State v. Ridgley

Full title: STATE OF LOUISIANA v. DENARD LARRELLE RIDGLEY

Court: Court of Appeals of Louisiana, First Circuit

Date published: Sep 15, 2023

375 So. 3d 1013 (La. Ct. App. 2023)

Opinion

2023 KA 0090

09-15-2023

STATE of Louisiana v. Denard Larrelle RIDGLEY

Warren L. Montgomery, District Attorney, Matthew Caplan, Assistant District Attorney, Covington, Louisiana, Counsel for Appellee, State of Louisiana Meghan Harwell Bitoun, New Orleans, Louisiana, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant, Denard Larrelle Ridgley

LANIER, J.

22 ^nd Judicial District Court, In and for the Parish of St. Tammany, State of Louisiana, Case No. 2057-F-2019, The Honorable Scott Gardner, Judge Presiding

Warren L. Montgomery, District Attorney, Matthew Caplan, Assistant District Attorney, Covington, Louisiana, Counsel for Appellee, State of Louisiana

Meghan Harwell Bitoun, New Orleans, Louisiana, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant, Denard Larrelle Ridgley

BEFORE: GUIDRY, C.J., CHUTZ AND LANIER, JJ.

LANIER, J.

₂The defendant, Denard Larrelle Ridgley, was charged by bill of information with theft when the misappropriation or taking amounts to a value of one thousand dollars or more but less than five thousand dollars, a violation of La. R.S. 14:67(A) & (B)(3). He pled not guilty and, following a jury trial, was found guilty as charged. The trial court originally sentenced the defendant to five years imprisonment at hard labor. Subsequently, the defendant admitted to the allegations in a habitual offender bill of information filed by the State and was adjudicated a fourth-felony habitual offender. The trial court vacated the original sentence and resentenced the defendant to twenty years imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation or suspension of sentence. The defendant now appeals, assigning error to the admission of trial testimony over an objection by the defense on the grounds of relevancy and to the six-person jury composition. For the following reasons, we affirm the conviction and sentence.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On July 23, 2019, at 3:52 p.m., Officer Benjamin Cato of the Mandeville Police Department was dispatched to look for a vehicle after a reported theft at an American Eagle Store, located at 3414 U.S. Highway 190 in Mandeville. According to France Carre, the store manager who was present at the time of the incident, the store was busy that day. She attempted to greet two patrons, a male and female, but they were "kind of rude." They began randomly grabbing clothing items without checking sizes or tags. Based on their behavior, Carre used her headset to inform the store team members that potential shoplifters were in the store. The male exited the store first, stating that he needed to get his credit card. The female initially waited near the entrance, before running out of the store with a stack of clothing items without paying for the items. Carre called the police.

₃Adaline Folse worked at the store next door to American Eagle at the time of the offense. On the day in question, when she arrived at work, she saw a man run through the parking lot, jump into an SUV parked in front of her, quickly pull out of the parking spot, and stop in front of American Eagle. Folse then saw a woman come out of the store with her arms filled with items and observed as the SUV door was opened from the inside. Folse was able to see some of the license plate letters and identify it as a Texas license plate. Folse entered the American Eagle store and provided the information to Carre.