State v. Tucker

682 So. 2d 261, 1996 WL 534194
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 18, 1996
Docket95-KA-0030
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 682 So. 2d 261 (State v. Tucker) 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. Tucker, 682 So. 2d 261, 1996 WL 534194 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

682 So.2d 261 (1996)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Randy TUCKER.

No. 95-KA-0030.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

September 18, 1996.
Rehearing Denied November 22, 1996.

*262 Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Val M. Solino, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, for Appellee.

Archie B. Creech, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for Appellant.

Before BYRNES, CIACCIO and LOBRANO, JJ.

LOBRANO, Judge.

Defendant, Randy Tucker, was charged by bill of information with two counts of armed robbery, violations of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:64.

Defendant was arraigned on March 27, 1979 and pled not guilty to both counts. A hearing on defendant's motion to suppress identification was heard April 9, 1979. The motion was denied. Trial was held October 15, 1979. A twelve member jury found defendant guilty as charged on both counts. On October 26, 1979, defendant was adjudicated a multiple offender pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statute 15:529.1. Accordingly, defendant was sentenced to serve sixty years on each count to run concurrently. Defendant's conviction and sentences were subsequently affirmed after a review limited to errors patent.[1] On November 5, 1993, in response to defendant's application for post conviction relief, the Supreme Court ordered that defendant be resentenced on one count because defendant was improperly sentenced as a multiple offender.[2] On June 2,1994, the trial court resentenced defendant on count one to sixty years at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. On count two, the court sentenced defendant pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statute 15:529.1 to sixty years at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Both sentences to run concurrently. The Court granted defendant an appeal.

*263 FACTS:

On February 26, 1979, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Michael and Andrea DeFilippo went to the A.T.M. machine at the Bank of New Orleans on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Magazine Street. As the couple walked back to their car, Mr. DeFilippo noticed two black males. One of the men said "This is it". The men approached the couple and ordered Mrs. DeFilippo to get into the back seat. Defendant was holding a gun inside a plastic bag. Defendant then got into the front seat with Mr. DeFilippo. The second assailant, a juvenile later identified as Charles Daniels, got into the back seat with Mrs. DeFilippo. Defendant then passed the plastic bag to Daniels who showed Mrs. DeFilippo the gun. The couple was then ordered to turn over their purse and wallet to defendant. Mr. DeFilippo was then ordered to drive to Jefferson Avenue and Constance Street where defendant got out of the car and got into his own car. Mrs. DeFilippo was then allowed to get into the front seat of the couple's car. Daniels remained in the back seat. Mr. DeFilippo was then ordered to follow defendant to Audubon Park. Defendant then ordered the couple to get out of their car. Defendant retrieved the gun from Daniels, took the couple's car keys and ordered them to walk into the park. As the couple began walking, headlights from another vehicle appeared. Defendant then returned to this vehicle and left.

On February 28, 1979, defendant and Daniels were arrested by State Trooper James Farris and Phillip Waites. At the time of their arrest, a gun was retrieved. Neither Trooper was able to state which of the two perpetrators threw the gun down on the ground. Property belonging to the DeFilippos was found on defendant's person and in his car. In a photographic line-up on March 2, 1979, Mr. DeFilippo identified defendant's photo. Mrs. DeFilippo chose two photos, one of which was defendant's and one of another man. In a subsequent physical line-up on March 20, 1979, both victims identified defendant as the man who robbed them. In court identifications of defendant and Daniels were made by both victims.

Defendant appeals his conviction and sentences asserting the following assignments of error:

1) Defendant is being denied his right to an appeal based upon a complete trial record;
2) Defendant was denied his right to effective assistance of counsel;
3) Defendant's sentence is unconstitutionally excessive;
4) The trial court erred in adjudicating defendant a multiple offender.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR 1:

Defendant contends that he is being denied his right to an appeal based upon a complete record. Defendant's argument revolves around two motions to supplement the record. Defendant sought to supplement the record with the trial court's jury instructions and the photographs used in the photographic line-up. The photographs are no longer available as they have been destroyed due to the age of the record. Similarly, this Court received certification from the trial court that the transcript of the jury instructions could not be located.

The Louisiana State Constitution provides that "[n]o person shall be subjected to imprisonment... without the right of judicial review based upon a complete record of all evidence upon which the judgment is based." La. Const. Art. I, Sec. 19 (West 1977). In addition, Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 843 requires that all of the proceedings in a felony case be recorded.[3] However, where the missing portions of the trial record are not evidentiary, their absence does not compromise the defendant's constitutional right to a judicial review of all evidence. State v. Thomas, 92-1428 pp. 2-3 (La.App. 4th Cir. 5/26/94), 637 So.2d 1272, 1274, writ denied, 94-1725 (La.11/18/94), 646 *264 So.2d 376, cert. denied, Thomas v. Louisiana, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 1437, 131 L.Ed.2d 317 (1995); State v. Rodriguez, 93-0461 (La.App. 4th Cir. 3/29/94), 635 So.2d 391.

In the instant case, the full transcript of the evidentiary portion of the trial was made part of the appellate record. Thus, the absence of the jury instruction transcript does not deny defendant full appellate review.

The photographs used in the pre-trial photographic line-up were not introduced at trial. Only the photo of the physical line-up was introduced.

The transcript of the October 12, 1979 motion hearing shows that Mrs. DeFilippo's inability to identify defendant in the photographic line-up was brought before the trial court. This fact was also brought out before the jury at defendant's trial.

Defendant's argument with respect to the physical line-up stems from questions posed by defense counsel to Detective Ronald Richardson during the motion hearing of October 12, 1979. Counsel asked Detective Ronald Richardson "couldn't you find anyone as dark as Mr. Tucker to put in there with him?" Detective Richardson replied, "Yes, They were all the same color to me." Wherein, defense counsel asked Detective Richardson if all the men in the line-up looked to be same color. Detective Richardson replied, "Yes, sir, except for this one." Detective Richardson was not asked if the man who looked different was defendant. In addition, at trial, defense counsel, prior to Detective Richardson's testimony with regard to the physical line-up, stipulated that all procedural safeguards, except for the fact that there was no attorney present to represent Mr. Tucker, were followed.

Thus, we find that nothing in the record discloses that the physical line-up was in anyway unduly suggestive.

This assignment of error is without merit.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
682 So. 2d 261, 1996 WL 534194, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tucker-lactapp-1996.