State v. Washington, 219 So. 3d 1221

Defendant Otis D. Washington was charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, one count of aggravated assault with a firearm, and one count of aggravated criminal damage to property arising from two incidents on April 28–29, 2015.
Victim David Quazel Roberts testified Defendant brandished and fired a gun at him on April 28, striking and shattering the victim’s car window; the next day Defendant allegedly approached in a vehicle with others and pointed an assault rifle at the victim.
Photographs of the victim’s car showing a bullet hole and shattered windows and police observations corroborated Roberts’s account; no firearm, casings, projectiles, or surveillance footage were recovered.
Jailhouse phone calls made by Defendant after his arrest included statements admitting he was “the shooter” and referencing the charged offenses.
Defendant was convicted by a jury on all counts, later stipulated to being a third felony offender, and received concurrent prison terms; he appealed, challenging sufficiency of the evidence on the existence/use of a firearm.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency to prove existence/use of a firearm	State: Victim ID, car damage photos, and Defendant’s jail calls sufficiently prove a firearm was possessed and used	Washington: No gun or physical ballistics evidence recovered; Facebook photo not authenticated; victim uncorroborated	Affirmed: Victim testimony, physical damage, and Defendant's admissions suffice under Jackson standard
Whether absence of recovered gun defeats possession charge	State: Recovery not required if other evidence shows possession/use	Washington: Without recovery, element not proven	Held: Recovery not required; convictions supported by testimony and corroboration
Aggravated criminal damage element (life-endangerment foreseeability)	State: Shooting into occupied vehicle shows foreseeable danger to human life	Washington: No separate challenge	Held: Photos and testimony show damage was inflicted in circumstances risking human life; conviction supported
Record sentencing/commitment accuracy	State: Transcript controls; commitment should match sentencing transcript	Washington: (not argued)	Remanded: Correct commitment and uniform commitment order to reflect hard labor/fines and proper offense date

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
State v. Ohlsson, 115 So.3d 54 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2013) (application of Jackson standard in Louisiana appellate review)
State v. Gilliam, 149 So.3d 354 (La. App. 3 Cir. 2014) (lack of recovered firearm does not necessarily render evidence insufficient)
State v. Bonilla, 186 So.3d 1242 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2016) (credibility determinations are for the trier of fact)
State v. Bradstreet, 196 So.3d 876 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2016) (photographs of bullet damage can support aggravated criminal damage conviction)
State v. Lynch, 441 So.2d 732 (La. 1983) (when transcript and minute entry conflict, transcript prevails)