State v. Wright

410 So. 2d 1092
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMarch 1, 1982
Docket81-KA-1938
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 410 So. 2d 1092 (State v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Wright, 410 So. 2d 1092 (La. 1982).

Opinion

410 So.2d 1092 (1982)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Hilton J. WRIGHT and Joel Morrison.

No. 81-KA-1938.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

March 1, 1982.

*1093 William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, Thomas Chester, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.

Bernard S. Dolbear, Ronald J. Harris, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

SHORTESS, Justice Ad Hoc.[*]

Hilton J. Wright and Joel Morrison were charged by bill of information with the *1094 armed robbery of Robert Hingle on October 14, 1978, at Thorning's Pharmacy in the Algiers section of New Orleans, a violation of La.R.S. 14:64. Both defendants were arraigned in February of 1979 and pled not guilty. Wright and Morrison filed motions to suppress identification, which were denied. After trial by a 12-person jury, defendants were both found guilty as charged. Subsequently, the State filed multiple bills against each defendant. Morrison was sentenced as a second offender to serve forty years at hard labor with the Department of Corrections. Wright was also determined to be a second offender and was sentenced to serve forty years at hard labor. From these convictions and sentences, defendants appeal.

Around 10:00 a. m. on October 14, 1978, Thorning's Pharmacy was robbed by three armed black men who wore masks or silk stockings over their faces. One of the robbers was tall, slender and dark-skinned and wore a green army fatigue jacket over blue jeans. He held a red bandanna or handkerchief over his face up to his eyes. Another robber was short, slender, and lighter skinned with rough complexion and wore a stocking over his face. The third robber could not be identified and was never found. Three employees were at the pharmacy at the time of the robbery: Robert Hingle, the pharmacist; Mrs. Edward O'Keefe, a clerk; and Mrs. Olivia Macklin, a delivery person. None were able to get a clear enough look at the robbers' faces to positively identify either Wright or Morrison at trial.

Initially, Hingle was told to lie down on the floor. Then he was ordered to get Talwin and Pyrobenzamine tablets, which he kept in the back of the pharmacy. When he got the requested drugs he was then told to get Preludin and finally Valium. When he returned from the back with the Valium, the robbers were gone.

Just prior to the robbery, Robert and Marie Latzenhiser, husband and wife, were in their car stopped at the red light at the intersection of Burman and Newton right in front of Thorning's. Their attention was drawn to two suspicious black men standing near Thorning's door staring at them. The men watched the Latzenhisers until the light turned green and they drove away. Only then did the men enter the pharmacy. The Latzenhisers noticed that the taller of the two men was wearing an army field jacket, army fatigue boots and blue jeans. The shorter man had on a grayish hat, a pinstripe suit and vest, and had a rough, scarred complexion. He had a big gold earring in his left ear. The Latzenhisers were so impressed by the unusual behavior of the two men that they thought of calling the police, but being unsure, went on to their destination a short distance away. They returned minutes later and saw a police car in front of Thorning's. They stopped and told the investigating officers what they had seen. Thereafter, in photographic and/or physical line-ups, Marie Latzenhiser identified both Wright and Morrison as the two men she had seen in front of Thorning's. Robert Latzenhiser identified Hilton Wright. Both defendants were identified by the Latzenhisers at trial.

Jane Jones, her mother and her sister were stopped at a red light at the corner of Burman and Newton around 10:00 on the same morning, when they saw three men run out of Thorning's. One was tall and wore a green army jacket. Another was short and wore a blue suit and hat. When the light changed, the Jones' ladies passed the three men, pulled over to the side of the street, saw them jump into a yellow car which was half a block away and drive off. As the car, a 1953 four-door yellow Buick, passed them, Jane Jones wrote the license number in her checkbook. The ladies then went to the drugstore and turned this information over to a police officer. A description of the yellow car and its license number was then broadcast over the police radio.

Clifford Burnham, an officer with the New Orleans Police Department, testified *1095 that he received the description of the yellow vehicle and recognized it as belonging to Joel Morrison. Burnham and his partner drove to the Fisher Housing Project where they had seen this vehicle on previous occasions. They located the vehicle soon thereafter, watched it for a few minutes until a man came out, got in it, and drove away. They pursued the vehicle, stopped it after it traveled about a block and a half away, and accosted the driver, Kevin Straughter. Straughter testified that on October 14, 1978, Morrison asked him to "pick up his old lady and wash his car."

Later, after a search warrant was obtained, the vehicle was searched. Part of a ladies' stocking, a red handkerchief, and a green army jacket were found. Additionally, Merlin Lindsey, an officer of the New Orleans Police Department, assigned to the latent fingerprint section, testified that he dusted the vehicle for prints and was able to retrieve from the inside of the passenger window a relatively fresh print which he identified as being from the left thumb of Hilton J. Wright.

Joel Morrison's defense was one of alibi. The contention made by his witnesses was that Morrison had loaned his car to Joseph Kent Caston[1] and was at his mother's house when the crime occurred. Barbara Bissand testified that Morrison was at his mother's house between 10:00 and 10:25 a. m. on the day of the robbery; that during that time Caston returned the car to Morrison; and that two other men were with Caston but were waiting for him in another car. Cindy Pigg corroborated much of Ms. Bissand's testimony.

Assignment of Error No. 1 by Wright

Basically, Wright contends that there was insufficient evidence to convict him for armed robbery. He argues that none of the witnesses in the drug store identified him. That contention is incorrect. Olivia Macklin, the delivery woman, tentatively identified him from a set of photographs. At trial she testified that she told the police officer:

"The man in the photograph resembles the person who held up the drug store." (Vol. II, pp. 64-65, 174).

Two other witnesses, Robert and Marie Latzenhiser, positively identified Wright as one of the men standing outside the drug store moments before the robbery. Additionally, Wright's fingerprints were found on the passenger side of Morrison's vehicle, which was identified by the Jones' ladies as the one used in the robbery.

When viewing this evidence in the light most favorable to the State, we find that a reasonable and rational trier of facts could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Hilton Wright participated in the robbery. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2783, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

This assignment of error is without merit.

Assignment of Error No. 2 by Wright

Wright argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the identification made by Olivia Macklin. Eleven days after the robbery, Detective Sandy Gavin showed Ms. Macklin a photographic line-up.

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410 So. 2d 1092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wright-la-1982.