State v. Tuggle

504 So. 2d 1016
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 4, 1987
Docket86 KA 1070
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 504 So. 2d 1016 (State v. Tuggle) 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. Tuggle, 504 So. 2d 1016 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

504 So.2d 1016 (1987)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Ronnie TUGGLE.

No. 86 KA 1070.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 4, 1987.

Bryan Bush, Dist. Atty. Office of the Dist. Atty. by Jesse Bankston, Asst. Dist. Atty., Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee.

Johnny E. Wellons, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.

*1017 Before EDWARDS, WATKINS and LeBLANC, JJ.

WATKINS, Judge.

Ronnie Tuggle was charged by indictment with four counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated burglary, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:44 and 14:60, respectively. In the same indictment, he was also charged with one count of aggravated rape and one count of attempted aggravated rape, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:42 and 14:27. The defendant pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. A sanity commission subsequently determined that the defendant was competent to stand trial. After trial, a jury found the defendant guilty as charged on all four counts of aggravated kidnapping. The jury also returned guilty verdicts for the attempted aggravated rape charge and the aggravated burglary charge. However, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the aggravated rape charge, and the trial court declared a mistrial on this charge.

For each of the four aggravated kidnapping convictions, the defendant received the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. For the aggravated burglary conviction, the defendant received a sentence of thirty years at hard labor. The trial court imposed the above five sentences concurrently. However, for the attempted aggravated rape conviction, the defendant received a consecutive sentence of fifty years at hard labor. The defendant has appealed, alleging six assignments of error, as follows:

1. The defendant contends that the prosecution did not prove each element of the crime of aggravated kidnapping.
2. The defendant contends that he did not commit aggravated burglary.
3. The defendant contends that the testimony of three expert witnesses proves that he was insane at the time these crimes were committed.
4. The defendant contends that the guilty verdicts in this case were contrary to the law and the evidence.
5. The defendant contends that the prosecution did not prove each element of the crimes charged.
6. The defendant contends that the jury erred by not finding him insane at the time these offenses were committed.

Assignments of error numbers 4, 5, and 6 were not briefed on appeal and are, therefore, considered abandoned. Uniform Rules—Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-12.4.

Shortly before 4:00 p.m. on February 28, 1986, the defendant, Ronnie Lee Tuggle, and his wife, Wanda, drove to the victims' (hereinafter referred to as the Doe family) home, located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Mr. Doe was at work. The house was occupied by Mrs. Doe and her four children: a daughter, age ten, and three sons, ages eight, six, and one. When the daughter heard a car pull into the driveway, she thought it was her grandmother and went to the back door. When she opened the door, the defendant, in the daughter's words, "just walked in." He went into the living room and asked Mrs. Doe if her husband was home, stating he wanted to talk to him about some yard work. The defendant had cut the grass for the Doe family on several occasions during the previous summer. When Mrs. Doe replied that Mr. Doe was not home, the defendant produced a gun and asked Mrs. Doe if she had any diamonds or silver. When she replied that she did not, he asked her about how much money she had in her purse and in her checking account. When she told him to leave the house, he aimed the gun at the face of her six year old son and stated: "[T]his one will be the first to go."

After approximately ten minutes, the defendant told Mrs. Doe that they were going to leave the house with him. When she refused, he grabbed her hair and sweater and jerked, knocking her to her knees. The defendant forced Mrs. Doe and her three older children to leave the house and get into their van. The infant son remained in his crib. When Mrs. Doe was exiting her house, she saw the defendant's *1018 wife, Wanda Tuggle, get into a car and back out of the driveway. The defendant let Mrs. Doe drive the van until they left her subdivision. At that point, he ordered her to move over, and he drove them to the Alamo Plaza Motel on Florida Boulevard. When they exited the van and entered Room 1002, they observed that Wanda Tuggle had already arrived and was waiting for them. While Wanda Tuggle remained at the Alamo Plaza with the children, the defendant forced Mrs. Doe to drive to a Fidelity Bank and cash her paycheck and a personal check which amounted to a total of approximately $352.00. At this point, the defendant abandoned the van at a park near the Alamo Plaza Motel. Since his car had been locked with the keys inside it, he used his pistol to shoot the window out of his own car in the presence of Mrs. Doe. He then turned to her and stated: "I guess you know now that it's a real gun."

They got in the defendant's car, and the defendant drove to an area of Baton Rouge which was unfamiliar to Mrs. Doe. While in this area, the defendant made a drug purchase. He then drove to another motel where he forced Mrs. Doe to have sexual intercourse with him. After forcing her to take a shower with him, they returned to the Alamo Plaza Motel. They learned that Mrs. Doe's children were hungry, so the defendant forced Mrs. Doe to go with him to get some food for the children. After the defendant purchased some chicken at a fast food restaurant, he drove to several locations attempting to purchase more drugs. After making another drug purchase, he took Mrs. Doe to another motel and again forced her to have sexual intercourse with him. She testified that he never put the gun down even when he forced her to take another shower with him.

When they returned to the Alamo Plaza Motel room, Mrs. Doe persuaded Mrs. Tuggle to let her two boys go free. Mrs. Tuggle drove the two boys to a location in Scotlandville and released them. When Wanda returned, the defendant told her to go and purchase some more drugs. She left and returned shortly thereafter with some drugs, which she gave to the defendant. Eventually, the defendant informed Mrs. Doe that he was going to release her ten-year-old daughter as well. In fact, the defendant took the girl to his house and attempted to have sexual intercourse with her also but was unable to achieve penetration.

Shortly after the defendant left the Alamo Plaza Motel with the daughter, law enforcement officers arrived, arresting Wanda Tuggle and transporting Mrs. Doe to a hospital. A few minutes later, law enforcement officers arrested the defendant at his home and also transported the daughter to a hospital. During this entire episode, the defendant had injected himself with a syringe numerous times. He also injected Mrs. Doe and her daughter. Apparently, the defendant was using cocaine, since tests run at the hospital indicated the presence of cocaine in the urine of both Mrs. Doe and her daughter.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE:

In this assignment of error, the defendant contends that there was not sufficient evidence to prove each element of the crime of aggravated kidnapping.

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Related

State in Interest of REB
643 So. 2d 287 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1994)
State v. Landry
557 So. 2d 331 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1990)
State v. Volquardts
540 So. 2d 497 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
State v. Tuggle
509 So. 2d 118 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)

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504 So. 2d 1016, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tuggle-lactapp-1987.