State v. Vaurigaud

690 So. 2d 110, 96 La.App. 5 Cir. 807, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 331, 1997 WL 55501
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 12, 1997
DocketNo. 96-KA-807
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 690 So. 2d 110 (State v. Vaurigaud) 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. Vaurigaud, 690 So. 2d 110, 96 La.App. 5 Cir. 807, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 331, 1997 WL 55501 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

|2DALEY, Judge.

The defendant, Darrell D. Varigaud1, was charged with attempted second degree murder in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:27 and 14:30.1. On February 15, 1990, the trial court conducted a sanity hearing finding that the defendant lacked the mental capacity to proceed to trial and ordered that the defendant be “civilly committed” to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Resources. Thereafter, a subsequent sanity commission was appointed and a sanity hearing held on February 16, 1995 wherein the court found that the defendant was mentally competent to proceed to trial. The defendant then entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Prior to trial, a plea bargain was reached where defendant pled guilty to attempted second degree murder. He was sentenced to 45 years at hard labor with credit for time served. On February 7, 1996, the defendant filed two Motions to Reconsider Sentence asserting several grounds including the ex-cessiveness of the lasentence, and on April 9, 1996, the trial court denied the motions. He now appeals alleging the trial court erred in refusing to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea because the sentence was not in accordance with the plea agreement. He also alleges the sentence imposed is excessive. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

The Pre-sentence Investigation Report states the following regarding the facts of the offense:

According to Jefferson Parish Police Report ... on 12/30/89, at about 11:49 P.M., officers were dispatched to 1820 North Starrett in reference to an aggravated battery by shooting. Officers found a white female, later identified as Michelle Kam-mer, DOB 09/01/71, with a gunshot wound to her forehead and right neck area. An interview revealed that Ms. Kammer was shot by her boyfriend, Darrell Vaurigaud, white male, DOB 05/16/70, from whom she had recently broken up with about one week prior ...

On July 24, 1995, the defendant entered into a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to the charged offense of attempted second degree murder and the plea agreement contained the following restriction regarding sentencing:

Plea accepted subject to Pre[-]sentence Investigation by Probation and Parole Department with the following restriction[s:] Sentence shall not exceed 45 years and Court shall give serious consideration to recommendation of probation officer.

During the plea colloquy, the trial court read the plea agreement to the defendant with the defendant’s attorney present. When asked if he understood “the way the sentence would be determined,” the defendant answered affirmatively. After accepting the defendant’s plea, the trial court ordered a Pre-sentence Investigation Report in accordance with the plea agreement. The sentencing hearing was continued several times and, on January 18, 1996, the defendant filed a Motion to Withdraw his Guilty Plea. A hearing was set and the motion denied. Thereafter, a sentencing hearing was held and the defendant [112]*112was sentenced to 45 years at hard labor with credit for time served. On February 7,1996, the defendant filed two Motions to Reconsider |4Sentence asserting several grounds including the excessiveness of the sentence, and on April 9, 1996, the trial court denied the motions.

In his first assigned error, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The defendant argues that the trial court failed to seriously consider the Pre-sentence Investigative Report’s recommendation that he be imprisoned for a term not to exceed seven and one-half years and that such failure violated the plea agreement and rendered his guilty plea involuntarily. Additionally, the defendant urges this court to vacate the sentence and to remand the matter for an evidentiary hearing on whether the defendant had a justifiable belief that he would receive a sentence in accordance with the Pre-sentence Investigative Report.

In denying the defendant’s Motion to Withdraw Guilty Plea, the trial court stated the following, “The Court went over it [the plea agreement], and that’s in the Record, that’s part of the Record.... ” Subsequently, at the sentencing hearing, the trial court state, “The Court told this [Defendant that he is going to receive a maximum of forty-five years, that he could receive anything up to forty-five years as the time.”

LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 559(A) provides that the court may permit a plea of guilty to be withdrawn at any time before sentencing. However, the trial court has broad discretion with regard to the withdrawal of a guilty plea. See State v. Deakle, 372 So.2d 1221 (La.1979). Once a defendant has been sentenced, only guilty pleas which are constitutionally infirm may be withdrawn by appeal or post-conviction relief. State v. Dixon, 449 So.2d 463 (La.1984); State v. Walker, 94-340 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/25/94), 645 So.2d 766. A guilty plea is constitutionally infirmed when a defendant is induced to enter that plea by a plea bargain or by what he justifiably believes was a plea bargain, and that bargain is not kept. State v. Gross, 95-621 (La. App. 5 Cir. 3/13/96), 673 So.2d 1058. If a defendant’s misunderstanding is not induced by or attributed to representations made by the district attorney or the trial court, there is no grounds for invalidating the guilty plea. State v. Readoux, 614 So.2d 175 (La.App. 3 Cir.1993).

Furthermore, a defendant may not withdraw a guilty plea simply because the sentence to be imposed is heavier than anticipated. It is not unreasonable for a trial court to deny a defendant the luxury of gambling on his sentence, then withdrawing his plea if and when he discovers, before imposition, the sentence is not to his liking. State v. Greer, 572 So.2d 1166 (La.App. 1 Cir.1990).

The record contains a Pre-sentence Investigation Report prepared by Linda F. Matthews, a Probation and Parole Specialist employed by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, and a Louisiana Sentencing Commission Sentencing Guideline Report also prepared by Linda Matthews. These documents are often referred to collectively as the pre-sentence investigation, but they are separate documents and are dealt with differently under our Code of Criminal Procedure.

C.C.P. art 875 sets forth the contents and purpose of a pre-sentence investigation.

C.C.P. art. 875.1 before its repeal set forth the requirement of a Sentencing Guideline Report. The Louisiana Sentencing Guidelines have since been repealed by Act No. 942 of the 1995 legislative session effective August 15,1995.

In the Pre-sentence Investigation Report submitted by the Department of Corrections in this case the department makes no recommendation as to the duration of the defendant’s incarceration. The report’s sentencing recommendations are limited to, 1) “because early release would depreciate the seriousness of the offense, Rhe (the defendant) is not recommended for Intensive Incarceration Supervision; and 2) because of the seriousness of this crime probation is not recommended.” The Sentencing Guideline Report indicates that the designated sentence range for a typical conviction for attempted first degree murder, 14:27:30.1, given this defendant’s lack of prior offenses, is incarcerated for a minimum of 60 months and a maximum of 90 months.

The Sentencing Guidelines were not in effect at the time the offense was committed on [113]

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Bluebook (online)
690 So. 2d 110, 96 La.App. 5 Cir. 807, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 331, 1997 WL 55501, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-vaurigaud-lactapp-1997.