State v. Washington

482 So. 2d 118, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 5940
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 15, 1986
DocketNo. KA-3041
StatusPublished

This text of 482 So. 2d 118 (State v. Washington) 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. Washington, 482 So. 2d 118, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 5940 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

KLEES, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, and armed robbery. A unanimous twelve person jury found defendant George Washington guilty of all charges. The trial court sentenced Washington to mandatory life imprisonment at hard labor on the aggravated rape charge, mandatory life imprisonment at hard labor on the aggravated kidnapping charge, and ninety-nine years at hard labor on the armed robbery charge.

Defendant Washington appeals the conviction of aggravated kidnapping, and the sentence imposed for the armed robbery conviction. The defendant contends that the evidence is not sufficient for a conviction of aggravated kidnapping, and that the sentence imposed on the armed robbery charge is unconstitutionally excessive. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the aggravated kidnapping conviction, and the sentence imposed on the armed robbery charge.

FACTS:

On April 7, 1984, at approximately 8:00 p.m., the victim, was entering her car, which was parked at the intersection of Oleander Street and Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans. A black male, later identified as the defendant, George Washington, [120]*120approached the victim, pointed a revolver at her head and got into the driver’s seat. Washington told the victim, “Shut up, you so and so, or I’ll blow your brains out.” The defendant started the vehicle, and drove to a secluded, dead end street where he told the victim to take off her clothes. Washington then raped her vaginally and anally. After driving a short distance, Washington took three gold chains and approximately thirty ($80.00) dollars in cash before ordering the victim from the car and driving away.

The victim walked toward Washington Avenue where she found several persons in the parking lot of a liquor store at 4340 Washington Avenue. The security guard at the store, a police officer on a paid detail, broadcast a description of the perpetrator and the victim’s vehicle. Officer Michael Groves stopped the defendant at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Magazine Street, approximately twenty-five blocks from the liquor store. Both Washington and the car he was driving matched the descriptions provided by the victim. Officer Groves took a small revolver, three gold chains and cash from the defendant. The registration papers in the glove compartment showed that the vehicle was registered to the victim.

Washington was then transported to the liquor store where the victim positively identified him as the perpetrator. She also identified the gold chains and the revolver. The identification took place approximately one-half hour after the occurrence of the crimes. All scientific tests performed on the defendant’s clothes proved negative for seminal stains or public hair.

At trial, the defendant pled not guilty. The defense presented three witnesses who testified that the defendant was at his sister’s residence on Rousseau Street, at 7:30 p.m. on April 7, 1984. Veronica Washington and Andre Dillon testified that it was impossible to be at the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Oleander Street within forty-five minutes from this location.

ERRORS PATENT:

Our review of the record indicates that only one error patent exists. The trial court failed to state that the sentence for aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, and armed robbery must be served without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. LSA-R.S. 14:42, 44, 64. However, this is an error patent favorable to the defendant, and thus, is ignored, as the error was not raised by the State. State v. Jackson, 452 So.2d 682, 684 (La. 1984); State v. Sennette, 462 So.2d 675, 677 (La.App. 4th Cir.1985).

Assignment of Errors:

Assignment of Error #1

In defendant’s first assignment of error, he argues that the evidence introduced at trial was insufficient to support the aggravated kidnapping conviction.

“Aggravated kidnapping is the doing of any of the following acts with the intent thereby to force the victim, or some other person, to give up anything of apparent present or prospective value, or to grant any advantage or immunity, in order to secure a release of the person under the offender’s actual or apparent control:

(1) The forcible seizing and carrying of any person from one place to another; or

(2) The enticing or persuading of any person to go from one place to another; or

(3) The imprisoning or forcible secreting of any person.” LSA-R.S. 14:44.

Specifically, defendant Washington argues that the evidence at trial was insufficient for a rational trier of fact to have found that the defendant intended to deprive the victim of her valuables and/or have sexual relations with her, as a condition of her release. The intention to deprive a victim of a valuable as a condition of the victim’s release is an essential element in proving aggravated kidnapping. State v. Moore, 432 So.2d 209 (La.1983).

The evidence presented at trial indicates that the victim was forcibly seized, and threatened at gunpoint, and transported from one place to another. The evi[121]*121dence also reveals that there was a deprivation of valuables (gold chains, money). In addition, the Louisiana Supreme Court has held that sexual gratification constitutes something of apparent value for purposes of the statute. Cf State v. Sonnier, 402 So.2d 650, 658 (La.1981). Although there is no direct evidence that the defendant forced the victim to submit to his sexual demands as a condition of her release, it is reasonable to infer that the defendant intended to release the victim only after taking things of value, because that is in fact what occurred. Intent, though a question of fact, “may be inferred from the circumstances of the transactions.” LSA-R.S. 15:445, State v. Custard, 384 So.2d 428, 430 (La.1980). Further, in similar eases, this court and the Louisiana Supreme Court have found sufficient evidence to support an aggravated kidnapping conviction without addressing whether the offender stated that the victim’s cooperation would result in her release. State v. Winn, 412 So.2d 1337 (La.1982), State v. Sonnier, supra; State v. Johnson, 443 So.2d 744 (La.App. 4th Cir.1983). Therefore, this court affirms the aggravated kidnapping conviction of the defendant, George Washington.

Assignment of Error # 2

By this assignment, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in imposing an unconstitutionally excessive sentence for the armed robbery charge. Washington was sentenced to the maximum penalty: ninety-nine years at hard labor.

Article 1, Section 20 of the 1974 Louisiana Constitution prohibits the imposition of excessive punishment. Sentences may be reviewed for excessiveness even though the sentence is within the statutory guidelines. State v. Telsee, 425 So.2d 1251 (La.1983), State v. Sepulvado, 367 So.2d 762 (La.1979).

A sentence is unconstitutionally excessive if it makes no measureable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment and hence is nothing more than the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering or is grossly out of proportion to the severity of the crime. State v. Lathers, 444 So.2d 96, 97 (La.1983).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Sennette
462 So. 2d 675 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
State v. Lathers
444 So. 2d 96 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Jackson
452 So. 2d 682 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1984)
State v. Wilson
452 So. 2d 773 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
State v. Mosley
466 So. 2d 733 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1985)
State v. Winn
412 So. 2d 1337 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
State v. Telsee
425 So. 2d 1251 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Moore
432 So. 2d 209 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Custard
384 So. 2d 428 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1980)
State v. Douglas
389 So. 2d 1263 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1980)
State v. Sonnier
402 So. 2d 650 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
State v. Nelson
449 So. 2d 161 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
State v. Sepulvado
367 So. 2d 762 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
State v. Donahue
408 So. 2d 1262 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
State v. Johnson
443 So. 2d 744 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1983)
State v. Brown
446 So. 2d 417 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
482 So. 2d 118, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 5940, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-washington-lactapp-1986.