State v. McGowan, 199 So. 3d 1156

Defendant Ricky C. McGowan was charged with illegal possession of stolen things (Bobcat T300) and forgery; trial resulted in convictions on both counts.
Facts: a rented Bobcat reported stolen from Sunbelt/Nations Rent; defendant attempted to sell a Bobcat to a dealer using a fabricated sales receipt and altered VIN on the machine.
The State sought and the trial court granted a La. C.E. art. 404(B) notice to introduce defendant’s 2000 conviction for altering/removing VINs to prove guilty knowledge.
At trial defense counsel did not object when the State offered the prior conviction packet; defendant was convicted by jury and originally sentenced to concurrent 10-year terms.
The State filed a multiple offender bill; defendant was adjudicated a third felony offender and resentenced on count one to 15 years at hard labor (without benefits), concurrent with count two.
On appeal McGowan argued (1) erroneous admission of other-crimes evidence and (2) his enhanced 15-year sentence is constitutionally excessive; the court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of other-crimes evidence under La. C.E. art. 404(B)	State: prior VIN-altering conviction is probative of guilty knowledge that the Bobcat was stolen	McGowan: prior conviction (15 years old) irrelevant and more prejudicial than probative; preservation asserted	Court: defendant failed to contemporaneously object at trial (issue not preserved); even if error, admission was harmless because ample independent evidence supported conviction
Excessiveness of enhanced sentence (15 years as third-felony offender)	State: sentence within statutory range for a third-felony offender and consistent with legislative intent to punish repeat offenders	McGowan: sentence is overly harsh for nonviolent, property offenses tied to addiction; requests remand/resentencing	Court: sentence not constitutionally excessive given defendant’s criminal history, statutory enhancement range, and trial court discretion; affirmed

State v. Patin, 150 So.3d 435 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2014) (contemporaneous objection rule bars appellate review where defendant accepted evidence at trial despite pretrial objection)
State v. Battie, 735 So.2d 844 (La. App. 5 Cir. 1999) (other-crimes error subject to harmless-error analysis)
State v. Johnson, 664 So.2d 94 (La. 1995) (harmless-error framework for improper evidentiary rulings)
State v. Chester, 707 So.2d 973 (La. 1997) (state must prove guilty knowledge for illegal possession of stolen things)
State v. Ennis, 414 So.2d 661 (La. 1982) (mere possession of stolen property does not create presumption of guilty knowledge)
State v. Nguyen, 958 So.2d 61 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2007) (Eighth Amendment and La. Const. art. I, § 20 govern excessive-sentence review)
State v. Walker, 799 So.2d 461 (La. 2001) (appellate court defers to trial court’s wide sentencing discretion)