State v. Forbs

• Decision Date: 23 April 2008
• Docket Number: No. 2007-KA-1007.,2007-KA-1007.
• Citation: 983 So.2d 954
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Paul G. FORBS.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

983 So.2d 954

STATE of Louisiana v. Paul G. FORBS.

No. 2007-KA-1007.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

April 23, 2008.

Keva Landrum-Johnson, District Attorney, Battle Bell IV, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, LA, for State of Louisiana.

Sherry Watters, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, LA, for Paul Forbs.

Court composed of Chief Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG, Judge CHARLES R. JONES, Judge TERRI F. LOVE.

TERRI F. LOVE, Judge.

The state filed a bill of information charging the defendant/appellant, Paul Forbs, with bank fraud. He entered a not guilty plea. After being delayed as a result of Hurricane Katrina, a motion hearing was held, where the district court found probable cause and denied the motion to suppress the evidence. Following a jury trial, the appellant was found guilty as charged. He was sentenced to serve five years at hard labor. The appellant later pled guilty to a multiple bill of information charging him as a third felony offender. After vacating the previous sentence imposed, the district court resentenced him under La. R.S. 15:529.1 to serve six years and eight months at hard labor. The appellant moved for an appeal, and the motion was granted. We find that the evidence was sufficient to support the appellant's conviction for bank fraud and therefore affirm the appellant's conviction and sentence.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The state filed a bill of information charging appellant with bank fraud. He entered a not guilty plea. A hearing on motions scheduled for August 29, 2005, did not occur because of the hurricane. After the hurricane, the hearing on motions was delayed further because appellant was not immediately transferred back to Orleans Parish. A hearing on motions was held in September 2006, and the district court found probable cause and denied the motion to suppress the evidence. Following a jury trial, the appellant was found guilty as charged. He was sentenced to serve five years at hard labor. The appellant pled guilty to the multiple bill of information charging him as a third felony offender. After vacating the previous sentence imposed, the district court resentenced him under La. R.S. 15:529.1 to serve six years and eight months at hard labor. The appellant's motion for appeal was granted.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The appellant entered a branch of the Whitney National Bank on April 26, 2005 at approximately 10:15 a.m. He presented a check to teller Cherryl Duskin ("Ms. Duskin") that was drawn on Harrison Jones' ("Mr. Jones") account in the amount of $200.00. Ms. Duskin became suspicious of the check because appellant informed her that he had been owed the money for some time, the check bore the date of April 26th, and the funds to cover the check were deposited long before the appellant presented with the check, and noted that the account had a "beautiful" balance.

Ms. Duskin asked appellant for identification, and he hesitated. The appellant asked Ms. Duskin why she needed to see his identification, and she informed him that it was to verify the information on the check. He then complied.

Ms. Duskin checked the signature on file for Mr. Jones, the owner of the account, and it did not match the signature on the check. She called Mr. Jones to ask whether he knew the appellant and whether he had written the check, and he said no. Mr. Jones indicated that he had given a woman a ride home from a bar the night before and that some of his checks may have been stolen from the center console of his vehicle. He then told Ms. Duskin to contact the police. Mr. Jones testified similarly as to what he and Ms. Duskin discussed.

Based on the information she received from Mr. Jones, Ms. Duskin approached the bank manager, Terry Marquez. Ms. Duskin was advised to inform the police officer on duty. When the officer and Ms. Duskin turned to approach the appellant, they noticed that he had left the bank, leaving behind his identification and the check.

At trial, the appellant testified that the check he presented to the bank was given to him by a woman named Shawn Connerly ("Ms. Connerly"). He had done some fence work for Ms. Connerly. Ms. Connerly approached the appellant while he was working on a fence in St. Bernard Parish and asked for an estimate. She accepted the estimate of $400.00, and appellant began work on her fence. After he completed the job, Ms. Connerly gave him two hundred dollars in cash, and she informed the appellant that she would have to get the rest of the money from her "old man."

Two weeks passed from the completion of the job, and repeated attempts by appellant to contact Ms. Connerly went unanswered. She then appeared at appellant's home at approximately 8:15 a.m. on April 26, 2005, and gave appellant the check already made out for $200.00. He proceeded to the bank at approximately 10:00 a.m. and presented the check to the teller, Ms. Duskin. Appellant represented that he asked Ms. Duskin to verify the check because he had waited two weeks to receive payment. When Ms. Duskin stepped away from her station and approached the police officer, appellant knew that something was wrong. He became angry at Ms. Connerly, and he left the bank to find her and bring her back to the bank. Appellant's attempts to locate Ms. Connerly were unsuccessful. He was arrested at his home two days later by police.

On cross-examination, appellant testified that when he was arrested, he gave the officers Ms. Connerly's name, but he neglected to give the officers her phone number and address. He further testified that he thought the check was good when he received it from Ms. Connerly.

ERRORS PATENT

A review of the record reveals that there are no errors patent.

SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE

In State v. Spencer, 2001-1066 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/14/01), 802 So.2d 811, this Court set out the well-settled standard for reviewing convictions for sufficiency of the evidence:

In evaluating whether evidence is constitutionally sufficient to support a conviction, an appellate court must determine whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Green, 588 So.2d 757 (La.App. 4 Cir.1991). However, the reviewing court may not disregard this duty simply because the record contains evidence that tends to support each fact necessary to constitute the crime. State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305 (La.1988). The reviewing court must consider the record as a whole since that is what a rational trier of fact would do. If rational triers of fact could disagree as to the interpretation of the evidence, the rational trier's view of all the evidence most favorable to the prosecution must be adopted. The fact finder's discretion will be impinged upon only to the extent necessary to guarantee the fundamental protection of due process of law. Mussall; Green; supra. "[A] reviewing court is not called upon to decide whether it believes the witnesses or whether the conviction is contrary to the weight of the evidence." State v. Smith, 600 So.2d 1319 (La.1992) at 1324.

In addition, when circumstantial evidence forms the basis of the conviction, such evidence must consist of proof of collateral facts and circumstances from which the existence of the main fact may be inferred according to reason and common experience. State v. Shapiro, 431 So.2d 372 (La.1982). The elements must be proven such that every reasonable hypothesis of innocence is excluded. La. R.S. 15:438. This is not a separate test from Jackson v. Virginia, supra, but rather an evidentiary guideline to facilitate appellate review of whether a rational juror could have found a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Wright, 445 So.2d 1198 (La. 1984). All evidence, direct and circumstantial, must meet the Jackson reasonable doubt standard. State v. Jacobs, 504 So.2d 817 (La.1987).

Id., quoting State v. Ragas, 98-0011, pp. 13-14 (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/28/99), 744 So.2d 99, 106-07.

In his sole assignment of error, the appellant asserts that the state's evidence failed to prove that he intentionally defrauded the bank or knew that the check was stolen. The appellant argues that the state's circumstantial evidence did not prove intent to defraud the bank by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, practices, transactions, representations, or promises. He also argues that no evidence was presented to show a scheme or artifice to defraud because only a single check was presented that he had no reason to believe was stolen. The appellant represents that at best, the evidence shows a forgery, which he notes is not a responsive verdict. He also notes that the state did not present a handwriting expert; however, the jury apparently believed Mr. Jones' testimony that he did not write the check and the teller's testimony that the signature on the check did not match the signature on file for Mr. Jones.

La. R.S. 14:71.1 relative to bank fraud provides in pertinent part:

A. Whoever knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice to do any of the following shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than ten years, or may be fined not more than one hundred thousand dollars, or both:

(1) To defraud a financial institution.

(2) To obtain any of the monies, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by or under the custody or control of a financial institution by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, practices, transactions, representations, or promises.

La. R.S. 14:71.1.

There are no reported Louisiana cases that deal with the evidence necessary to prove the crime of bank fraud. However, the Louisiana statute is similar to the federal statute, 18 U.S.C.A. Section 1344, which provides:

Whoever knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice —

(1) to defraud a financial...