Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Sabrina PROGUE
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1977-10-10
Citations: 350 So. 2d 1181
Docket Number: No. 59618
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Sabrina PROGUE.
Judges: TATE, J., concurs in part and dissents in part, and assigns reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 350
Pages: 1181–1186

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Sabrina PROGUE.
No. 59618.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Oct. 10, 1977.
Frank E. Brown, Jr., Piper & Brown, Shreveport, for defendant-appellant.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., John A. Richardson, Dist. Atty., Stephen A. Glassell, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Opinion:
MARCUS, Justice.
Sabrina Progue was charged by bill of information with the crime of attempted second degree murder. La.R.S. 14:27; La. R.S. 14:30.1. After trial by jury, defendant was found guilty of attempted manslaughter and was sentenced to serve ten years at hard labor. On appeal, defendant relies on three assignments of error for reversal of her conviction and sentence.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1
Defendant contends that the trial judge erred in refusing to give four requested special charges to the jury and in refusing to charge the jury on the law of justification as expressed in La.R.S. 14:18(6). She further argues that the trial judge erred in his general charge to the jury by failing to instruct the jury that, in order to find defendant guilty of attempted second degree murder, the jury must conclude that the defendant had the specific intent to kill.
Defendant's contention that the trial judge's general charge to the jury was defective in its failure to instruct the jury with respect to the specific intent needed for attempted second degree murder is without merit. Defendant made no objection to the general charge. This court has consistently held that, absent a contemporaneous objection, a defendant may not on appeal complain of the trial judge's charge to the jury. La.Code Crim.P. art. 841; State v. Roche, 341 So.2d 348 (La.1976); State v. Smith, 339 So.2d 829 (La.1976); State v. Charles, 326 So.2d 335 (La.1976); State v. Mitchell, 319 So.2d 357 (La.1975). Moreover, under La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, a defect in the general charge is not an error "discoverable by a mere inspection of the pleadings and proceedings and without inspection of the evidence." State v. Mitchell, supra.
The record does not reflect that defendant requested that the trial judge charge the jury on the law of justification as expressed in La.R.S. 14:18(6). Consequently, her contention that the trial judge erred in refusing to so instruct the jury is of no merit. Moreover, defendant made no objection to the general charge.
The first of the four special charges for the jury submitted by defendant to the court provided: "That it is conceivable, that a deadly weapon may be used with a specific intent to seriously injure or frighten, rather than to attempt to murder." As written, the special charge requires explanation that a specific intent to kill is an essential element of the crime of attempted murder. Under La.Code Crim.P. art. 807, a requested special charge shall be given by the court if it does not require qualification, limitation, or explanation, and if it is wholly correct and pertinent. Since the special charge required explanation, the trial judge properly refused to give it.
The second charge submitted by defendant to the court provided:
That intent need not be proved as a fact but may be inferred from the circumstances of the transaction, if the defendant is engaged in the perpetration of certain enumerated offenses, no specific intent need be established, R.S. 14:30.1, there is however, no allegation of any other offense in the bill of information filed in this case.
The trial judge's general charge to the jury included an instruction that intent, although a question of fact, need not be proved as a fact but may be inferred from the circumstances of the transaction. Hence, the first part of the requested special charge was included in the general charge. Defendant was charged under the specific indictment form for attempted second degree murder listed in La.Code Crim.P. art. 465; therefore, it was unnecessary to set forth the various ways in which the crime could be committed under the statute. The general charge properly included the full text of the crime of second degree murder as set forth in La.R.S. 14:30.1. Hence, this portion of the requested special charge required further explanation. In sum, since the requested special charge was partly included in the general charge and partly required further explanation, it was properly refused by the trial judge. La.Code Crim.P. art. 807.
The third and fourth requested special charges provided:
That a person will not be held criminally responsible if he or she acts in self-defense from real and honest convictions as to the character of the danger, induced by reasonable evidence, though he or she may be mistaken as to the extent of the actual danger.
That in an attempted second degree murder case, the plea of justification does not place upon the accused the burden of proving it, nor change the duty of the State to prove the accused's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by demonstrating that the attempted second degree murder was not justifiable.
At trial, Joseph Giglio, Jr., the 68-year-old victim of the crime, testified that on the afternoon of September 14, 1976, defendant came to the grocery store which was owned and operated by him and his wife to buy some fruit and stamps. At the time, Giglio was in the store by himself; his wife was attending a meeting. About ten minutes later, defendant returned to the grocery store and purchased a candy bar and some cigarettes. Giglio denied that he touched defendant or spoke with her. Approximately fifteen minutes later, after Giglio's wife had returned to the store from her meeting, defendant re-entered the grocery with a .22 caliber pistol in her hands. She pointed the gun with both hands at Giglio, told him and his wife that it was a "stick up" and fired one shot at close range at Giglio's face. He was hit in the face and the bullet exited behind his ear. After the shooting, defendant turned and ran out of the store. The testimony of Mrs. Giglio corroborated that of her husband.
Defendant took the stand in her own defense and testified that on her second visit to the store, Giglio propositioned her and touched her on her "posterior." After rejecting his advances, defendant turned to leave the store, at which time Giglio grabbed her by the shoulder tearing her dress and vowed that he would get her no matter what. Defendant ran from the store to her home and removed a .22 caliber pistol from her mother's purse. She returned to the store where she found Giglio and his wife, pointed the gun at Giglio and shot him in the face as he reached for a jar of water. Defendant testified that, although she intended to shoot Giglio, she did not intend to kill him. She stated that, while she was really mad at Giglio, she did not shoot him for that reason, but rather because she considered that she had no choice since he had stated that he was going to get her no matter what. After the shooting, defendant ran home and returned the gun to her mother's purse. She was arrested later that day and was questioned by Detectives Sherrill Smith and Michael Sullivan, who testified that defendant freely confessed that she shot the victim.
The third requested special charge covers the law of self-defense; the fourth requested special charge deals with the state's burden of proof where justification is asserted as a defense.
It is well settled that, where a defendant makes a request for special instructions to the jury, they must be such as are correct under the statement of facts as disclosed by the evidence. State v. Selman, 300 So.2d 467 (La.1974), vacated in part, 428 U.S. 906, 96 S.Ct. 3214, 49 L.Ed.2d 1212 (1976); State v. Rone, 222 La. 99, 62 So.2d 114 (1952); State v. Capaci, 179 La. 462, 154 So. 419 (1934); State v. Burch, 170 La. 812, 129 So. 212 (1930). Under La.Code Crim.P. art. 807, a special charge should be given by the court if it does not require qualification, limitation, or explanation and if it is wholly correct and pertinent.
In the instant case, no evidence existed that defendant acted in self-defense in shooting the victim. Defendant returned to the grocery store after Giglio had allegedly propositioned her earlier in the day and deliberately shot him in the face. Defendant testified that she shot him because he had stated to her on her prior visit to the store that he was going to get her no matter what. No pretense was made in her testimony or any other evidence adduced at trial that she shot defendant in self-defense. The single reference to Giglio's reaching for a jar of water was made in her description of Giglio's actions after she appeared in the grocery store and pointed the gun at him. Accordingly, since the third and fourth requested special charges were not correct and pertinent, the trial judge properly refused to give them. La.Code Crim.P. art. 807.
In sum, Assignment of Error No. 1 is without merit.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 2
Defendant contends that the trial judge erred in denying her motion for a new trial on the grounds previously considered in Assignment of Error No. 1. For the reasons assigned therein, Assignment of Error No. 2 lacks merit..
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 3
Defendant contends that the sentence imposed in this case, imprisonment for ten years at hard labor, inflicts cruel, excessive, or unusual punishment in violation of La.Const. art. 1, § 20. Objection to the sentence on the ground of excessiveness was raised by defendant when the sentence was imposed.
La.Const. art. 1, § 20 provides in pertinent part:
. No law shall subject any person to euthanasia, to torture, or to cruel, excessive, or unusual punishment. . (Emphasis added.)
Some of the members of this court, including the author of this opinion, are of the view that this constitutional provision only gives to this court the judicial power to declare as unconstitutional laws which provide for excessive sentences rather than extending the judicial power to appellate review of sentences imposed in individual cases. Other members of the court interpret the provision as conferring upon this court constitutional authority to review sentences imposed in individual cases. However, we need not resolve this issue in the present case for, under either interpretation of the constitutional provision, the sentence imposed here is not excessive. In view of the fact that, by her own admission, defendant deliberately shot the victim in the face, the sentence of imprisonment at hard labor for ten years imposed on defendant is not excessive.
Assignment of Error No. 3 is without merit.
DECREE
For the reasons assigned, the conviction and sentence are affirmed.
TATE, J., concurs in part and dissents in part, and assigns reasons.
. At the request of the state and defense counsel, the trial judge included in his general charge to the jury an instruction as to when the use of force or violence upon the person of another is justified as set forth in La.R.S. 14:19. Hence, the third requested special charge was essentially included in the general charge.