State v. Farry
Decision Date | 16 November 2016 |
Docket Number | 16–210 |
Citation | 206 So.3d 1222 |
Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. William Chester FARRY Jr. a/k/a William Chester Farry a/k/a William C. Farry a/k/a William Farry |
John Foster DeRosier, District Attorney, Karen McLellan, Ross M. Murray, Carla S. Sigler, Assistant District Attorneys, Fourteenth Judicial District Court, Post Office Box 3206, Lake Charles, LA 70602–3206, (337) 437–3400, COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE: State of Louisiana
Chad M. Ikerd, Louisiana Appellate Project, Post Office Box 2125, Lafayette, LA 70502, (225) 806–2930, COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT: William Chester Farry Jr.
Court composed of Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux, Chief Judge, Shannon J. Gremillion, and D. Kent Savoie, Judges.
The Defendant, William Farry, was convicted by a jury of armed robbery, a violation of La.R.S. 14:64. The State charged the Defendant as a habitual offender. The trial court found the Defendant to be a third habitual offender and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The Defendant now appeals his conviction.1
The Defendant, through his attorney, assigns two errors:
Additionally, the Defendant assigns two pro se errors:
After a review of the record, the Defendant's conviction is affirmed.
In May 2009, someone entered James Fodrie's (Mr. Fodrie) home armed with a baseball bat. The robber took fifteen dollars ($15.00), a gun, and a coin bag containing mostly German coins and currency.
The trial was held six years later in June 2015.
That same night, prior to the robbery, Mr. Fodrie, ran into Bridgette Bass Schwarz (Ms. Schwarz) at a bar called "Detour" that he often frequented. Mr. Fodrie knew Ms. Schwarz as she had previously worked as a bartender at Detour. Mr. Fodrie recalled Ms. Schwarz entered with two men and then approached him. After talking for a while, Ms. Schwarz asked Mr. Fodrie if she could eat supper at his house. Mr. Fodrie went home and began cooking supper when Ms. Schwarz called and asked him to pick her up at her home in Westlake, Louisiana. Mr. Fodrie lived in Sulphur, Louisiana. Mr. Fodrie estimated that it took him twenty minutes to travel to her house. Once they arrived at Mr. Fodrie's home and talked for a while, Mr. Fodrie recalled Ms. Schwarz took a phone call and walked outside. Around five minutes after Ms. Schwarz returned from outside, the robber, carrying a baseball bat, entered the home. Mr. Fodrie recalled the robber had on a black sweatshirt with a hood, a white mask, and white gloves. The robber asked him for money, and Mr. Fodrie took $15.00 dollars out of his shirt pocket and threw it on the coffee table. The robber instructed Mr. Fodrie and Ms. Schwarz to get on the floor, and the robber instructed Ms. Schwarz to tie up Mr. Fodrie with a phone cord. The robber then tied up Ms. Schwarz and placed Mr. Fodrie and Ms. Schwarz in a closet. Mr. Fodrie was of the opinion that the robber was a man based on his voice. He did not find anything strange about the voice. According to Mr. Fodrie, the robber took his gun, his coin collection contained in a black coin bag, and Mr. Fodrie and Ms. Schwarz's cell phones.3 The gun and the coin collection were kept in the drawer in Mr. Fodrie's bedside table. After the robber left, Mr. Fodrie and Ms. Schwarz went to the neighbor's home and called 911.4 The call was made at approximately 10:12 p.m.
At trial, Mr. Fodrie identified the black pouch given to police as the one that was stolen from him. Mr. Fodrie explained that, after the robbery, he did not see the stolen coins until he was called to the police station two years later. Mr. Fodrie testified as to what was in the black coin bag, explaining, in pertinent part:
Mr. Fodrie testified Ms. Schwarz was not left alone in his home, and she did not go into his bedroom
Ms. Schwarz testified that, at the time the offense occurred, she lived with the Defendant who was her boyfriend. Her daughters Kristin and Kari Bass lived with her off and on. She recalled that, on May 30, 2009, she, the Defendant, and two other men were sitting around her home. Ms. Schwarz stated that the two men grabbed her, and the Defendant injected her with cocaine after which she passed out on the bed for an hour. She was awakened by the Defendant. Ms. Schwarz further testified, in pertinent part:
Another friend of the Defendant's, referred to as "Johnny Cash," came by the home between thirty minutes and an hour later. The Defendant wanted Ms. Schwarz to go into a bar, put Xanax in a patron's drink, and lure the patron out of the bar for the Defendant to rob. The three left the home to carry out the Defendant's plan.
Ms. Schwarz testified that, after she came out of the first bar, the Defendant punched her because she did not find anyone to drug. After going to two or three bars, the Defendant told her to give him the Visine bottle, and they would order a drink. Ms. Schwarz did not put Xanax in anyone's drink. She testified that she thought the plan to rob someone had been abandoned.
Around 5:30 p.m., the three entered Detour bar. Ms. Schwarz began talking to Mr. Fodrie whom she knew from previously working as a bartender at Detour. After being in the bar for twenty-five to thirty minutes, the Defendant told her it was time to leave. Ms. Schwarz thought the Defendant was jealous. Mr. Fodrie and Ms. Schwarz made plans to meet for supper at Mr. Fodrie's home, and Ms. Schwarz then returned to her home. There was no testimony that the Defendant was involved in the plan to meet for supper. According to Ms. Schwarz, Mr. Fodrie called her and asked her to come over to his home and eat fish. Ms. Schwarz asked Mr. Fodrie to pick her up from her home in Westlake. Ms. Schwarz estimated that it took twenty or so minutes for him to get to her home. She testified that she arrived at Mr. Fodrie's home between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m.
After arriving and talking for a while, Ms. Schwarz remembered receiving a call from the Defendant. He told her that he knew where she was, and he was coming to get her. Ms. Schwarz told him to calm down. After returning inside the trailer, Ms. Schwarz dropped her phone in her purse. She testified that, five to ten minutes later, the robber burst through the door. The robber was carrying a baseball bat, and he wore a black hoodie turned inside out and a black mask. It was Ms. Schwarz's testimony that the robber had a deep male voice. She was of the opinion that the robber was attempting to change his voice. The robber instructed her to tie up Mr. Fodrie with a telephone cord. The robber then tied up Ms. Schwarz. The robber tried to use Ms. Schwarz's belt but the belt broke, and the robber used something else. Ms. Schwarz stated the robber placed his hand down the back of her pants. Next, the robber put both of them in a closet. Ms. Schwarz recalled hearing the robber going through the trailer.
After the robber left, Ms. Schwarz and Mr. Fodrie called the police from his neighbor's home. Mr. Fodrie then took Ms. Schwarz home and the Defendant was home when she arrived. She informed the Defendant what happened to her that night, and his response was cold and unemotional. Two days later, she saw the Defendant with a black coin bag. The Defendant told Kristin he received the black coin bag from his uncle. Ms. Schwarz recalled that the Defendant kept the coin bag on his person "at all times."
Three or four days after the robbery, the police called and wanted to question Ms. Schwarz about the robbery. This made the Defendant angry, and Ms. Schwarz testified that she and the Defendant had a big fight. The Defendant packed his bags and planned to leave the home. At trial, the following pertinent exchange between Ms. Schwarz and the State occurred:
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