State v. Wingate

668 So. 2d 1324, 1996 WL 77056
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 23, 1996
Docket95 KW 1874
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 668 So. 2d 1324 (State v. Wingate) 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. Wingate, 668 So. 2d 1324, 1996 WL 77056 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

668 So.2d 1324 (1996)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Edwin WINGATE.

No. 95 KW 1874.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

February 23, 1996.

*1325 Ronald J. Landry, LaPlace, for Defendant-Appellant Edwin Wingate.

William R. Campbell, Jr., St. Tammany/Washington Parish, District Attorney's Offices, New Orleans, for Plaintiff-Appellee State of Louisiana.

Before SHORTESS, PARRO and KUHN, JJ.

KUHN, Judge.

Relator, Edwin Wingate, was charged by bill of information with one count of possession of undersized catfish, in violation of La.R.S. 56:326 A(7)(b), and one count of failure to maintain records, in violation of La. R.S. 56:306.4 A.[1] Relator pled not guilty and, after a bench trial on July 11, 1995, was *1326 found guilty as charged. For the possession of undersized catfish conviction, he was sentenced to 60 days in the parish jail and was fined $400, or 30 days in the parish jail in default of payment of the fine. For the failure to maintain records conviction, he was fined $300, or 60 days in the parish jail in default of payment of the fine, with this sentence to be served consecutively to the illegal possession sentence.[2] Relator filed a writ application with this court seeking review of his misdemeanor convictions and sentences. We granted certiorari, ordered the parties to file briefs, and placed this matter on the docket. Relator alleges five assignments of error, as follows:

1. The trial court erred in denying the motion to quash.

2. The trial court erred in finding relator guilty of failure to maintain records.

3. The trial court erred in finding relator guilty of possession of undersized catfish.

4. The trial court erred in denying the motion to reconsider sentence.

5. The trial court erred in imposing an excessive sentence.

FACTS:

On December 4, 1994, relator's tractor-trailer was stopped by Wildlife and Fisheries agents on I-10 in St. Tammany Parish just before the Mississippi state line. A search of the truck, which contained a large shipment of frozen catfish, revealed that a very high proportion of the shipment consisted of undersized channel catfish. Relator, a truck driver for Bennett Seafood, which is located in Bainbridge, Georgia, was arrested and cited for the above violations.

At the trial, Wildlife and Fisheries Agent Edward L. Adams testified that on December 2, 1994, he received an anonymous call that a truck from Bennett Seafood was in Des Allemands, Louisiana, picking up undersized catfish. After conducting surveillance on the truck for approximately two days and following it to various locations, the Wildlife and Fisheries Agents stopped it on I-10 in St. Tammany Parish and discovered a high proportion of undersized channel catfish. Agent Adams testified there was a total of 32,083 "collarboned" (head-removed) catfish in the shipment. One load of catfish came from B & C Seafoods, Inc., in Vacherie, Louisiana. This shipment contained 6,613 channel catfish and 357 blue catfish. Of the channel catfish, 4,213 were legal and 2,400 were undersized. Agent Adams stated approximately 36.3 percent of this shipment of channel catfish from B & C Seafoods, Inc., was undersized.

Agent Adams also testified regarding the shipment of catfish from Cajun Catfish in Des Allemands, Louisiana. This shipment consisted of 25,480 channel catfish and 10 blue catfish. Of the channel catfish, 6,510 were legal and 18,970 were undersized. Agent Adams testified that 74.45 percent of these channel catfish were undersized. Although relator produced some papers in his truck which included a wholesale/retail dealers license, receipts from Cajun Catfish and B & C Seafoods, Inc., and check stubs, he did not produce all of the records required by La.R.S. 56:306.4 A. Specifically, the receipts did not include the species of fish and the license number of the commercial fisherman or wholesale/retail dealer from whom he had purchased the seafood.

Wildlife and Fisheries biologist Howard Rogillio was accepted by the trial court as an expert in the identification of fish. Rogillio explained the method used to distinguish a channel catfish from a blue catfish and the *1327 proper way to measure a collarboned channel catfish. He also testified regarding the actual counting, identification, and measurement of the fish seized from relator's truck.

Relator stated that on December 4, 1994, he was employed by Bennett Seafood. He furnished a tractor-truck, and Bennett Seafood provided the trailer. He explained Bennett Seafood placed orders for the catfish, and he only picked them up, wrote a check for the purchase, and transported the fish back to Bennett Seafood. He testified he did not open the boxes, and he did not know what size fish were in the boxes. When asked if he knew he was supposed to keep license numbers from the persons from whom he purchased fish, relator responded that he was a truck driver, he worked out of Georgia, and he was not familiar with Louisiana rules and regulations.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE:

In this assignment of error, relator contends the trial court erred in denying the motion to quash. Relator's motion to quash alleged La.R.S. 56:326 A(7)(b) is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad and a denial of equal protection. At a hearing on the motion to quash held immediately before trial, after entertaining arguments by the prosecutor and defense counsel, the trial court denied the motion to quash.

Relator argues this statute is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad because a person who initially possesses a legal shipment containing ten percent undersized fish (See La.R.S. 56:326 B(3)) can suddenly become a violator when he sells a portion of the legal-sized fish, thereby increasing his percentage of undersized fish. Relator extends this hypothetical argument all the way from a wholesale dealer to a restaurant owner. While this argument is interesting, it is a far cry from what occurred in the instant case and, therefore, he cannot argue that La.R.S. 56:326 A(7)(b) is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad on the ground that it may be applied unconstitutionally to others, in other situations not before this Court. See State v. Greco, 583 So.2d 825, 828-829 (La.1991).

Relator also contends that this statute proscribing the possession of undersized catfish is an unconstitutional denial of equal protection of the laws because seafood dealers who possess undersized crabs are treated differently than those who possess undersized catfish, and because the channel catfish is the only freshwater or saltwater finfish with a measurement for the collarbone-off size limit.

Obviously, differences among the various species of fish and wildlife mandate different rules and regulations in order to protect, conserve, and efficiently manage each species. The state's regulatory laws limit and control the exploitation of wildlife by requiring licenses to take game and fish, providing for the fixing of seasons and limits, regulating methods of taking, providing for the licensing of commercial fishing vessels, etc. See State v. McHugh, 92-1852 (La. 1/6/94), 630 So.2d 1259, 1265. Contrary to relator's argument, the fact that channel catfish can be measured either by total length (minimum length eleven inches with the mouth closed) or by a length with the collarbone off (minimum length nine inches), does not deny to anyone engaged in the commercial catfish business the equal protection of the laws.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
668 So. 2d 1324, 1996 WL 77056, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wingate-lactapp-1996.