State v. Wilson

900 So. 2d 287, 2005 WL 767174
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 6, 2005
Docket2004-1541
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 900 So. 2d 287 (State v. Wilson) 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. Wilson, 900 So. 2d 287, 2005 WL 767174 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

900 So.2d 287 (2005)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Michael Wayne WILSON.

No. 2004-1541.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

April 6, 2005.
Rehearing Denied May 18, 2005.

*288 Carla S. Sigler, Assistant District Attorney, Fourteenth Judicial District, Lake Charles, LA, for State of Louisiana.

*289 Carey J. Ellis, III, Louisiana Appellate Project, Rayville, LA, for Defendant/Appellant, Michael Wayne Wilson.

Court composed of JIMMIE C. PETERS, MARC T. AMY, and ELIZABETH A. PICKETT, Judges.

PETERS, J.

The defendant, Michael Wayne Wilson, appeals his convictions for armed robbery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:64, and second degree battery, a violation of La. R.S. 14:34.1, and appeals the sentences imposed. For the following reasons, we affirm the convictions and the sentence imposed for the second degree battery conviction. We vacate the enhancement sentence imposed for the armed robbery conviction and remand this matter to the trial court with instructions.

The State of Louisiana (state) originally charged the defendant by bill of information with one count of armed robbery and one count of aggravated battery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:34. At trial, the jury found the defendant guilty of armed robbery and second degree battery, a verdict responsive to a charge of aggravated battery. La.Code Crim.P. art. 814(A)(14). At the sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced the defendant to serve ten years at hard labor on the armed robbery conviction and added an additional five years to that sentence based on the enhanced penalty provisions of La.R.S. 14:64.3. The trial court ordered that the additional five years be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence and ordered that it be served consecutively with the ten-year sentence. With regard to the second degree battery conviction, the trial court ordered that the defendant serve two years at hard labor and ordered that this sentence run concurrently with the other sentences. The defendant timely perfected this appeal, asserting two assignments of error.

Assignment of Error Number One

In his first assignment of error, the defendant asserts that the evidence failed to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In asserting this assignment of error, the defendant does not assert that the offenses did not occur. Rather, he argues that the evidence failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the person who committed the offenses. Additionally, he argues that the evidence presented by the state failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt all the elements of second degree battery.

When the issue of sufficiency of evidence is raised on appeal, the critical inquiry of the reviewing court is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State ex rel. Graffagnino v. King, 436 So.2d 559 (La.1983).

The evidence establishes that in the early morning hours of January 19, 2001, John Edward Scott, Jr., exited Festival City, a Calcasieu Parish nightclub and, while waiting for a friend to pick him up, was physically attacked and robbed of numerous personal belongings. Joseph Lastrapes, a former Calcasieu Parish Sheriffs Deputy, testified that at approximately 3:30 a.m., he responded to a call from Festival City. When he arrived on the scene, he observed Mr. Scott dressed only in a T-shirt, boxer shorts, and white socks, with a watch on his arm. According to Deputy Lastrapes, Mr. Scott was bleeding from the face and had significant blood on both his face and chest. In response to his questions, Mr. Scott informed Deputy Lastrapes that he had been robbed by three *290 men. Concerning the particulars of the robbery, the deputy testified:

He told me that he was at Festival City to go and have a few drinks—or a drink—and he said he was waiting on some friends, and a vehicle drove in the parking lot and he said he thought that it was friends—the friends that he was waiting on. He went to approach and stated that he observed that is [sic] was not, at which time the—then two of the three occupants then exited the vehicle. And that's when they got in a fight. He said he started to defend hisself [sic] and one of the subjects pulled out a weapon and struck him across the left side of the face.

Mr. Scott identified the man who struck him with the weapon as an individual he knew only as Michael Wayne. He indicated to Deputy Lastrapes that he did not know the man's last name. When Mr. Scott rejected any additional medical attention, Deputy Lastrapes transported him to the Sheriffs office to meet with the investigator assigned to the case.

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Detective Steve Rathjen took over the investigation when Mr. Scott arrived at the Sheriff's office on the morning of January 19, 2001. He observed that Mr. Scott was attired just as described, by Deputy Lastrapes and further observed that Mr. Scott had a wound on the left side of his face. Detective Rathjen then took a statement from Mr. Scott and had him participate in an attempt to identify the man he had described as Michael Wayne through a photographic lineup. According to the detective, Mr. Scott selected the defendant from the photographic lineup, identifying him as one of the men who attacked him. This occurred at approximately 6:35 a.m. on the same morning as the incident.

Mr. Scott testified that a friend dropped him off at Festival City on January 18, 2001, shortly before midnight. After consuming a few drinks, he went outside of the nightclub to use the pay telephone to call his friend to come and pick him up. As he waited outside the nightclub for his friend, a vehicle pulled into the parking lot, and three men dressed in black and wearing hooded sweatshirts exited the vehicle and approached him. Mr. Scott testified that the men told him that they wanted his "belongings" and that the defendant told him to "Give it up b____." He took a swing at one of the men, and, as he tried to retreat by walking away, the men attacked him. According to Mr. Scott, the defendant produced a pistol, which he [Mr. Scott] described as a 9 mm, and struck him on the left temple. Mr. Scott was dazed or knocked out from the blow, and the three men began removing his clothing. Mr. Scott testified that they took his pants, jacket, shirt, shoes, a chain with a medallion, his wallet containing $50.00 to $60.00, and a Washington Marion class ring.

Of the three men, Mr. Scott could identify only one, the defendant. He testified that he saw the defendant's face during the attack and recognized his voice. According to Mr. Scott, he had no personal relationship with the defendant but knew him from the past and knew his brother, Donald. Not only did Mr. Scott identify the defendant from the photographic lineup, but he also pointed him out twice at trial as being one of the men who attacked him.

The defendant testified at trial. In doing so, he denied having attacked and robbed Mr. Scott on January 19, 2001. He further testified that, while he knew Mr. Scott vaguely, he had not spoken to him since he was in the eighth grade.

As a general matter, when the key issue is the defendant's identity as the perpetrator, rather than whether the *291

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
900 So. 2d 287, 2005 WL 767174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wilson-lactapp-2005.