LA SUPCO ruling: Kicking in a door can amount to entry of a home - KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

Information provided by the Caddo District Attorney's Office:

The Louisiana Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeal ruling and reinstated the conviction and sentence of a Shreveport man who was found guilty of aggravated burglary and sentenced as a second felony offender.  

Jerome Bryant, Jr. was found guilty of aggravated burglary in a 2010 bench trial by Judge John Mosely.  Judge Mosely found that Bryant had kicked in a rear door of a residence in the Broadmoor neighborhood of Shreveport and fired a shot into the floor of the residence.  

The Second Circuit Court of Appeal reversed the conviction, finding that the evidence was "insufficient" to show entry by Bryant into the residence. In its ruling, the appellate court noted,  "There was no evidence what amount of force was necessary for Bryant to have kicked in the door, let alone evidence of whether his foot would have crossed the plane to satisfy the entry requirement for burglary."
 
The District Attorney's Office sought review by the Supreme Court of Louisiana.  The Supreme Court held: "Based on the evidence presented at trial, the fact of entry was a reasonable inference when defendant kicked in the door of the house and fully extended his arm in shooting the gun from the step. Thus, we find the court of appeal erred when it held that the State was required to directly prove that defendant's foot crossed the threshold of [the victim's] house."

Wednesday's ruling by the high court means Bryant, convicted in 2010 and ruled a habitual offender in 2011, will serve his concurrent 25-year sentence in prison at hard labor. Bryant was found guilty of aggravated burglary for kicking in a door of a residence in the Broadmoor section of Shreveport in February, 2009 and confronting the homeowner. He was sentenced in 2011 by Judge John Mosely following a bench trial and an habitual offender hearing.