State v. Woods

4 So. 3d 248, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 718, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 201, 2009 WL 330357
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 10, 2009
DocketNo. 08-KA-718
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 4 So. 3d 248 (State v. Woods) 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. Woods, 4 So. 3d 248, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 718, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 201, 2009 WL 330357 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

FREDERICKA HOMBERG WICKER, Judge.

pThis is a criminal proceeding in which the defendant/appellant Michael B. Woods appeals his convictions and sentences for simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, possession of hydrocodone, and possession of alprazolam. He assigns as sole error the trial court’s refusal to sever the possession of hydrocodone and possession of alprazolam charges from the charge of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling. We affirm the convictions and sentences.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On July 11, 2007, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s office filed a bill of information charging the defendant with one count of possession of hydrocodone in violation of La. R.S. 40:967(C), one count of possession of alprazolam in violation of La. R.S. 40:969(C), and one court of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling in viola[250]*250tion of La. R.S. 14:64.2. The defendant pleaded not guilty at arraignment and filed a motion to sever the possession of hydro-codone |aand possession of alprazolam charges. Before the April 16, 2008 trial commenced, the district court denied the defendant’s motion to sever the drug possession charges from the burglary charge. After a one day trial, the defendant was found guilty as charged on all counts. The trial court sentenced the defendant to six years imprisonment at hard labor on the simple burglary charge, five years imprisonment at hard labor on the possession of hydrocodone charge, and five years imprisonment at hard labor on the possession of alprazolam charge, all to be served consecutively. The trial court thereafter granted the defendant’s timely filed motion for appeal.

FACTS

The defendant was charged in connection with the July 24, 2007 burglary of a residence located at 518 Montgomery Avenue in Metairie.

On that day, Juan Santos, who lives down the street at 520 Montgomery Avenue, was in his front yard with his thirteen year old son, Juan Thompson, who was mowing the lawn. Juan Santos’s home is situated at the corner of Montgomery and Hodgson Avenues. Juan Thompson testified that while in the front yard he saw a man, later identified as the defendant, walking down Montgomery Avenue in a direction away from Hodgson Avenue. Thompson stated that he saw the man walk to the side of 513 Montgomery Avenue through the driveway and next heard a loud banging noise. Thompson did not see the defendant enter the house, but he testified that he was “pretty sure” that the defendant had broken into 513 Montgomery Avenue. Santos was familiar with the owner of the residence, whom he identified as “Roger.”

Approximately fifteen minutes after Thompson and Santos lost sight of the defendant, Roger Falcon, the owner of 513 Montgomery Avenue, returned from a fishing trip with the defendant’s brother. Falcon testified that when he arrived |4home, he found that his door had been smashed and was in pieces. Falcon stated that he entered the residence and saw the defendant (a man he had known for approximately thirty years) standing in his living room. Falcon screamed at the defendant and asked what he was doing in his living room, to which the defendant responded that he was looking for something to steal. In response, Falcon testified that he walked outside and called the police from his cellular phone.

Tina Lafleur was standing outside her home on Montgomery Avenue on that day when Falcon returned home. She testified that she saw Falcon pull into his driveway and walk to the side of his house. Lafleur recalled that Falcon yelled, “What the hell” as he approached the side door to his house. Lafleur then heard Falcon scream, “what the f— are you doing in my house” and observed Falcon walk outside and use his cell phone.

After Falcon called the police, the defendant left Falcon’s home and walked in the direction of Hodgson Avenue. La-fleur testified that she tried to tell the defendant not to leave because the police had been called, but he ignored her request and continued toward Hodgson. Lafleur recalled that she saw the defendant take a right at the corner and head down Hodgson in the opposite direction of Montgomery. Both Juan Thompson and Juan Santos testified that the defendant walked approximately three or four blocks down Hodgson and entered a white sport utility vehicle.

Eric Larotunda testified that on the date of the burglary, the defendant asked [251]*251him for a ride to the local Rite-Aid. At the time, Larotunda owned a white Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle and lived on Oriole Street, on the corner of Montgomery Avenue and Oriole Street and four blocks from the corner of Montgomery and Hodgson Avenues. Larotunda agreed to give the defendant a ride because the two were next door neighbors. The defendant bought some |r,cigarettes at Rite-Aid and Larotunda began to drive him home. However, before the defendant and Laro-tunda returned to Larotunda’s home, the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office stopped the Explorer.

Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Deputy Edward Ducos responded to the burglary. Ducos learned from witnesses that the perpetrator had entered a white sport utility vehicle and immediately put the information out on the radio, which led to the stop of Larotunda’s Explorer approximately ten minutes later. Ducos asked Falcon if anything had been stolen from the house. Falcon responded that he was not yet sure. Ducos also asked Falcon if he was missing any money from the house. Falcon told Ducos that the only money that he kept in the house were two dollar bills and quarters that had been given to him by his mother in 1976.

Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Deputy Abraham Andino testified that he stopped a white Ford Explorer while responding to the burglary. Approximately five to ten seconds after Andino had stopped the Explorer, Sergeant Dave Darwin arrived on the scene. Darwin testified that he saw the defendant bend down, throw something under the Explorer, and try to go into his pockets again. At that point, Darwin tried to grab the defendant and spin him around, but both men tripped and fell against the Explorer. The defendant continued to resist, even after Andino assisted Darwin in placing the defendant on the ground. Eventually, Andino had to deploy his taser multiple times to subdue the defendant. After subduing the defendant, Andino saw assorted property and a “bunch of pills” in the area where the defendant had struggled with himself and Darwin. Andino testified that he recovered both white and light green oblong pills from the scene of the struggle. Andi-no also recovered some loose change and three two dollar bills from the defendant’s right front pocket.

| (¡After Officer Ducos learned that the defendant had been apprehended, he took Falcon to the scene. Falcon positively identified the defendant as the man that had been in his house when he had arrived home. Falcon was also able to identify both the two dollar bills and loose change as money that his mother had given him in 1976 to mark the bicentennial.

At trial, Daniel Waguespack testified on behalf of the state.1 Waguespack testified that the testing performed on fourteen white oblong tablets recovered from the defendant indicated that they contained alprazolam, a controlled dangerous substance. Waguespack further testified that the testing performed on the five recovered light green tablets indicated that they contained hydrocodone, a controlled dangerous substance.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

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Related

State v. Davis
115 So. 3d 68 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013)
State v. Woods
38 So. 3d 391 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2010)
State v. Jones
33 So. 3d 306 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 So. 3d 248, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 718, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 201, 2009 WL 330357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-woods-lactapp-2009.