State v. Thornton
| Decision Date | 23 February 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. KA,KA |
| Citation | 521 So.2d 598 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Leatrice THORNTON. 870767. 521 So.2d 598 |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Bryan Bush, Dist. Atty. by Joe Lotwick, Asst. Dist. Atty., Baton Rouge, for plaintiff/appellee.
Office of the Public Defender, Baton Rouge, for defendant/appellant.
Before COVINGTON, SAVOIE and LeBLANC, JJ.
Leatrice Thornton was indicted by the East Baton Rouge Parish Grand Jury for armed robbery, in violation of La.R.S. 14:64, and attempted second degree murder, in violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and 14:30.1. Defendant entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Thereafter, she moved to suppress her confession; and the court denied the motion. Defendant then entered a plea of guilty to the charge of armed robbery and a plea of nolo contendere to the charge of attempted second degree murder. At the sentencing hearing, defendant filed a motion to withdraw her guilty plea, which the court denied. The court imposed a sentence of fifty years at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, for the conviction of armed robbery, and a sentence of twenty years at hard labor for the conviction of attempted second degree murder. The court ordered that the sentences were to be served concurrently. Defendant appealed, alleging three assignments of error, as follows:
1. The court erred by denying the motion to suppress her confession.
2. The court erred by denying the motion to withdraw her guilty plea.
3. The court imposed an excessive sentence.
According to the facts presented by the state during the Boykin examination, Edith Babin, the victim, was attacked inside her home by defendant, who is the niece of the victim's maid. Mrs. Babin was seventy-seven years old at the time of the offenses. Defendant went to the victim's home to look for her aunt, Ruby Burden. After Mrs. Babin advised defendant that her aunt was not there, defendant left. Shortly thereafter, she returned and asked to use the victim's telephone. Mrs. Babin permitted defendant to enter her house; and defendant then armed herself with a flashlight, the property of the victim, and demanded money. Defendant followed Mrs. Babin throughout the house and beat her continuously with the flashlight as the victim retrieved money and valuables from various rooms.
After defendant left, Mrs. Babin called her neighbors for help. Two of her neighbors came to her assistance and summoned the police. Investigating officers found that the telephone had been disconnected. Traces of blood were found in every room of the house. One of the victim's neighbors had seen a woman attempting to gain entry through a screened window. He provided a description of the car driven by the woman and identified the perpetrator as the niece of the victim's maid. Mrs. Burden, who had returned to the house and was tending to the victim, provided police officers with the name and address of her niece.
The investigating officers went to the address furnished by Mrs. Burden and effected defendant's arrest. A pair of blue jeans, covered with blood, and a tennis shoe with blood on the sole were recovered from defendant's home. Forensic testing established that traces of blood found on the blue jeans and the shoe were of the same type of blood as that of the victim.
The arresting officers brought defendant back to the home of the victim, where she was identified by the victim and one of her neighbors. She was then taken to the police station and charged. Several hours after her arrest, defendant gave a statement in which she claimed to have been under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the offense.
Mrs. Babin sustained serious injuries in the incident, including severe facial lacerations. She was hospitalized for nine days after the attack.
By her first assignment of error, defendant submits the trial court erred by denying her motion to suppress the confession given a few hours after her arrest. She claims the statement was not made voluntarily but was the result of threats directed to her by city police officers. She further contends that the statement was not voluntary because she provided the statement while she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
Defendant entered an unconditional plea of guilty to the charge of armed robbery. She expressly entered the plea of nolo contendere to the charge of attempted second degree murder because she claimed that she did not intend to kill or inflict great bodily harm upon the victim. Defendant expressed no other reservations with regard to the pleas.
A defendant waives his right to review of a non-jurisdictional pre-plea ruling unless, at the time of his plea, he expressly stipulates that he does not waive his right to review of it, the normal consequence of a guilty plea. State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584, 591 (La.1976). Defendant did not reserve her right to appeal the court's ruling on the motion to suppress the confession. Therefore, we refuse to review the merits of defendant's contentions because this matter is not properly before the court.
By assignment of error number two, defendant submits that the trial court erred by denying her motion to withdraw her guilty plea. Defendant contends that she was entitled to withdraw the plea because she was not aware at the time it was entered that a relative of the victim was employed by the office of the district attorney in the section in which her case was pending. Defendant claims that she would have moved to recuse the assistant district attorney conducting the prosecution or pursued her right to a trial if she had been aware of the relationship.
The trial court may permit the withdrawal of a guilty plea at any time before sentencing. La.C.Cr.P. art. 559. Its decision is discretionary and subject to reversal only if that discretion is abused or arbitrarily exercised. State v. Jones, 484 So.2d 933 (La.App. 1st Cir.1986).
We do not find the trial court abused its discretion by denying defendant's motion to withdraw the plea. Defendant did not allege that she was prejudiced because of the relationship between the victim...
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State v. Tingle
...by Trial Court A guilty plea is a conviction and, therefore, should be afforded a great measure of finality. State v. Thornton, 521 So. 2d 598, 600 (La. App. 1 Cir.), writ denied, 530 So. 2d 85 (La. 1988). A trial court may permit the withdrawal of a guilty plea at any time before sentencin......
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State v. Petersen
...a predicate offense. A guilty plea is a conviction and, therefore, should be afforded a great measure of finality. State v. Thornton, 521 So.2d 598, 600 (La. App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 530 So.2d 85 (La. 1988). A presumption of regularity attaches to prior convictions in multiple offender ......
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State v. Maza
...463, 464 (La. 1984). A guilty plea is a conviction and, therefore, should be afforded a great measure of finality. State v. Thornton, 521 So.2d 598, 600 (La. App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 530 So.2d 85 (La. 1988). Generally, a denial of a motion to withdraw a guilty plea will not be reversed ......
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State v. Medine
...of the trial court. A guilty plea is a conviction and, therefore, should be afforded a great measure of finality. State v. Thornton, 521 So.2d 598, 600 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 530 So.2d 85 (La.1988). For the reasons stated herein, we find this assignment of error CONVICTION AND SEN......