State v. Whatley

943 So. 2d 601, 2006 WL 3092409
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 2, 2006
Docket2006-0316
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 943 So. 2d 601 (State v. Whatley) 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. Whatley, 943 So. 2d 601, 2006 WL 3092409 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

943 So.2d 601 (2006)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Darrell Brent WHATLEY.

No. 2006-0316.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 2, 2006.

*602 Raymond J. Lejeune, Assistant District Attorney, Thirteenth Judicial Court, Ville Platte, LA, for Appellee, State of Louisiana.

*603 Anthony C. Dupré, Ville Platte, LA, for Defendant/Appellant, Darrell Brent Whatley.

Court composed of SYLVIA R. COOKS, JIMMIE C. PETERS, and BILLY H. EZELL, Judges.

EZELL, Judge.

This matter is now before us for the fourth time. As was the case in the first three appeals, the Defendant, Darrell Brent Whatley, appeals the sentence imposed upon him by the trial court.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

The criminal charge in this matter arises from an incident which occurred in the victim's Evangeline Parish home on June 10, 2002. As a result of the events of that day, the State of Louisiana charged the defendant by bill of information with the offense of indecent behavior with a juvenile, a violation of La.R.S. 14:81. After a jury convicted the Defendant of the offense charged, the trial court sentenced him to serve seven years at hard labor, suspended two of the seven years, and ordered that he be placed on three years supervised probation after his release from prison. The Defendant appealed, asserting only that the trial court imposed an excessive sentence. This court agreed. State v. Whatley, 03-1275 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/3/04), 867 So.2d 955 (Whatley I). Accordingly, we vacated the Defendant's original sentence and remanded the matter to the trial court for resentencing. Id.

On remand, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to serve five years at hard labor instead of seven and suspended eighteen months of the sentence rather than two years. The Defendant again appealed, asserting that the new sentence was excessive. In an unpublished opinion, we again vacated the sentence and remanded the matter for resentencing. State v. Whatley, 04-724 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/8/04), 888 So.2d 1166 (Whatley II). However, in doing so, we did not reach the merits of the appeal. Instead, we recognized that, in suspending eighteen months of the sentence imposed, the trial court failed to place the Defendant on probation as required by La.Code Crim.P. art. 893.

On remand, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to serve five years at hard labor, suspended eighteen months of that sentence, and cured the error recognized in Whatley II by placing the Defendant on three years supervised probation to begin upon his release from prison. The Defendant appealed, again raising the excessive sentence argument. In another unpublished opinion, we again vacated the sentence and remanded the matter for resentencing because of errors patent in the sentencing process. State v. Whatley, 05-221 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/30/05), 918 So.2d 1218 (Whatley III). Again, we did not reach the merits of the appeal.

On remand, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to the same sentence as in Whatley III and addressed the errors patent recognized in that opinion. Immediately after sentencing, the Defendant entered an oral motion to reconsider the sentence, which the trial court denied. Thereafter, the Defendant perfected this appeal, asserting four assignments of error:

1. The Trial Court erred in imposing a sentence of five (5) years with the Department of Corrections, eighteen (18) months of which would be suspended, which sentence is excessive and in violation of Article I, Section 20 of the Louisiana Constitution;
2. The Trial Court erred in failing to comply with the mandatory provisions of Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894.1 and failed to *604 give adequate consideration to the substantial mitigating circumstances present in this case;
3. The Trial Court erred in denying Appellant's Motion to Reconsider Sentence[;]
4. The Court's sentence of 5 years together with 3 years probation constitutes a sentence of 8 years when the maximum sentence for the defendant's crime is 7 years and the sentence is therefore illegal.

ERRORS PATENT

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed for errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find there are two errors patent.

First, the trial court failed to establish a payment plan for the restitution ordered as a condition of probation. "This court has found error patent when the trial court fails to establish a payment plan for fees ordered as conditions of probation." State v. Theriot, 04-897, 04-898, p. 7 (La. App. 3 Cir. 2/9/05), 893 So.2d 1016, 1021 (citations omitted). In the opinion wherein this court remanded the present case for resentencing, this court specifically instructed the trial court that if it ordered restitution as a condition of probation it "should specifically identify the party to whom the restitution is due, the amount of that restitution, and a payment schedule for that restitution." State v. Whatley, an unpublished opinion cited at 05-221, p. 3 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/30/05), 918 So.2d 1218 (citation omitted). Although the trial court identified the party to whom restitution is due (the victim's family) and set the amount of restitution ($1,651.44), it failed to establish a payment schedule. Thus, the trial court is instructed to establish a specified payment schedule for any restitution imposed as a condition of probation.

Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:537(A) requires that diminution of sentence be denied to all offenders who are convicted of or plead guilty to sex offenses, including indecent behavior with a juvenile. Here, the trial court failed to deny the Defendant diminution eligibility under La.R.S. 15:537(A) for both sentences imposed. In State v. G.M.W., Jr., 05-391, p. 2 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/2/05), 916 So.2d 460, 461, the court stated:

We note that the second paragraph of La.R.S. 15:537 is clearly directed to the sentencing court, and the trial court's failure to include a denial of diminution of sentence thereunder renders Defendant's sentences illegally lenient. Pursuant to State v. Williams, 00-1725 (La.11/28/01), 800 So.2d 790 and La. Code Crim.P. art. 882, this court is authorized to recognize and correct illegally lenient sentences.

Here, the trial court's failure to deny diminution of sentence renders the Defendant's sentence illegally lenient. Therefore, we amend the Defendant's sentences to reflect that diminution eligibility is denied pursuant to La.R.S. 15:537(A). We instruct the trial court to make a notation in the minutes reflecting the amendment.

OPINION

The first three assignments of error address the sentencing procedure of the trial court, and, because they are interrelated, we will consider them together. However, in doing so, we initially note that we are limited in our review of these assignments of error because the Defendant's oral motion to reconsider his sentence contained no specific basis for the motion. While La.Code Crim.P. art. 881.1(B) allows for an oral motion at the time of sentencing, the motion must still comply with La.Code *605 Crim.P. art. 881.1(E)(emphasis added), which provides:

Failure to make or file a motion to reconsider sentence or to include a specific ground

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

Related

State of Louisiana v. Tashonty C Toney
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State v. Ross
269 So. 3d 1052 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019)
State of Louisiana v. Jeffery Wayne Ross
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019
State v. Knatt
265 So. 3d 840 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019)
State of Louisiana v. Paul Knatt
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019
State v. Aguillard
242 So. 3d 765 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State of Louisiana v. Teddy Aguillard
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018
State of Louisiana v. Clevance Cormier, Jr
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018
State v. Shaikh
258 So. 3d 24 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017)
State of Louisiana v. Fahim A. Shaikh
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017
State v. Toups
224 So. 3d 990 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017)
State of Louisiana v. Kyle James Toups
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017
State of Louisiana v. Ernest Carter, Jr.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017
State v. Wallace
153 So. 3d 1040 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State of Louisiana v. Catrina L. Wallace
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014
State of Louisiana v. Vaschon S. Blount
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012
State v. LeBlanc
12 So. 3d 1125 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
State of Louisiana v. Maryln A. Leblanc
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
943 So. 2d 601, 2006 WL 3092409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-whatley-lactapp-2006.