Opinion ID: 1811437
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Insufficient evidence to convict.

Text: In two assignments of error, defendant asserts that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of first degree murder. Specifically, defendant claims that the evidence did not establish that the killing occurred when he was engaged in an armed robbery. Likewise, as the State relied on this single aggravating circumstance, defendant also claims that insufficient evidence supports his death sentence. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, an appellate court in Louisiana is controlled by the standard enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).... [T]he appellate court must determine that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676, 678 (La. 1984). In the instant case, the State proceeded to trial against defendant for first degree murder and had the burden to prove the offender had specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm and was engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an armed robbery in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30(A)(1). [18] Specific criminal intent is that state of mind which exists when the circumstances indicate that the offender actively desired the prescribed criminal consequences to follow his act or failure to act. LSA-R.S. 14:10(1). Although specific intent may be proven by direct evidence, such as by statements of the accused, it is a question of fact and may be inferred from the circumstances surrounding the offense and the conduct of the defendant. See, e.g., State v. Boyer, 406 So.2d 143, 150 (La.1981). Specific intent to kill may be inferred from a defendant's act of pointing a gun and firing at a person. State v. Williams, 383 So.2d 369, 373 (La.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1103, 101 S.Ct. 899, 66 L.Ed.2d 828 (1981). In addition, the State also charged defendant as a principal, acting in concert with Gabriel Logan. [19] As such, the State had to demonstrate that defendant had the requisite specific intent, not merely that he knew of Gabriel Logan's intentions. To prove these elements, the State introduced defendant's own taped statements in which he admitted that he and Gabriel Logan decided to get a lick on the pizza delivery man, meaning that they both decided to rob the victim. In his second statement, defendant informed the police that Logan had given him a gun moments earlier, and defendant pointed it at the victim and said, Give me the money. When defendant saw the victim turning and reaching, he interpreted that gesture to mean the victim might be reaching for a gun, instead of the money he had just demanded, so he shot three times, indicating: I wasn't fixing to get killed. Afterwards, defendant ran off. Renee Iverson's testimony corroborated defendant's second statement. She stated that as she was at her front door paying the delivery man for the pizzas, she observed Gabriel Logan exit her house, walk into her yard, and hand defendant a gun from under his shirt. Iverson also recalled that after she heard three shots, she reopened her front door and looked outside, where she saw the Pizza Hut delivery man's car hit her neighbor's house. At that point, she stated that she observed Gabriel Logan go over to the car, pull the victim from the car, and commence going through his pockets. She noted that Logan had something in his hand when he exited the victim's car. Chris Moore also testified that he was outside the Iverson home at the time of the shooting. He saw Gabriel Logan come out of the house and approach defendant, handing him something. He observed defendant approach the driver's side and shoot three or four times, then run off toward his grandmother's house. At that point, the victim's car drifted into a neighboring house. He then saw Gabriel Logan pull the victim from the car. Walter Shaw testified that he had been at Iverson's home and exited when he heard the shots. He saw Gabriel Logan pull the victim from the car and go toward his shoes. He stated that Logan had a pizza box in his hand when he got out of the car. Nathan Logan, the older brother of Gabriel Logan, testified that after the shooting, he encountered his brother and Moore in an alley, dividing up the money that had been in the green bank bag taken from the victim. After Nathan escorted his brother home, his brother got a phone call. The two brothers and Patrick Anthony immediately went to defendant's house. Nathan Logan recalled that Gabriel retrieved the murder weapon from the barbecue pit outside defendant's house. Gabriel handed the gun to Anthony to clean. Nathan Logan recalled that Anthony put the gun in a bag and placed it beside a pole. They also disposed of the pizza box and green bank bag in a nearby dumpster. Later that night, Nathan Logan led police to the dumpster and the utility pole where all of this evidence was retrieved. The State also relied upon the testimony of Dr. George McCormick, the coroner of Caddo Parish. He testified that he performed the autopsy on the victim, Jarvis Griffin, on January 5, 1998, and ruled the cause of death as a gunshot wound. The course and track of the bullet penetrated the victim's left arm, severed the aorta, passed through the major artery from the heart to the lungs, passed through both lungs, and penetrated the tip of one of the chambers on the left side of the victim's heart. Ultimately, the victim died from internal hemorrhaging as a result of the gunshot wound. The State's evidence supported a principals theory that both defendant and Gabriel Logan embarked on a joint effort to rob the victim at gunpoint. In his second statement, defendant confirmed that both he and Gabriel Logan planned the armed robbery. By his own admission, defendant committed an act in furtherance of that plan, namely that, at gunpoint, he demanded money from the victim. Thus, the jury could reasonably infer that at the time of the shooting, defendant was engaged in the perpetration of an attempted armed robbery. LSA-R.S. 14:30(A)(1). The evidence showed that Gabriel Logan completed the robbery plan by retrieving the green bank bag and pizza from the victim's vehicle after the shooting. The evidence further showed that defendant specifically intended to kill or inflict great bodily harm when he stood right beside the driver's window and fired three gunshots from close range at the victim. Defendant's reliance on State v. Bright, 98-0398 (La.4/11/00), 776 So.2d 1134 is misplaced. In Bright, this court reversed a first degree murder conviction and death sentence based on insufficient evidence of the shooter's identity; there was insufficient evidence that the shooter was the same person who removed an envelope containing cash from the victim. In that case, the State's evidence of an armed robbery was circumstantial. This court found the State's case did not exclude beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant's reasonable hypothesis of innocence, namely that someone else took the victim's money after Bright shot him. Accordingly, this court reduced the defendant's conviction to specific intent second degree murder, under LSA-R.S. 14:30.1(A)(1). Bright, 98-0398 at 10-16, 776 So.2d at 1143-44. Conversely, in the instant case, defendant, in his second statement, admitted to planning a robbery with Gabriel Logan. He further admitted telling the victim, Give me the money, before he shot him. The fact that defendant did not share in the fruits of the robbery is immaterial for purposes of LSA-R.S. 14:30(A)(1); defendant's actions demonstrated the completed offense of attempted armed robbery. LSA-R.S. 14:64; LSA-R.S. 14:27. In fact, although the taking of the victim's money occurred after the defendant shot and killed the victim and fled the scene, the evidence supported a finding of armed robbery as well. Because the homicide and subsequent taking of the victim's property formed an integral part of the same transaction, the killing of the victim occurred during an armed robbery and constituted first degree murder. See State v. Nelson, 459 So.2d 510, 518 (La.1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1030, 105 S.Ct. 2050, 85 L.Ed.2d 322 (1985) (The murder facilitated the robbery. It unquestionably occurred while the defendant was engaged in armed robbery.); State v. Anderson, 97-1301, p. 3, (La.2/6/98), 707 So.2d 1223, 1224 (Acting in concert, each man then became responsible not only for his own acts, but for the acts of the other.). The trier of fact makes credibility determinations and may, within the bounds of rationality, accept or reject the testimony of any witness; thus, a reviewing court may impinge on the fact finder's discretion only to the extent necessary to guarantee the fundamental due process of law. State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305, 1310 (La.1988). Here, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a reasonable jury could have determined that the State's evidence supported all of the elements to prove that defendant committed first degree murder during the perpetration of an attempted armed robbery or armed robbery. Defendant's claims of insufficiency fail on the merits, and these assignments of error are without merit.