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State v. Chism :: 1983 :: Louisiana Supreme Court Decisions :: Louisiana Case Law :: Louisiana Law :: US Law :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Louisiana Case Law › Louisiana Supreme Court Decisions › 1983 › State v. Chism
436 So. 2d 464 (1983)
STATE of Louisiana v. Brian CHISM.
No. 82-KA-0777.
*466 William J. Guste, Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Paul Carmouche, Dist. Atty., William Kelly, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.
Wellborn Jack, Jr., Jack, Jack, Cary & Cary, Shreveport, for defendant-appellant.
The defendant, Brian Chism, was convicted by a judge of being an accessory after the fact, La.R.S. 14:25, and sentenced to three years in the parish prison, with two and one-half years suspended. The defendant was placed upon supervised probation for two years. We affirm his conviction, but vacate the sentence because it is illegal. Under the Jackson v. Virginia standard, the record in this case contains legally sufficient evidence to support a trier of fact's finding of the essential elements of the charged offense. 443 U.S. 307, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1979).
Gloria and Ira Lloyd got into an argument, and Ira stabbed Gloria with a knife several times in the stomach and once in the neck. Gloria's shouts attracted the attention of two neighbors, who unsuccessfully tried to prevent Ira from pushing Gloria into the front seat of the car alongside Chism and Duke. Ira Lloyd climbed into the front seat also, and Duke drove off. One of the bystanders testified that she could not be sure but she thought she saw Brian's foot on the accelerator as the car left.
An accessory after the fact is any person, who, after the commission of a felony, shall harbor, conceal, or aid the offender, knowing or having reasonable ground to believe that he has committed the felony, and with the intent that he may avoid or escape from *467 arrest, trial, conviction, or punishment. La. R.S. 14:25.
This court has said that the statute requires that in order to convict an accused of being an accessory after the fact the state must prove that the accused acted with the specific intent to prevent the apprehension or punishment of a person he knows or has reason to believe has committed a felony. State v. Jackson, 344 So. 2d 961 (La.1977). The statement in the Jackson opinion to the effect that being an accessory after the fact is a specific intent crime was erroneous and not necessary to the decision of that case. In the absence of qualifying provisions, the terms "intent" and "intentional" have reference to "general criminal intent." La.R.S. 14:11. The statute contains no provisions qualifying the term "intent", and we have no reason to believe that the legislative aim was to exclude from its ambit offenders who have a general criminal intent.[1] Accordingly, we conclude that a person may be punished as an accessory after the fact if he aids an offender personally, knowing or having reasonable ground to believe that he has committed the felony, and has a specific or general intent that the offender will avoid or escape from arrest, trial, conviction, or punishment.[2] See R.S. 14:10; State v. Jackson, supra; W. Lafave & A. Scott, Criminal Law § 66 at 522-23 (1972); R. Perkins, Criminal Law § 8.4 at 667 (2d ed. 1969).
An accessory after the fact may be tried and convicted, notwithstanding the fact that the principal felon may not have been arrested, tried, convicted, or amenable to justice. La.R.S. 14:25. However, it is still necessary to prove the guilt of the principal beyond a reasonable doubt, and an accessory after the fact cannot be convicted or punished where the principal felon has been acquitted. Id. Reporter's Comment. State v. Prudhomme 171 La. 743, 129 So. 736 (1930); State v. Philip 169 La. 468, 125 So. 451 (1929). Furthermore, it is essential to prove that a felony was committed and completed prior to the time the assistance was rendered the felon, although it is not also necessary that the felon have been already charged with the crime. La.R.S. 14:25; See Lafave & Scott, supra.
Defendant appealed from his conviction and sentence and argues that the evidence was not sufficient to support the judgment. Consequently, in reviewing the defendant's assigned error, we must determine whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that (a) a completed felony had been committed by Ira Lloyd before Brian Chism rendered him the assistance described below; (b) Chism knew or had *468 reasonable grounds to know of the commission of the felony by Lloyd, and (c) Chism gave aid to Lloyd personally under circumstances that indicate either that he actively desired that the felon avoid or escape arrest, trial, conviction, or punishment or that he believed that one of these consequences was substantially certain to result from his assistance.
There was clearly enough evidence to justify the finding that a felony had been completed before any assistance was rendered to Lloyd by the defendant. The record vividly demonstrates that Lloyd fatally stabbed his ex-wife before she was transported to Willow point and left in the high grass near a wood line. Thus, Lloyd committed the felonies of attempted murder, aggravated battery, and simple kidnapping, before Chism aided him in any way. A person cannot be convicted as an accessory after the fact to a murder because of aid given after the murderer's acts but before the victim's death, but under these circumstances the aider may be found to be an accessory after the fact to the felonious assault. Lafave and Scott, supra; Clark and Marshall, Law of Crimes p. 525 (7th Ed.1967); J. Turner, Russel on Crime p. 166 (12th Ed.1964); E. Dangel, Criminal Law p. 269 (1951); W. Burdick, Law of Crime p. 302 (1946); Warren and Bilas, Warren on Homicide p. 217 (Perm Ed.1938); 2 Hawkins P.C. 448, c. 29, s. 35 (Cur.Ed.); 4 Blackstone Comm. 38. In this particular case, it is of no consequence that the defendant was formally charged with accessory after the fact to second degree murder, instead of accessory after the fact to attempted murder, aggravated battery or simple kidnapping. The defendant was fairly put on notice of the actual acts underlying the offense with which he was charged, and he does not claim or demonstrate in this appeal that he has been prejudiced by the form of the indictment. Cf. State v. Vanderhoff, 415 So. 2d 190 (La.1982) State v. Pichler, 355 So. 2d 1302 (La.1978).
The evidence overwhelmingly indicates that Chism had reasonable grounds to believe that Lloyd had committed a felony before any assistance was rendered. In his confessions and his testimony Chism indicates that the victim was bleeding profusely when Lloyd pushed her into the vehicle, that she was limp and moaned as they drove to Willow Point, and that he knew Lloyd had inflicted her wounds with a knife. The Louisiana offense of accessory after the fact deviates somewhat from the original common law offense in that it does not require that the defendant actually know that a completed felony has occurred. Rather, it incorporates an objective standard by requiring only that the defendant render aid "knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe" that a felony has been committed. La.R.S. 14:25, Reporter's Comment.
Intent, like any other fact may be proved by circumstantial evidence. La.R.S. 15:445. This is evidence of one fact, or a set of facts, from which the existence of the fact to be determined may reasonably be inferred. McCormick, Law of Evidence, p. 435 (2d ed. 1972); Prosser, Law of Torts, p. 212 (4th ed. 1971). In criminal cases, the rule as to circumstantial evidence is: assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.[3] La.R.S. 15:438.
*469 Circumstantial evidence involves, in addition to the assertion of witnesses as to what they have observed, a process of reasoning, or inference by which a conclusion is drawn. Like all other evidence, it may be strong or weak; it may be so unconvincing as to be quite worthless, or it may be irresistible and overwhelming. There is still no man who would not accept dog tracks in the mud against the sworn testimony of a hundred eye-witnesses that no dog passed by. The gist of circumstantial evidence, and the key to it, is the inference, or process of reasoning by which the conclusion is reached. This must be based on the evidence given, together with a sufficient background of human experience to justify the conclusion. Prosser, supra, at 212.
The defendant asserted in his statement given to the police and during trial, that he helped to remove the victim from the car and to carry her to the edge of the bushes because he feared that his uncle would use the knife on him. The defense of justification can be claimed in any crime, except murder, when it is committed through the compulsion of threats by another of death or great bodily harm and the offender reasonably believes the person making the threats is present and would immediately carry out the threats if the crime were not committed. La.R.S. 14:18(6). However, Chism did not testify *470 that Lloyd threatened him with death, bodily harm or anything. Moreover, fear as a motivation to help his uncle is inconsistent with some of Chism's actions after he left his uncle. Consequently, we conclude that despite Chism's testimony the trier of fact could have reasonably found that he acted voluntarily and not out of fear when he aided Lloyd and that he did so under circumstances indicating that he believed that it was substantially certain to follow from his assistance that Lloyd would avoid arrest, trial, conviction, or punishment.
Therefore, we affirm the defendant's conviction. We note, however, that the sentence imposed by the trial judge is illegal. The judge imposed a sentence of three years. He suspended two and one-half of years of the term. The trial judge has no authority to suspend part of a sentence in a felony case. Compare La.C.Cr.P. art. 893(A) with art. 894(A). The correct sentence would have been a suspension of all three years of the term, with a six-month term as a condition of two years probation. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 895(B). We therefore vacate the defendant's sentence and remand the case for resentencing.
LEMMON, J., concurs subscribing to the reasoning on sufficiency of evidence and standard of appellate review, but does not necessarily agree that accessory after the fact is not a specific intent crime.
I agree with the majority's treatment of the circumstantial evidence question in this case. See particularly the text at fn. 3, and following. In adopting this view as my own, I expressly abandon the contrary view I expressed in State v. Moore, 432 So. 2d 209 (La.1983). Writing for the majority in Moore, I wrote that a combining of the Jackson standard and the circumstantial evidence standard set out in LSA-R.S. 15:438 could possibly lead to an "impermissible blurring of the proper role appellate courts should assume in evaluating sufficiency claims in circumstantial evidence cases." My views at that time were based in large part upon State v. Graham, 422 So. 2d 123 (La.1982), and the Moore opinion was tailored to comport in large part with the identical views expressed in State v. Shapiro, 431 So. 2d 372 (La.1983), which we handed down the same day as Moore.
Upon further reflection, I am now of the view that such a dichotomy is unnecessary and confusing. Whether by direct or circumstantial evidence, any rational trier of fact, in viewing such evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, must conclude that the state proved the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt; where the evidence against the defendant is circumstantial, every element is proved beyond a reasonable doubt when every reasonable hypothesis of innocence has been excluded per the mandate of LSA-R.S. 15:438. The Jackson standard is a constitutional standard gleaned from the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. R.S. 15:438 is a statutory evidentiary standardnot a constitutional standardand, as such, forms part of the inquiry in assessing the sufficiency of the evidence under *471 the Jackson standard of appellate review, i.e., exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis of innocence, where the evidence against the defendant is circumstantial, forms but part of the broader Jackson inquiry. A single standard for appellate review, comporting with the sufficiency standard established in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1979), is all that is constitutionally required. Cf. State v. Austin, 399 So. 2d 158 (La.1981); State v. Moore, supra (Marcus, J. concurring); State v. Shapiro, supra (Marcus and Lemmon, JJ. concurring).
I respectfully dissent from what appears to be a finding of guilt by association. The majority lists five instances of inaction, or failure to act, by defendant: (1) did not protest or leave the car; (2) did not attempt to persuade Duke to leave the car; (3) did neither (1) nor (2) on ride to Willow Point; (5) made no immediate effort to report crime or get aid for the victim; (7) failed to report victim's, condition or location after changing clothes. The three instances of defendant's action relied on by the majority for conviction were stated to be: (4) complying with Lloyd's direction to remove the victim from the car and leave the victim and Lloyd at Willow Point; (6) changing clothes and discarding bloody garments; and (8) discussing the matter with defendant's mother before going to the police station to report the crime.
[1] Our recognition that La.R.S. 14:25 is a general intent offense does not pave the way for the reintroduction of the crimes of misprison or compounding a felony, since these actions would not constitute the requisite "aid" under the statute. The modern trend is a narrowing interpretation of the word "aid" in statutes imposing accessorial liability, either because the acts are de minimis are because they are justified or protected by law. See A.L.I., Model Penal Code, part 2, article 242.3, comment 4 (1980). An illustrative list of the types of "aid" contemplated by La.R.S. 14:25 appears in article 242.3 of the Model Penal Code: (1) harboring or concealing the criminal; (2) providing or aiding in providing a weapon, transportation, disguise or other means of avoiding apprehension or effecting escape; (3) concealing or destroying evidence of the crime, or tampering with a witness, informant, document, or other source of information, regardless of its admissibility in evidence; (4) warning the other of impending discovery or apprehension except for the purpose of bringing the other into compliance with the law, and (5) volunteering false information to law enforcement officers. See A.L.I. Model Penal Code, part 2, article 242.3 (1980).
[2] The Louisiana offense, therefore, is a compromise between the traditional common law crime of accessory after the fact, which required actual knowledge of a completed crime plus specific intent to aid the felon avoid justice, and the emerging modern trend, which recharacterizes the offense of accessory after the fact as obstruction of justice, and which dispenses with the requirement of a completed felony and knowledge of that fact by the accessory, allowing for conviction so long as the obstructive purpose is present. See A.L.I., Model Penal Code, part 2, article 242.3 and comment 3 (1980).
[3] This court has in dicta discussed whether this test adds anything to the Jackson v. Virginia standard of review. State v. Shapiro, 431 So. 2d 372 (La.1983). State v. Williams, 423 So. 2d 1048 (La.1982); State v. Graham, 422 So. 2d 123 (La.1982). It is interesting to note that Professor McCormick, without a great deal of discussion, observed that the circumstantial evidence rule "adds little" to the strict federal test for the granting of a directed verdict: "evidence that should satisfy reasonable men beyond a reasonable doubt." McCormick, supra, at pp. 79-91. See R. Burns, Weighing Circumstantial Evidence, 2 S. Dakota L.Rev. 36, 38 (1957). See also Holland v. United States, 348 U.S. 121, 75 S. Ct. 127, 99 L. Ed. 150 (1954).