State v. Washington

782 So. 2d 639, 2001 WL 123798
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided February 14, 2001·No. 00-KA-1542·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

782 So.2d 639 (2001)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Nathaniel WASHINGTON.

No. 00-KA-1542.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

February 14, 2001.

*640 Bruce G. Whittaker, Jr., Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, LA, Counsel for Nathaniel Washington, Defendant-Appellant.

Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry Boudreaux, Assistant District Attorney, Gretna, LA, Counsel for the State of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee.

Panel composed of Judges DUFRESNE, CHEHARDY and ROTHSCHILD.

CHEHARDY, Judge

Nathaniel Washington appeals his conviction of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of La. R.S. 14:95.1. We affirm the conviction and sentence, but remand for correction of a patent error.

The bill of information, filed on August 13, 1999, alleged that on or about June 15, 1999 defendant was in possession of a firearm, to wit: a handgun, having been previously convicted of aggravated battery, in violation of La. R.S. 14:34, and armed robbery, in violation of La. R.S. 14:64. Defendant was arraigned and pleaded not guilty on August 19, 1999. He filed a motion to suppress evidence, which was denied on November 4, 1999. He sought supervisory review of the ruling from this Court, but his writ application was denied. State v. Washington, 99-K-1284 (La.App. 5 Cir. 12/10/99).

On April 5, 2000, the case was tried before a 12-person jury, 11 of whom found defendant guilty as charged. On April 27, 2000 defendant argued a motion for new trial, which was denied. Defendant waived sentencing delays and was sentenced to the mandatory term of imprisonment at hard labor for ten years without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Following sentencing defendant filed a motion for appeal, which was granted.

ANDERS APPEAL

Defense counsel has filed a brief pursuant to the procedure approved by the United States Supreme Court in Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967). In Smith v. Robbins, 528 U.S. 259, 120 S.Ct. 746, 759, 145 L.Ed.2d 756 (2000), the United States Supreme Court recently held that "the Anders procedure is merely one method of satisfying the requirements of the Constitution for indigent criminal appeals." In Smith, the court held that California's procedure, enunciated in People v. Wende, 25 Cal.3d 436, 441-442, 158 Cal.Rptr. 839, 600 P.2d 1071, XXXX-XXXX (1979), was not unconstitutional merely because it diverged from the Anders procedure. 120 S.Ct. at 759.

The Anders procedure used in Louisiana was discussed in State v. Benjamin, 573 So.2d 528, 529-530 (La.App. 4 Cir.1990), approved by the Louisiana Supreme Court in State ex rel. Hawkins v. Criminal Dist. Court, 92-3200 (La.11/30/93), 629 So.2d 421, 421, adopted for use in this Circuit in State v. Bradford, 95-929 (La.App. 5 Cir. 6/25/96), 676 So.2d 1108, 1110, and expanded by the Louisiana Supreme Court in State v. Jyles, 96-2669 (La.12/12/97), 704 So.2d 241, 242.

*641 To comply with Jyles, appellate counsel not only must review the procedural history of the case and the evidence presented at trial, but also the appellate counsel's brief must contain "a detailed and reviewable assessment for both the defendant and the appellate court of whether the appeal is worth pursuing in the first place." Jyles, supra, at 242 (quoting State v. Mouton, 95-0981 (La.4/28/95), 653 So.2d 1176, 1177).

Defendant's appellate counsel has asserted that, after a detailed review of the record, he could find no non-frivolous issues to raise on appeal and he has filed a Motion to Withdraw as counsel, which states that he informed defendant by letter and advised defendant of his right to file a supplemental brief.

In addition, this Court sent defendant a letter by certified mail, informing him that an Anders brief had been filed and granting him until October 29, 2000 to file a supplemental brief. Defendant has not filed a supplemental brief.

The Jyles court held it insufficient for defense counsel to make a mere "naked" statement that there were no non-frivolous issues, as follows:

Counsel must demonstrate to the appellate court by full discussion and analysis that he has cast an advocate's eye over the trial record and considered whether any ruling made by the trial court, subject to the contemporaneous objection rule, had a significant, adverse impact on shaping the evidence presented to the jury for its consideration.... Independent review of the record by the appellate court, or the opportunity of the defendant to file his own brief, while providing important and necessary safeguards, cannot substitute for the essential equal protection requirement that appointed counsel representing an indigent defendant "act in the role of an active advocate in behalf of his client, as opposed to that of amicus curiae." [Citations omitted.]

State v. Jyles, 96-2669, pp. 2, 3 (La.12/12/97), 704 So.2d 241, 242.

Here, defense counsel asserts he "has thoroughly reviewed the record herein for the purpose of uncovering non-frivolous issues which might support the appeal," but has found none. In particular, he argues that the denial of appellant's motion in limine seeking to restrict the State to proof of one felony conviction was proper and that the trial court's denial of the motion to suppress was proper. He further requests that this Court conduct a patent error review.

The State asserts that there are no discoverable patent errors.

This Court has made a full examination of all the proceedings, consisting of the following: (1) review of the bill of information to insure that defendant was properly charged; (2) review of all minute entries to insure that defendant was present at all crucial stages of the proceedings and that the conviction and sentence are legal; (3) review of all the pleadings in the record; and (4) review of all the transcripts to determine if any ruling provides an arguable basis for appeal.

After an independent review of the record and of appellate counsel's brief, it appears that with the exception of a full error patent review, appellate counsel has adequately reviewed the procedural history of the case, has thoroughly discussed the constitutional adequacy of the plea, and provided "a detailed and reviewable assessment for both defendant and the appellate court of whether the appeal is worth pursuing in the first place," as required by the Louisiana Supreme Court in Jyles. See also, State v. Mouton, 95-0981 (4/28/95), 653 So.2d 1176, 1177.

*642 Defense counsel's Anders brief addresses two matters:

(1) The denial of appellant's motion in limine seeking to restrict the state to proof of one felony conviction;
(2) The trial court's denial of the motion to suppress.

Our review establishes that neither issue arguably supports an appeal. In the interest of justice, however, we discuss the evidence and law on these issues at length below.

FACTS

At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the following testimony was elicited: Officer Chad Guidry of the Gretna Police Department testified that while on night patrol on June 15, 1999, he received a dispatch that a

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