State of Louisiana v. Christopher Spriggins

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT

13-1114

STATE OF LOUISIANA

VERSUS

CHRISTOPHER SPRIGGINS

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APPEAL FROM THE
THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
PARISH OF EVANGELINE, DOCKET NO. 92114-FA
HONORABLE J. LARRY VIDRINE, DISTRICT JUDGE
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SYLVIA R. COOKS
JUDGE

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Court composed of Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux, Chief Judge, Sylvia R. Cooks, and
John E. Conery, Judges.

AFFIRMED.

Trent Brignac, District Attorney
Shelley DeVille, Assistant District Attorney
Evangeline Parish District Attorney’s Office
P.O. Drawer 780
Ville Platte, LA 70586
(318) 363-3438
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE
State of Louisiana

Brent Hawkins
Louisiana Appellate Project
P.O. Box 3752
Lake Charles, LA 70602-3752
(337) 502-5146
ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT
Christopher Spriggins

COOKS, Judge.

On November 10, 2010, Defendant, Christophe Spriggins, entered the home

of Ms. Cecilia Ardoin within the Parish of Evangeline without permission. While

Defendant was in the process of burglarizing the home, Ms. Ardoin returned to her

home after attending morning mass. Ms. Ardoin saw Defendant standing in front

of her bookcase. Defendant then grabbed a heavy, wooden pendulum clock and hit

Ms. Ardoin in the head several times. Ms. Ardoin attempted to flee, however

Defendant pursued her and continued hitting her with the clock. Ms. Ardoin fell to

the floor, and Defendant continued hitting her with the clock.

When police arrived on the scene they followed a trail of blood, and found

Ms. Ardoin severely injured. Defendant inadvertently left a jacket at the crime

scene. DNA from the jacket was matched with that of Defendant.

A bill of information was filed charging Defendant with attempted second

degree murder, in violation of La.R.S. 14:27 & 14:30.1, and aggravated burglary,

in violation of La.R.S.14:60. Defendant pled guilty and received two concurrent

twenty-year sentences, pursuant to a plea agreement.

Defendant subsequently moved for an out-of-time appeal. The trial court

granted said motion on July 11, 2013 and appointed the Louisiana Appellate

Project to represent him.

Pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396 (1967),

appellate counsel filed a motion to withdraw, alleging that no non-frivolous issues

existed to appeal. This court denied the motion to withdraw and ordered counsel to

submit a brief addressing a single issue. Counsel has since filed a timely brief

arguing Defendant’s plea was not voluntary because the State’s recitation of the

facts included a misstatement of the elements of attempted second degree murder.

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ERRORS PATENT

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed for

errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find one

error patent concerning the bill of information.

For the charge of attempted second degree murder, the bill cites only La.R.S.

14:30.1 and does not include La.R.S. 14:27, the citation for attempt. “Error in the

citation or its omission shall not be ground for dismissal of the indictment or for

reversal of a conviction if the error or omission did not mislead the defendant to his

prejudice.” La.Code Crim.P. art. 464. Defendant does not allege any prejudice

because of the erroneous citation; thus, any error is harmless. Additionally, by

entering an unqualified plea, Defendant waived review of this non-jurisdictional

pre-plea defect. See State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976). Accordingly, this

error is harmless. State v. Allen, 09-1281 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/5/10), 36 So.3d 1091.

ANALYSIS

In his lone assignment of error, Defendant argues the trial court erred by

accepting his guilty plea because the State’s recitation of the facts misstated an

element of attempted second degree murder. The prosecutor did state that

Defendant had the intent to inflict great bodily harm. However, specific intent to

kill is required to support an attempted second degree murder conviction. State v.

Butler, 322 So.2d 189 (La.1975), State v. Latiolais, 453 So.2d 1266 (La.App. 3

Cir.), writ denied, 458 So.2d 125 (La. 1984).1

Defendant cites State v. Linear, 600 So.2d 113 (LaApp. 2 Cir. 1992) for

support, since it contains a finding that the proceedings lacked a significant factual

basis to support the defendant’s Alford plea to attempted second degree murder.

However, the present case is distinguishable because it was a normal guilty plea

1
Latiolais was abrogated on other grounds by the holding in State v. Hongo, 96-2060 (La.
12/02/97), 706 So.2d 419.

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and thus did not involve North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160

(1970), which allows a defendant to submit to legal punishment without admitting

guilt. Such a plea puts a trial court “on notice that a substantial basis of guilt must

be placed into the record.” State v. J.S., 10-1233, p. 2 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/11/11), 63

So.3d 1185, 1188 (citing State v. Villarreal, 99-827 (La.App. 5 Cir. 2/16/00), 759

So.2d 126, 129, writ denied, 00-1175 (La. 3/16/01), 786 So.2d 745). Thus,

Defendant’s plea proceedings did not have the same basis or requirements as

Linear.

Another line of jurisprudence applies to guilty pleas. In State v. Nguyen, 10-

483, pp. 11-12 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/2/11), 55 So.3d 976, 983-84, writ denied, 11-285

(La. 6/17/11), 63 So.3d 1038, a case from this court in which the defendant alleged

the definition of “dangerous weapon,” an element of the charge against him, was

not explained, this court stated:

“The test for the validity of a guilty plea does not depend on
whether the trial court specifically informed the defendant of every
element of the offense. Rather, the defendant must establish that he
lacked awareness of the essential nature of the offense to which he
was pleading.” State v. Strattman, 08-674, p. 5 (La.App. 5 Cir.
4/28/09), 13 So.3d 1129, 1132, writ denied, 09-1157 (La.1/22/10), 25
So.3d 130; see also, State v. Minniefield, 43,300, p. 4 (La.App. 2 Cir.
6/4/08), 986 So.2d 227, 231. Here, after the trial court read the
aggravated second degree battery statute, the defendant affirmed three
times that he understood the nature of the charges against him.
Further, the defendant affirmed the State’s factual basis, which
included reference to the defendant[’s] using an “object in a manner in
which it was used it was dangerous,” was true. Accordingly, it cannot
be said that the defendant lacked awareness of the essential nature of
the offenses to which he was pleading.

(emphasis added).

Regarding Defendant’s understanding of the proceeding, the following

colloquy occurred at the plea proceeding:

BY THE COURT:

Do you voluntarily waive all these rights that I have explained
to you and entered this plea of guilty because you are in fact guilty of
these charges?

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BY MR. SPRIGGINS:

Yes sir.

BY THE COURT:

Have you fully understood all of what I’ve told you, and
particularly that you do not have to plead guilty at all if you do not
want to?

BY MR. SPRIGGINS:

Yes sir.

BY THE COURT:

Do you have any questions; do you have any reservations about
pleading guilty?

BY MR. SPRIGGINS:

No sir.

BY THE COURT:

Mr. Fontenot would read to Mr. Spriggins what the maximum
penalties are, and give us the factual basis that gave rise to these
charges.

BY MR. FONTENOT:

Yes sir Your Honor. Under the Second Degree Murder statute
that carries mandatory life in prison, so any attempt to commit that
carries a maximum of fifty years.

With regard to the Aggravated Burglary, whoever commits that
crime shall be imprisoned for hard labor for not less than one nor
more than thirty years.

In this particular case, on or about November 10, 2010 the
defendant did enter the home of Ms. Cecilia Ardoin within the Parish
of Evangeline without permission, which is the burglary; during the
commission of that burglary did hit Ms. Ardoin with what reports [sic]
to be a clock with intent to cause great bodily harm, which is where
the attempted murder comes from.

BY THE COURT:

I understand. Mrs. Kelly, are you satisfied with the reading of
the maximum penalty, and are you further satisfied that considering
the factual basis just set forth by Mr. Tim Fontenot from the DA’s

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office there will be sufficient evidence to prove the essential elements
of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt?

BY MS. KELLY:

Yes sir.

BY THE COURT:

Ms. Spriggins [sic], how do you plead to a violation of
Louisiana Revised Statute Title 14, Section 30.1, Attempted Second
Degree Murder?

BY MR. SPRIGGINS:

Guilty.

BY THE COURT:

How do you plead to a violation of Louisiana Revised Statute
Title 14, Section 60.3, Aggravated Burglary with a Battery?

MR. SPRIGGINS:

Guilty.

BY THE COURT:

I make an affirmative finding of fact that your pleas of guilty
are being made freely, voluntarily and intelligently, that you want me
to accept it, and I do accept it.

Ms. Kelly, do you care to waive the provision of Louisiana
Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894.1, particularly Sections D and
E thereof?

BY MS. KELLY:

Yes sir.

BY THE COURT:

In accordance with your plea bargain agreement Mr. Spriggins,
on both the Attempted Second Degree Murder and the Aggravated
Burglary with a Battery, I’m going to sentence you to 20 years at hard
labor on each count to run concurrent with one another.

Special conditions are that upon your release from jail you will
have no contact with the victim and that you further understand that
your Attempted Second Degree Murder [sentence] is served without
benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

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I further inform you that [by] virtue of Louisiana Code of
Criminal Procedure Article 930.8 there is a two year prescriptive
period for you to apply for post conviction relief which begins to run
from the time of finality of this judgment, and I will ask you Mr.
Spriggins, and you Mrs. Kelly, do you both affirm and acknowledge
for the record that Mr. Spriggins’ plea was a direct result of the plea
bargain, and that Mr. Spriggins received exactly what was bargained
for, and that the plea bargains terms and conditions were correctly and
clearly set forth and encompassed in the sentence of this court. Is that
correct sir?

MR. SPRIGGINS:

Yes.

BY THE COURT:

Ma’am?

BY MS. KELLY:

Yes sir.

The foregoing exchange indicates Defendant understood the proceedings.

Moreover, Defendant makes no showing on appeal to indicate he lacked awareness

of the essential nature of attempted second degree murder such that the pleas

should be vacated. Thus, we find this assignment lacks merit.

DECREE

For the foregoing reasons, Defendant’s guilty pleas and sentences are

affirmed.

AFFIRMED.

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