Totten v. Commonwealth, Record No. 0259-05-3 (VA 5/9/2006)
| Decision Date | 09 May 2006 |
| Docket Number | Record No. 0259-05-3. |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | TRAVIS LAVAR TOTTEN v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA. |
Appeal from the Circuit Court of the City of Danville Joseph W. Milam, Jr., Judge.
S. Jane Chittom, Appellate Defender (Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, on brief), for appellant.
Leah A. Darron, Assistant Attorney General (Robert F. McDonnell, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: Judges Elder, McClanahan and Senior Judge Coleman.
Travis Lavar Totten (appellant) appeals from his bench trial convictions for attempted robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of that offense. On appeal, he contends the evidence was insufficient to prove an attempted robbery. He also contends the court lacked authority to sentence him for a second offense firearms violation because the indictment failed to charge the crime as a second offense. We hold the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, supported appellant's conviction for attempted robbery. We hold further that the failure of the indictment to charge the related firearms crime as a second offense was not fatal to appellant's conviction for that crime. Thus, we affirm the challenged convictions.
In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal, we examine the record in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, granting to the evidence all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom. Martin v. Commonwealth, 4 Va. App. 438, 443, 358 S.E.2d 415, 418 (1987). The judgment of a trial court will be disturbed only if plainly wrong or without evidence to support it. Id. Unless we conclude a witness' testimony must be rejected as a matter of law based on its inherent incredibility, we must defer to the credibility determinations of "the fact finder[,] who has the opportunity of seeing and hearing the witnesses." Schneider v. Commonwealth, 230 Va. 379, 382, 337 S.E.2d 735, 736-37 (1985).
Appellant admitted robbing Lashawn Wilson of the contents of the cash drawer but denied attempting to rob Chris Wilson of the contents of his pocket. Appellant acknowledges, however, that Chris Wilson testified appellant both pointed a gun at him and "told me to give him what I had in my pocket." On this record, we hold that Chris Wilson's testimony, which the trial court expressly indicated it found credible, provided sufficient evidence to support appellant's conviction for attempted robbery.
That the video footage from the store's surveillance cameras did not clearly depict these events does not require a different result. The trial court heard evidence regarding the placement of the surveillance cameras in the store and viewed the footage from those cameras at trial, although the electronic media containing the video footage was not actually offered into evidence. The trial court expressly noted its belief that "what the Court could see from the surveillance camera alone is . . . insufficient in and of itself to convict these defendants of the attempted robbery of Chris Wilson and the related firearms charge." (Emphasis added). The court also expressly found, however, that "the video does corroborate in many respects the testimony of Mr. Wilson," which the trial court found was "highly credible."
Thus, the court held that the fact that the attempted robbery was not clearly visible on the surveillance videos did not prevent the conclusion that the events to which Chris Wilson testified actually occurred. Based on the evidence in the record on appeal, which does not include the electronic media containing the surveillance video, we hold this conclusion was not plainly wrong or without evidence to support it.
Appellant argues the trial court could not impose the enhanced mandatory minimum penalty for a second or subsequent conviction for use of a firearm in the commission of an enumerated felony because the Commonwealth failed to charge in the indictment for that crime that it was a second or subsequent offense. We disagree.
Code § 18.2-53.1 provides in relevant part as follows:
It shall be unlawful for any person to use or attempt to use any pistol, shotgun, rifle, or other firearm or display such weapon in a threatening manner while committing or attempting to commit. . . robbery . . . . Violation of this section shall constitute a separate and distinct felony and any person found guilty thereof shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of three years for a first conviction, and to a mandatory minimum term of five years for a second or subsequent conviction . . . .
The Virginia Supreme Court interpreted this statute in Ansell v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 759, 250 S.E.2d 760 (1979), in a manner directly contrary to the interpretation appellant advances in this appeal. The defendant in Ansell was indicted for two robberies, one attempted robbery, and three instances of using a firearm in the commission of the primary felonies in violation of Code § 18.2-53.1.1 Id. at 760, 250 S.E.2d at 761. All six offenses occurred within a forty-five-minute period. Id. at 761, 250 S.E.2d at 761. The defendant pleaded guilty to the offenses but objected when the trial court sentenced him to the enhanced mandatory minimum penalty for the second and third firearms convictions. Id.
The Supreme Court noted that
Statutes such as § 18.2-53.1, providing additional punishment for subsequent commission of the same offense, are criminal in nature. They are sometimes characterized as "specific recidivist" statutes. . . . Such statutes may by their language require that the indictment state that the offense charged is a second or subsequent offense. No such requirement, however, is mandated by § 18.2-53.1.
Id. at 762, 250 S.E.2d at 762 (emphasis added) (citation and footnote omitted). The Supreme Court also held that the purpose of this "specific recidivist" statute is to deter criminal conduct rather than to reform, which is the purpose of general recidivist statutes. Id. In light of this purpose, it explained,
there is no reason not to apply the increased penalties to any subsequent offense with or without intervening conviction "since presumably a greater penalty would be required to deter a repetition of a criminal activity by an offender who has not been convicted previously than to deter repetition by the offender who has been subjected to the corrective impact of conviction and sentence."
Id. at 762-63, 250 S.E.2d at 762 (quoting Gonzalez v. United States, 224 F.2d 431, 433 (1st Cir. 1955)).
The Supreme Court applied this reasoning again in Flythe v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 832, 834-35, 275 S.E.2d 582, 583-84 (1981). Flythe involved one incident with two different victims, whereas Ansell involved a series of distinct incidents committed in a forty-five-minute period. Flythe, 221 Va. at 834, 275 S.E.2d at 583. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court held that where the defendant was tried for the firearms offenses in one trial, the same legal principles applied because "[a]ny conviction that follows a first conviction is a subsequent conviction within the purview of Code § 18.2-53.1." Id. at 834-35, 275 S.E.2d at 583-84. Implicit in Flythe was the principle set out explicitly in Ansell—that Code § 18.2-53.1 does not require "the indictment state that the offense charged is a second or subsequent offense." 219 Va. at 762, 250 S.E.2d at 762.
In Stubblefield v. Commonwealth, 10 Va. App. 343, 392 S.E.2d 197 (1990), we considered the scope of the Supreme Court's holding in Ansell and applied it to convictions for unrelated firearms offenses rendered in separate proceedings. Based on Ansell, we rejected the defendant's claim that he was entitled to notice, via the indictment or a bill of particulars, that he was subject to punishment for the violation of Code § 18.2-53.1 as a second or subsequent offense. 10 Va. App. at 346-48, 392 S.E.2d at 198-99.
Thus, Virginia law clearly provides that Code § 18.2-53.1 does not require the Commonwealth to charge in an indictment, for using a firearm in the commission of an enumerated felony, that the particular crime is a second or subsequent offense before the offender may be sentenced to the enhanced mandatory minimum penalty.
Appellant nevertheless contends that our subsequent holding in Batts v. Commonwealth, 30 Va. App. 1, 515 S.E.2d 307 (1999), compels a different result. He argues Batts holds that "only a conviction which has become final, through entry of a sentencing order, can be used [as] a predicate conviction to impose the five year sentence under [Code §] 18.2-53.1." We hold Batts is distinguishable.
Batts, like Stubblefield, involved first and second firearms offenses that occurred at separate times and were tried in separate proceedings. Batts, 30 Va. App. at 5-9, 515 S.E.2d at 309-12. However, in Stubblefield, 10 Va. App. at 346-48, 392 S.E.2d at 198-99, the first conviction was final before it was used for enhancement purposes, whereas in Batts, 30 Va. App. at 5-9, 515 S.E.2d at 309-12, the first conviction was not yet final when used for enhancement. In the first proceeding in Batts, the defendant was convicted by a jury of the firearms offense, but sentencing was delayed. 30 Va. App. at 5-9, 515 S.E.2d at 309-12. Before Batts was sentenced for the first offense, a second, unrelated proceeding was held for another firearms offense. Id. In that second proceeding, Batts was convicted pursuant to an instruction that permitted the jury to sentence him for "a `second or subsequent conviction' in the absence of proof of a first conviction." Id. at 12, 515 S.E.2d at 313. After the jury sentenced appellant for a second offense, the trial judge in the first proceeding,...
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