State v. Winters

655 So. 2d 412, 94 La.App. 5 Cir. 848, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 1083, 1995 WL 237468
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 25, 1995
DocketNo. 94-KA-848
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 655 So. 2d 412 (State v. Winters) 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. Winters, 655 So. 2d 412, 94 La.App. 5 Cir. 848, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 1083, 1995 WL 237468 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

laCANNELLA, Judge.

Defendant, Kenny P. Winters, appeals from his sentence and conviction of simple battery on his wife, Sherry Winters. The conviction is affirmed, the sentence is affirmed as amended, and case is remanded.

A judge trial was held on February 24, 1994. The parties stipulated to leave the trial open for production of a certain court transcript of August 19,1993 from case number 92-4568, Division “G”, 24th Judicial District Court, entitled State of Louisiana verses Kenny P. Winters. In open court on September 15, 1994 the trial judge found defendant guilty as charged of the misdemeanor of simple battery, a violation of L.S.A.-R.S. 14:35. Defendant waived delays and the trial judge sentenced him to six months in the parish prison, suspended and inactive probation for one year, subject to the special condition that he have no further contact with the victim unless it is with her consent and permission. In addition, the trial judge ordered defendant to pay a fine of $350 plus court costs. On September 16, 1994, defendant filed a notice of intent to happly for supervisory writs to seek review of the September 15, 1994 ruling. On September 19, 1994, the tidal judge ordered a return date of November 3, 1994 for defendant’s writ application. Despite a return date hearing already been set for his writ application, on September 28, 1994 defendant filed a Motion for Appeal which was granted by the trial judge.

This case was lodged as an appeal although the proper means to seek review was by application for supervisory writs. See La. Const, of 1974, Art. 5, Subsection 10 and L.S.A-C.Cr.P. Art. 912.1.1 While the appropriate procedural vehicle for defendant to seek review of this misdemeanor conviction is an application for supervisory writs, in the past we have treated an appeal improperly taken in a misdemeanor case as an application for supervisory writs, See: City of New Orleans v. Ballansaiv, 475 So.2d 768 (La. 1985); and State v. Fraychineaud, 620 So.2d [414]*414338 (La.App. 5th Cir.1993). However, this practice will be discontinued for cases filed after January 1, 1995, following en banc order which was issued by this court on December 9, 1994:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, as of January 1, 1995, all nonappealable matters filed as an appeal will be dismissed. Accordingly, all parties will be required to follow and adhere to the procedural schemes set forth in our Louisiana Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure.

Nevertheless, since this appeal was filed prior to January 1, 1995, we will treat |4this appeal as an application for supervisory writs.

There were two different versions of facts presented at trial. The victim testified that on November 8,1992, an altercation occurred at her residence between her and defendant, her husband. According to the victim:

My husband was sleeping. He was very intoxicated on some sort of drug, I wasn’t sure. It was some muscle relaxant of some sort, and alcohol. It was the day after his birthday. We had celebrated it the day before. He had gone upstairs and passed out. I was trying to figure out how to deal with the problem, deal with the situation. I was in the kitchen making some coffee. I wanted to talk to him for him to wake up. He had come down the stairs. I was in the kitchen making the coffee. He wanted to go to the store and get some beer. He wasn’t in any condition to do so. I talked to him and we talked about getting help for him for the alcoholism, the drugs. He had grabbed me at that point. I went to give him a hug to reassure him and also to try and convince him not to drive. He grabbed hold of me and pushed me down on the steps and jumped on me and started beating on me. In the process he was pushing me off the steps. He bit me in the shoulder. I was screaming at him, “Stop biting me.” I have a — had a huge bite mark on my shoulder. I was in shock and I fell down the stairs. At that point I got up and immediately called the police.

In addition, the victim also described the injuries she received by identifying photographs of her injuries taken the day after the incident. As a result of the injuries received, she was hospitalized for one week. On direct examination, she testified that she did not suffer from any blood disorders or medical conditions that would cause her to bruise easier than any other person. On cross-examination, she stated that at the time of the incident, she was on a muscle relaxant because of back pain.

The state also called Shayna Pump, the victim’s daughter. She testified that, at the time of the incident, she was in the living room watching television. She heard her mother and defendant talking about getting some help for his drug problems. She then saw defendant hit her mother in the face. In addition, she testified that the photographs were an accurate reflection of how her mother looked after the incident and further that her mother did not have any of those bruises or bite marks prior to the incident. At the time of the incident, she was residing in a psychiatric treatment facility, but she was on a home visit with her mother when the altercation occurred.

IsAfter the testimony of the state witnesses, defendant testified in his own behalf. His version of the events is as follows:

Earlier in the day, me and my wife, which was our usual habits when we was together, doing drugs for recreational purposes. In this case, it was muscle relaxers and codeine. With the case of muscle relaxers, they eventually put you to sleep and that’s what had happened to me; I had fell asleep. I went upstairs and went to bed. Then, later on she woke up, woke me up and told me I had to leave. So I went downstairs and I was getting ready to leave and she said, “Well, before you go, you better make some coffee.” So I started making coffee. At this point she switched personalities, one of her problems and she started yelling and screaming at me in an angry voice. She came at me with her fingers pointed at my eyes. Not knowing what she was going to do, I grabbed her by the wrist, pushed her back about three feet and she landed on the steps. I yelled and screamed at her that I was sick and tired of the insane, crazy crap [415]*415she was doing, and that was it. I wasn’t going to try to reconcile anything or see her again. I left the apartment at that point.

In addition, defendant testified that at rio time did he strike the victim or inflict any type of injury on her. He also claimed that his wife has a history of mental problems and she suffers from multiple personality disorder. According to defendant, after this incident, he discontinued all contact with the victim and changed his phone number twice to keep her from getting in touch with him. In addition, he contended that Shayna Pump was not present at the time of the incident.

On cross-examination, defendant admitted that on the day of the incident, he was taking-muscle relaxants and codeine in an attempt to get high. When shown the photographs of the victim’s injuries, he testified that he did not know if she had any of those bruises before the altercation because she always had bruises, that she was on a blood thinner, and that her main disease was vasculitis. In response to examination by the trial court, defendant testified that he took the muscle relaxers and codeine at about 3:00 P.M. and that the incident occurred at about 5:00 P.M.

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

Related

State in the Interest of X.J.M.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State v. Gibson
708 So. 2d 1276 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
655 So. 2d 412, 94 La.App. 5 Cir. 848, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 1083, 1995 WL 237468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-winters-lactapp-1995.