State v. Warner

653 So. 2d 57, 1995 WL 109677
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 16, 1995
Docket94-K-2649
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 653 So. 2d 57 (State v. Warner) 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. Warner, 653 So. 2d 57, 1995 WL 109677 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

653 So.2d 57 (1995)

STATE of Louisiana,
v.
Roy WARNER.

No. 94-K-2649.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

March 16, 1995.
Writ Denied May 19, 1995.

*58 Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Joseph Raymond McMahon, Asst. Dist. Atty., Kelly O'Hara, Law Clerk, New Orleans, for relator.

Gerald J. Leydecker, O.I.D.P., New Orleans, for respondent.

Before SCHOTT, C.J., and WALTZER AND LANDRIEU, JJ.

WALTZER, Judge.

On the application of the State of Louisiana, we grant certiorari in order to consider the validity of the trial court's judgment granting defendant's motion to quash.

We are called upon to decide whether the prosecution is prohibited under the double jeopardy clause from prosecuting the defendant for a violation of La.R.S. 40:967(C), relative to possession of cocaine, although this allegation formed an integral part of the felony violation of La.R.S. 14:95(E) relative to "possession of a firearm ... while in possession... of a controlled dangerous substance" to which the defendant plead guilty.

We hold that the State is precluded from going forward with the subsequent prosecution for possession of cocaine.

BACKGROUND FACTS

On 4 October 1994, the defendant was arrested for possession of a .45 calibre pistol and possession of crack cocaine. On 2 November 1994, the State alleged in Bill of Information # 372-867 that the defendant on 4 October 1994 possessed a dangerous weapon, to wit: a handgun, while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance, to wit cocaine. (Emphasis supplied). On 8 November 1994, the defendant waived all his constitutional rights and plead guilty to that charge and was sentenced. Simultaneously with the filing of Bill of Information # 372-867 the State filed Bill of Information # 372-872, charging that the defendant on 4 October 1994 willfully and intentionally possessed a controlled dangerous substance, to wit: Cocaine (crack). This charge was transferred from Section "J" to Section "H" of Criminal District Court under the rules of court to follow case # 372-867. On 7 December 1994, a motion to quash Bill of Information #372-872 was filed alleging that the cocaine charge had been subsumed in the prosecution and plea in case # 372-867 and, therefore, ought to be prohibited under the double jeopardy clause. The trial court agreed and granted the motion to quash on the basis of double jeopardy. This writ of *59 certiorari followed on the application of the state.

THE LAW

La.C.Cr.P. art. 596 provides:

Double jeopardy exists in a second trial only when the charge in that trial is:
(1) Identical with or a different grade of the same offense for which the defendant was in jeopardy in the first trial, whether or not a responsive verdict could have been rendered in the first trial as to the charge in the second trial as to the charge in the second trial; or
(2) Based on part of a continuous offense for which offense the defendant was in jeopardy in the first trial.

Both the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Art. 1, Section 15 of the Louisiana Constitution guarantee that no person shall be twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense. The purpose of these provisions is to protect a person from a second prosecution after he has already been acquitted or convicted of that offense and also to protect an accused against multiple punishment for the same conduct. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969); State v. Vaughn, 431 So.2d 763 (La.1983). It is well settled law that double jeopardy bars conviction for both felony murder and the underlying felony. State v. Smith, 600 So.2d 919 (La.App. 4th Cir.1992), writ denied 625 So.2d 1031 (La.1993); State v. Rogers, 462 So.2d 684 (La.App. 4th Cir.1984), writ denied, 478 So.2d 899 (La.1985). In these cases the evidence required to support a finding of guilt of the first crime would also have supported a conviction for the other, thus the two are the same under a plea of double jeopardy, and the defendant can be placed in jeopardy for only one. The test depends on the evidence necessary for a conviction, not all the evidence introduced at trial. State v. Powell, 598 So.2d 454, 469 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1992), writ denied, 605 So.2d 1089 (La.1992).

La.C.Cr.P. art. 596 speaks of double jeopardy in terms of a second prosecution for the same offense, but its provisions also protect an accused from multiple punishments for the same criminal conduct. State v. Vaughn, supra. In Vaughn the defendant was convicted of theft and malfeasance in office during the same trial and under duplicate bills of information. Our Supreme Court found that the guarantee against double jeopardy had been violated, since conduct which formed the basis of the malfeasance charge was the same conduct proven during the jury trial on the theft charge.

APPLICABLE TESTS UNDER DOUBLE JEOPARDY[1]

a) The Blockburger Test

In Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932) the U.S. Supreme Court established the distinct fact test:

The applicable rule is that where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not. 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182.

This rule is constitutionally required of the states. Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977); State v. Knowles, 392 So.2d 651 (La.1980), writ granted, release ordered, 395 So.2d 678 (La.1981). The Blockburger test has nothing to do with the evidence presented at trial. It is concerned *60 solely with the statutory elements of the offense charged.

b) The Same Evidence Test

Louisiana uses both the Blockburger test and the "same evidence test". State v. Hayes, 412 So.2d 1323, 1325 (La.1982). When a defendant is charged with separate statutory crimes the crimes need not be identical in elements or in actual proof to be the same within the meaning of the constitutional prohibition. State v. Hayes, supra. Louisiana has followed a form of the "same evidence" rule, as stated in State v. Roberts, 152 La. 283, 286, 93 So. 95, 96 (La.1922) as follows:

(I)dentity of the offenses is an essential element in support of a plea of autre fois. By this is not meant formal, technical, absolute identity; the rule is that there must be only substantial identity, that the evidence necessary to support the second indictment would have been sufficient for the first.

The "same evidence test" is used in Louisiana. State v. Bonfanti, 262 La. 153, 262 So.2d 504 (La.1972); State v. Didier, 263 So.2d 322, 326 (La.1972). If the evidence required to support a finding of guilt of one crime would also have supported conviction of another, the two are the same offense and support a plea of double jeopardy. The defendant can be placed in jeopardy for only one. The test depends on the evidence necessary for conviction, not all the evidence introduced at trial.

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Bluebook (online)
653 So. 2d 57, 1995 WL 109677, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-warner-lactapp-1995.