 (La.App. 1 Cir.1983), writ denied, 444 So.2d 606 (La.1984), Consequently, convictions for both attempted felony murder and the underlying felony violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the federal and state constitutions because the multiple convictions subject the defendant to double punishment for the same offense. See Stewart, 400 So.2d at 635 n. 4; Cotten, 438 So.2d at 1161; see also State ex rel. Nirtha v. State, 01-1011 (La.9/13/02), 824 So.2d 1179; State ex rel. Adams v. Butler, 558 So.2d 552, 553 (La.1990).

| .¡Because the defendant was not convicted of attempted first degree murder, we find no merit to his argument that the Double Jeopardy Clause was violated because he was “tried” on charges of attempted first degree felony murder and armed robbery. The prosecution of both charges in a single trial did not violate the prohibition against multiple punishment for the same offense and therefore did not implicate the Double Jeopardy Clause. Only convictions of those charges would have subjected the defendant to the proscribed multiple punishments for the same offense and therefore implicated the Double Jeopardy Clause. See Ohio, 467 U.S. at 500, 104 S.Ct. at 2541; Hall, 91 So.3d at 303.

Although not assigned as error, defense counsel summarily asserts at the conclusion of his brief that the defendant’s “conviction for aggravated battery, a responsive verdict to the charge of attempted first degree murder, and his conviction for armed robbery violate” the Double Jeopardy Clause. This assertion has no merit. In determining whether two offenses constitute the “same offense” for double jeopardy purposes, Louisiana courts have applied two different standards, the “same elements” test set forth in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct.

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154 So. 3d 579, 2014 La.App. 1 Cir. 0459, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2289, 2014 WL 4735548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-staden-lactapp-2014.