State v. Craft10/3/2001
AFFIRMED AND VACATED IN PART.
The Defendant, William Jeffery Craft, seeks review of his convictions and sentences for possession of controlled dangerous substances, schedules II and IV, violations of La.R.S. 40:967(C) and 40:969(C), respectively.
On the evening of November 20, 1999, Ray Crooks saw an eighteen-wheel truck rig turn into his neighbor's driveway, go through the neighbor's yard and pasture, head toward the bayou, turn around and travel back up a ditch located between their houses. Next, the driver tried to turn south through a ditch and return to Highway 457, did not succeed, backed up and went north on Highway 457, toward LSUA Road. Mr. Crooks notified the Sheriff's office while his wife, Annette Crooks, and sister-in-law, Nancy Ardoin, followed the truck in their vehicles.
The truck turned left onto Highway 3170 and pulled off on the shoulder at a bridge, providing Mrs. Crooks the opportunity to record its license plate number. The truck left the shoulder and traveled in the same direction until it reached Highway 71. At the intersection, the truck turned south on Highway 71, without stopping at the stop sign, and went toward Lecompte. The driver turned the truck around on the highway, crossing all four lanes of traffic and the edge of the ditch, and returned north, toward Alexandria. After passing the Van Mol Store, the driver turned around again, crossing all four lanes of traffic, and headed back toward Lecompte until he reached the Dean Lee Agriculture Center. The driver turned the truck around again, crossing all four lanes of traffic. When he reached LSUA Road, he traveled on the service road and stopped at the Van Mol Store. After a few minutes, he went to the Wal-Mart warehouse where he drove around the building and parked on its north side. Deputy Randall Iles of the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office found the parked truck there. He arrested the Defendant after finding on the console of the truck a prescription bottle bearing the name of Tanya Guidry containing two types of pills. The pills recovered were tested and determined to contain pethidine and alprazolam, which are controlled dangerous substances, schedules II and IV.
Following a trial by a district judge on December 7, 2000, the Defendant was found guilty on both counts. He waived the delay for sentencing and was sentenced to two years at hard labor on each count to run concurrently with each other but consecutive to the sentence he was serving at the time of sentencing. The court also ordered restitution of two hundred fifty dollars to be paid to Ervin Reynaud for damage to his yard and trees. The court added that if the amount is not paid upon the Defendant's eligibility for parole, then payment would be a condition of his parole.
SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE
The Defendant argues that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain the convictions. In State v. Carthan, 99-512, p. 4 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/8/99); 765 So.2d 357, 360, writ denied, 00-359 (La. 3/30/01); 778 So.2d 547, this court stated:
In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction, the critical inquiry on appeal is whether the evidence supports a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. "The relevant question on appeal is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime [proved] beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Daigrepont, 560 So.2d 959, 960 (La.App. 3 Cir.), writ denied, 566 So.2d 396 (La.1990) (citing Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). The Jackson standard allows an appellate court
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