State v. Wilson

956 So. 2d 41, 2007 WL 1176795
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 28, 2007
Docket2006-KA-1421
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 956 So. 2d 41 (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, 956 So. 2d 41, 2007 WL 1176795 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

956 So.2d 41 (2007)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Gary WILSON.

No. 2006-KA-1421.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

March 28, 2007.

*42 Eddie J. Jordan, Jr., District Attorney, Alyson R. Graugnard, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Sherry Watters, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant/Appellant.

(Court composed of Chief Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG, Judge MICHAEL E. KIRBY, Judge EDWIN A. LOMBARD).

*43 MICHAEL E. KIRBY, Judge.

STATEMENT OF CASE

On November 19, 2004 the State charged Gary Wilson with three counts of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling. He pled not guilty to all charges at his arraignment on November 23, 2004. On March 15, 2005 he elected to be tried by the court alone, and at the end of trial on that date the court found him not guilty as to two counts and guilty of unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling as to the third count. The court sentenced him on April 21 to serve six years at hard labor concurrently with the sentence in case # 454-055 wherein Wilson pled guilty to one count of stalking and received a one-year sentence at hard labor. The State filed a multiple bill, alleging he was a fourth felony offender. The court took evidence on the bill on June 21 and again on July 12, 2005, and at the conclusion of the latter hearing the court found Wilson to be a fourth offender. The court vacated his original sentence and sentenced him to serve twenty years at hard labor. The court also granted his motion for appeal on that date.

FACTS

Gary Wilson was charged with three counts of simple burglary of his ex-girl-friend's residence located at 2267 N. Prieur Street during a span of a little under two months. Ann Mack, Wilson's ex-girl-friend, testified that her relationship with Wilson ended on July 15, 2004.

As to the single count upon which Mr. Wilson was convicted Ms. Mack testified that sometime between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. on September 21, she awakened to the sound of someone outside her bedroom window. Ms. Mack stated that her younger daughter Montriel was sleeping with her in the bed at the time. Ms. Mack stated that she saw a shadow outside the window and then heard Wilson screaming and hollering, telling her that he could get to her anytime he wanted, just as he had gotten the gun and the other things taken from her house. Ms. Mack stated that she awakened her daughter, and as the window broke from outside, she and her daughter fled the room. Ms. Mack testified that she ran to the kitchen and had to pry wood from the broken door before she could get out of the house. She testified that her son, who was also in the house, exited, and the two of them ran around the corner. She stated that she then noticed that her daughter was not with them, and they went back to get her. They found Montriel in the bathroom. Ms. Mack stated that her purse was recovered the next day and her keys after that.

Ms. Mack testified that she could clearly hear Wilson when he was outside her bedroom window, and she insisted that she saw him for a brief second as he broke through the window before she fled the room. She admitted, however, that there were no witnesses to the earlier break-ins that occurred on August 8 and August 28.

Montriel Sayles testified that she is Ms. Mack's daughter and that Wilson was her mother's boyfriend. Montriel testified that she was asleep with her mother when she heard someone "bamming" on the window and heard Wilson curse her mother and say that he wanted his money. She testified that Wilson then broke the glass, and she and her mother fled the room. She testified that she hid in the bathroom, and soon thereafter she saw, through a crack in the bathroom door, Wilson walking through the house toward the back door. Montriel testified that she did not see Wilson take anything from the house.

Off. Carolyn Dalton investigated the September 21 break-in. She stated that Ms. Mack indicated that her purse and wallet had been taken from the headboard *44 of her bed. Off. Dalton testified that these items were recovered about a block away from the residence. She stated that the crime lab dusted for fingerprints on both of these occasions, but she did not know if any prints were lifted or identified.

A. Errors Patent

A review of the record reveals there are no patent errors.

B. Assignments of Error

I.

By his first assignment of error, the appellant contends that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling. Specifically, he argues that there was no evidence that he entered Ms. Mack's house or that he did not have authorization to enter the house.

In State v. Brown, 03-0897 (La.4/12/05), p. 22, 907 So.2d 1, 18, the Court set forth the standard for determining a claim of insufficiency of evidence:

When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, Louisiana appellate courts are controlled by the standard enunciated in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Under this standard, the appellate court "must determine that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Neal, 00-0674 (La.6/29/01), 796 So.2d 649, 657 (citing State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676, 678 (La.1984)).

See also State v. Sykes, 04-1199 (La.App. 4 Cir. 3/9/05), 900 So.2d 156.

Here, although Wilson was charged with three counts of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, the court found him guilty of the responsive verdict to unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling on only the September 21 count. See La. C.Cr.P. art. 814(44.1). La. R.S. 14:62.3 prohibits "the intentional entry by a person without authorization into any inhabited dwelling or other structure belonging to another and used in whole or in part as a home or place of abode by a person." See State v. Nunnery, 04-1560 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/8/04), 891 So.2d 67.

In Nunnery, the defendant, who had done work on the victim's house, was found inside the house when the victim was not at home. The victim testified that although she had known the defendant for many years and had allowed him to sleep in the house when he was repairing it, she made it clear to him that he could not be in the house when she was not there. This court affirmed his unauthorized entry conviction, finding that the evidence showed he entered the house without the victim's permission.

In State v. Coleman, 02-1000 (La.App. 4 Cir. 9/25/02), 828 So.2d 1130, the defendant and the victim had engaged in an on-again, off-again relationship wherein they lived together for a time. At the time of the offense, however, they were estranged, but the defendant still had some belongings in the residence. The defendant broke into the residence through a back window and raped the victim. The victim denied giving the defendant permission to enter the residence, while the defendant testified that the victim invited him inside, discussed their relationship with him for a few hours, and only became upset when their son came home.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
956 So. 2d 41, 2007 WL 1176795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wilson-lactapp-2007.