Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Michael LEBLANC
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1994-06-03
Citations: 637 So. 2d 489
Docket Number: No. 94-K-0282
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Michael LEBLANC.
Judges: LEMMON, J., dissents.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 637
Pages: 489–490

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Michael LEBLANC.
No. 94-K-0282.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
June 3, 1994.

Opinion:
In re Leblanc, Michael; — Defendant(s); applying for writ of certiorari and/or review; to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit, Nos. KA92 1815, KA92 1816; Parish of East Baton Rouge, Nineteenth Judicial District Court, Div. "G", No. 4-91-739.
Granted in part; denied in part. The defendant's conviction for attempted second degree murder in violation of La.R.S. 14:27, 14:30.1, and sentence of 39 years at hard labor, are set aside. On the evidence at trial that the defendant shared in the proceeds and bragged about his participation in the offense, any rational trier of fact could have found that .the defendant aided and abetted the commission of the armed robbery by the victim's disgruntled former employee, who cursed the victim over their past difficulties and then shot him in the stomach after taking his money. A rational trier of fact could not have found, however, that the defendant was a principal in the attempted murder of the victim. All persons concerned in the commission of attempted first or second degree murder must possess the specific intent to kill to be found guilty of the offense. La.R.S. 14:24; State v. McAllister, 366 So.2d 1340 (La.1978); State v. Huizar, 414 So.2d 741 (La.1982). The defendant's presence on the scene in the get-away car and his sharing in the proceeds afterwards directly implicated him in the robbery but did not support a rational inference that he shared in the apparently spontaneous decision to kill the victim during the robbery. With respect to the defendant's conviction for armed robbery and his sentence of 99 years at hard labor, the application is denied.
LEMMON, J., dissents.
DENNIS, J., not on panel.