State v. Hampton

• Decision Date: 14 November 2018
• Docket Number: No. 52,403-KA,52,403-KA
• Citation: 261 So.3d 993
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee v. Patricia HAMPTON, Appellant
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

261 So.3d 993

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee

v.Patricia HAMPTON, Appellant

No. 52,403-KA

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

Judgment rendered November 14, 2018

Rehearing Denied January 17, 2019

LAW OFFICES OF CHRIS L. BOWMAN By: Chris L. Bowman, Jonesboro, Christy Joynor Walker, Ruston, Colby L. Bowman, Counsel for Appellant

DANIEL W. NEWELL, District Attorney, H. RUSSELL DAVIS, TERESA CULPEPPER CARROLL, Assistant District Attorneys Counsel for Appellee

Before MOORE, PITMAN, and GARRETT, JJ.

GARRETT, J.

The defendant, Patricia Hampton, was convicted of theft over $1,500, in violation of La. R.S. 14:67. She was sentenced to three years at hard labor, with all but one year suspended, and two years of supervised probation. Restitution was ordered with a provision for early termination of probation upon payment of restitution. The defendant appeals. Finding merit to the defendant's assignment of error pertaining to her Batson challenges, we vacate the defendant's conviction and sentence. The matter is remanded for a new trial.

FACTS

In 2003, the defendant was hired by Mayor Eugene Smith as the payment clerk for the Water & Sewer ("W & S") Department of the Town of Arcadia ("the Town"). Her job duties included receiving payments in the form of cash or checks, logging the payments into the W & S computer system, printing out a daily report of payments, and depositing the funds into the Town's bank accounts.

In 2010, a routine audit of the Town's records found discrepancies between the payments received and the deposits made for the W & S Department. The auditors advised the mayor of the situation. The matter was then turned over to the Office of the Inspector General of Louisiana ("IG"), which opened an investigation. It was ultimately determined that there was a discrepancy of $39,076.60 between the amounts of W & S funds collected and deposited.

Pending the investigation, the defendant was suspended without pay in October 2010. She was subsequently fired, effective February 1, 2011. On August 30, 2011, the defendant was indicted for theft over $1,500, for the time period between July 2007 and August 2010.¹

Over the next six years, continuances were obtained by both the prosecution and the defense. Trial was finally held in September 2017. A six-person jury found the defendant guilty as charged. In January 2018, the trial court imposed a sentence of three years at hard labor; however, it suspended all but one year of the sentence and ordered two years of supervised probation. The trial court further directed that the defendant pay restitution to the Town, but specified that it would allow early termination of probation upon payment of restitution.²

The defendant appeals, asserting 11 assignments of error. However, due to our disposition of the assignments concerning the defendant's Batson challenges, we do not reach most of them.

SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE

The defendant contends that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the state, did not support the jury's verdict beyond a reasonable doubt.

Law

When issues are raised on appeal both as to the sufficiency of the evidence and as to one or more trial errors, the reviewing court should first determine the sufficiency of the evidence.³ The reason for reviewing sufficiency first is that the accused may be entitled to an acquittal under Hudson v. Louisiana , 450 U.S. 40, 101 S.Ct. 970, 67 L.Ed.2d 30 (1981), if a rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in accord with Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could not reasonably conclude that all of the elements of the offense have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Hearold , 603 So.2d 731 (La. 1992) ; State v. Pratt , 50,152 (La. App. 2 Cir. 12/30/15), 184 So.3d 816, writ denied , 16-0123 (La. 1/25/17), 215 So.3d 262. A reviewing court, examining all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, must determine whether "any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Jackson v. Virginia , supra ; State v. Crawford , supra .

The Jackson standard does not permit this court to substitute its own appreciation of the facts for that of the fact finder. State v. Robertson , 96-1048 (La. 10/4/96), 680 So.2d 1165. It is not the province of the reviewing court to assess the credibility of witnesses or reweigh evidence. State v. Smith , 94-3116 (La. 10/16/95), 661 So.2d 442 ; State v. Crawford , supra . A reviewing court accords great deference to a jury's decision to accept or reject the testimony of a witness in whole or in part. State v. Eason , 43,788 (La. App. 2 Cir. 2/25/09), 3 So.3d 685, writ denied , 09-0725 (La. 12/11/09), 23 So.3d 913, cert. denied , 561 U.S. 1013, 130 S.Ct. 3472, 177 L.Ed.2d 1068 (2010) ; State v. Simon , 51,778 (La. App. 2 Cir. 1/10/18), 245 So.3d 1149.

The Jackson standard is applicable in cases involving both direct and circumstantial evidence. An appellate court reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence in such cases must resolve any conflict in the direct evidence by viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. When the direct evidence is thus viewed, the facts established by the direct evidence and inferred from the circumstantial evidence must be sufficient for a rational trier of fact to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant was guilty of every essential element of the crime. State v. Sutton , 436 So.2d 471 (La. 1983) ; State v. English , 51,505 (La. App. 2 Cir. 8/9/17), 243 So.3d 1145.

Circumstantial evidence is defined as evidence of facts or circumstances from which one might infer or conclude the existence of other connected facts. State v. Walker , 51,217 (La. App. 2 Cir. 5/17/17), 221 So.3d 951, writ denied , 17-1101 (La. 6/1/18), 243 So.3d 1064 ; State v. Matthews , 50,838 (La. App. 2 Cir. 8/10/16), 200 So. 3d 895, writ denied , 16-1678 (La. 6/5/17), 220 So.3d 752.

Direct evidence provides proof of the existence of a fact, for example, a witness's testimony that he saw or heard something. Circumstantial evidence provides 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. Lilly , 468 So.2d 1154 (La. 1985) ; State v. Patterson , 50,305 (La. App. 2 Cir. 11/18/15), 184 So.3d 739, writ denied , 15-2333 (La. 3/24/16), 190 So.3d 1190.

When the conviction is based on circumstantial evidence, such evidence must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. La. R.S. 15:438. When a case involves circumstantial evidence, and the jury reasonably rejects the hypothesis of innocence presented by the defendant's own testimony, that hypothesis falls, and the defendant is guilty unless there is another hypothesis which raises a reasonable doubt. State v. Captville , 448 So.2d 676 (La. 1984) ; State v. Walker , supra ; State v. Matthews , supra .

When a jury reasonably and rationally rejects the exculpatory hypothesis of innocence offered by a defendant's own testimony, an appellate court's task in reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence under the Due Process Clause is at an end unless an alternative hypothesis is sufficiently reasonable that a rational juror could not have found proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Calloway , 07-2306 (La. 1/21/09), 1 So.3d 417 ; State v. Walker , supra ; State v. Matthews , supra .

In all cases where an essential element of the crime is not proven by direct evidence, La. R.S. 15:438, concerning proof by circumstantial evidence, applies. As an evidentiary rule, it restrains the fact finder, as well as the reviewer on appeal, to accept as proven all that the evidence tends to prove and then to convict only if every reasonable hypothesis of innocence is excluded. Whether circumstantial evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence presents a question of law. State v. Shapiro , 431 So.2d 372 (La. 1982) ; State v. Matthews , supra .

The elements of the crime of theft are: (1) there must be a misappropriation or taking; (2) the misappropriation or taking must be of a thing of value; (3) the thing must belong to another; and (4) the misappropriation or taking must be with the intent to deprive the other permanently of that which is the subject of the taking. The prosecution must also prove the value of the stolen thing because the value is determinative of both the severity of the offense and the degree of the punishment upon conviction. State v. Robinson , 51,498 (La. App. 2 Cir. 8/9/17), 243 So.3d 1169.

Testimony

The evidence presented at trial established the access that different employees at Arcadia's city hall had to the W & S payment funds.

At the start of her workday, the defendant, as the water collections clerk, would remove payments left in a drop box outside of city hall; this usually included payments that were mailed.⁴ She would then unlock her office in city hall. The only individuals having keys to her office were the defendant, the mayor, and a cleaning lady. The defendant would unlock the cash drawer in her desk and count the drawer to ensure that she had $100 cash to start the day; these funds were used to make change when customers paid cash. Several witnesses, including the defendant herself, testified that she had the only key to the cash drawer. Aundrea Crane, who worked for the Arcadia police chief and had an office in city hall, testified that the defendant carried that key on her wrist on a band and that the defendant consistently locked the drawer. The defendant testified that she carried her keys on her wrist when she arrived in the morning and that during the workday she would hide the keys under a shelf in her office until she got ready to leave at the end of the day. The defendant testified that there was a lockbox in the cash drawer, that she had keys to both the lockbox and the cash drawer,...