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State v. Henderson6/23/2000
Disposition: CONVICTION AND SENTENCE AFFIRMED.
The defendant, Jermaine Henderson, was charged by grand jury indictment with one count of second degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. He pled not guilty. Following a jury trial, he was found guilty as charged. He moved for post-verdict judgment of acquittal and new trial, but the motions were denied. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. He moved for reconsideration of sentence, but the motion was denied. He now appeals, designating five assignments of error.
SUFFICIENCY
In assignment of error number 3, the defendant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal. He argues the State failed to prove he intended to kill Eric Johnson. He further claims his actions against Johnson were in self-defense.
The standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence to uphold a conviction is whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could conclude the State proved the essential elements of the crime and the defendant's identity as the perpetrator of that crime beyond a reasonable doubt. In conducting this review, we also must be expressly mindful of Louisiana's circumstantial evidence test, which states in part, "assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove," every reasonable hypothesis of innocence is excluded. La. R.S. 15:438. State v. Wright, 98-0601, pp. 2-3 (La. App. 1st Cir. 2/19/99), 730 So.2d 485, 486-87, writ denied, 99-0902 (La. 10/29/99), 748 So.2d 1157.
When a conviction is based on both direct and circumstantial evidence, the reviewing court 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 the facts reasonably inferred from the circumstantial evidence must be sufficient for a rational juror to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of every essential element of the crime. Wright, 98-0601 at p. 3, 730 So.2d at 487.
The crime of second degree murder, in pertinent part, "is the killing of a human being: (1) hen the offender has a specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm. . . ." La. R.S. 14:30.1(A)(1).
The purpose of the statute is to prevent the intentional killing of human beings. The statute accomplishes this purpose without requiring the State to prove that the defendant specifically intended the death of the person who was actually killed. See State v. Johnson, 29,629, p. 10 (La. App. 2d Cir. 8/20/97), 698 So.2d 1051, 1056.
The doctrine of transferred intent provides that when a person shoots at an intended victim with the specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm and accidentally kills or inflicts great bodily harm upon another person, if the killing or inflicting of great bodily harm would have been unlawful against the intended victim actually intended to be shot, then it would be unlawful against the person actually shot, even though that person was not the intended victim. State v. Norfleet, 96-2122, p. 4 (La. App. 4th Cir. 10/21/98), 721 So.2d 506, 509; State v. Jasper, 28,187 (La. App. 2d Cir. 6/26/96), 677 So.2d 553, 566-567, writ denied, 96-1897 (La. 2/21/97), 688 So.2d 521.
Specific criminal intent is that "state of mind which exists when the circumstances indicate that the offender actively desired the prescribed criminal consequences to follow his act or failure to act." La. R.S. 14:10(1). Though intent is a
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