Case Name: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Gerald MONTANA and Feltus Anderson, Appellants
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1976-05-17
Citations: 332 So. 2d 248
Docket Number: No. 57325
Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Gerald MONTANA and Feltus Anderson, Appellants.
Judges: CALOGERO, J., concurs in part, dissents in part and assigns reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 332
Pages: 248–251

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Gerald MONTANA and Feltus Anderson, Appellants.
No. 57325.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
May 17, 1976.
J. Daniel Rivette, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for defendants-appellants.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Opinion:
TATE, Justice.
The defendants were convicted of simple burglary. La.R.S. 14:62. Both defendants received enhanced sentences as multiple offenders, La.R.S. 15:529.1; Anderson to twenty-five years at hard labor, Montana to nine years at hard labor.
Upon appeal, the defendants contest their receiving enhanced sentences as multiple offenders. (They also complain of the trial court's refusal to allow them pre-trial discovery of the details of the state's case; to which under our state jurisprudence they are not entitled. State v. Ball, 328 So.2d 81 (La.1976); State v. Major, 318 So.2d 19 (La.1975); State v. Lewis, 315 So.2d 626 (La.1975); State v. Thomas, 290 So.2d 317 (La.1974).)
As to the defendant Anderson:
His contention that his sentencing as a multiple offender, and that he was entitled to a jury trial on the multiple-offender charges, are without merit. By our well-settled jurisprudence rejecting similar contentions, upon conviction of a crime, the subsequent multiple-offender proceedings do not charge a crime; they are merely part of the sentencing function of the trial judge, whereby an increased statutory penalty may be assessed against offenders who repeatedly commit felonies. State v. Alexander, 325 So.2d 777 (La.1976); State ex rel. Williams v. Henderson, 289 So.2d 74 (La.1974). See also State v. Maduell, 326 So.2d 820 (La.1976).
As to the defendant Montana:
In securing enhanced punishment, the state proved two prior burglary convictions (one in 1967 and one in 1970), in addition to the present 1974 conviction. The defendant Montana contends that the state did not adequately prove the first two convictions.
The state proved two prior felony convictions of a Gerald Montana. It then proved that the Montana convicted of the present offense had fingerprints identical to those of the Montana charged in each of the prior offenses. It is undisputed that no two individuals have the same finger prints. The offerings show that a three-year sentence was assessed for the 1967 conviction, and a two-year sentence for the 1970 conviction.
This uncontradicted evidence adequately proves that the present defendant was the same person who had committed the two prior felonies and that he was convicted of them. The evidence further proves that the present offense had been committed in early 1974, and that the maximum sentence for neither of .the prior convictions had elapsed more than five years prior thereto. (A prerequisite for use of prior felony convictions to enhance punishment is that not more than five years shall elapse between (a) the expiration of the maximum sentence on the prior conviction and (b) the commission of the present offense, La.R.S. 15:529.1 C.)
The defendant complains that these facts were not proved by the certificate of the warden, as permitted by La.R.S. 15:529 F. However, this statute merely permits proof by this method; but the necessary facts which permit enhanced punishment may also or instead be proved by other competent evidence. State v. Maduell, 326 So.2d 820 (La.1976).
Decree
Finding no error, we affirm the convictions and sentences.
AFFIRMED.
CALOGERO, J., concurs in part, dissents in part and assigns reasons.
DENNIS, J., concurs and dissents for the reasons assigned by CALOGERO, J.