State v. Anderson

85 So. 3d 747, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1879, 2012 WL 503614
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 15, 2012
DocketNo. 2010-KA-1589
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 85 So. 3d 747 (State v. Anderson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Anderson, 85 So. 3d 747, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1879, 2012 WL 503614 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

DANIEL L. DYSART, Judge.

| PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Defendant, Ronald Anderson was charged by grand jury indictment with two counts of first degree murder of George Roberts and Jonathan Gallagher. The defendant plead not guilty and following a lunacy hearing, the trial court found defendant not competent to proceed to trial. After a second lunacy hearing, defendant was found competent to stand trial. Thereafter the State amended the indictment to charge the defendant with two counts of second degree murder, violations of La. R.S. 14:30.1. The trial court denied defendant’s Motion to Suppress the identifications. The matter proceeded to trial on September 15, 2009 before a twelve (12) person jury. On that same date, this Court granted the State’s writ application relating to the trial court’s ruling denying the State’s Motion in Limine as to the introduction of a mock crime/lineup video.1 On September 17, 2009, this Court denied the State’s writ as to the admissibility of the substance of a Crimestoppers’ tip.2

|2On September 18, 2009, the jury returned separate verdicts of guilty as to each count charged. The trial court denied defendant’s motions for new trial and for post-verdict judgment of acquittal. The defendant was sentenced on each of the two convictions to life imprisonment at [750]*750hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Defendant subsequently filed this appeal.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

At trial, New Orleans Police Department Officer David Wright testified that on July 7, 2005, he and his partner responded to a call of a shooting near St. Bernard Avenue and N. Roman Street. Before they arrived at the scene they received a call of another shooting several blocks away, at Laharpe and N. Prieur. They went to the second scene where a large group of on-lookers flagged them down to inform them that a young man was lying in front of 1547 N. Prieur. The officers secured the scene and canvassed the area for witnesses without success.

The victim at the first scene, George Roberts, died of a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. He also had a nonfatal grazing bullet wound to his chin. The victim at the second scene, Jonathan Gallagher, had suffered six gunshot wounds. Four of the bullet wounds were to Gallagher’s head and were fired from within a distance of a foot to a foot and a half away.

New Orleans Police Department Detective Sergeant Troy Williams testified that he was the commander of the NOPD homicide unit on July 7, 2005. The lead detective on the double homicide was Detective Fred Conerly. Sgt. Williams testified that the witnesses described the perpetrators as juvenile males, perhaps fifteen or sixteen-years old. Sgt. Williams testified that he and Detective Conerly viewed outside video surveillance footage from the night of the murders from | ..¡Danny’s Seafood Market, which was located in the area where the shootings took place.

Sgt. Williams also testified about receiving a Crimestoppers’ tip which lead him to a residence in Algiers where the resident, Kerry Gibson, had a digitally recorded message from an individual named Ace Brown. In the message, Brown stated that he had done something bad, but asked Gibson not to call the police. Gibson told police that he believed Brown may have had something to do with the double homicides, and he gave police a description of the car Brown was driving. Sgt. Williams listened to the message but testified that as far as he could recall the message did not mention the murders, and it did not contain a confession.

Detective Fred Conerly testified that he responded first to the St. Bernard Avenue and N. Roman Street homicide scene, arriving there at approximately 9:22 p.m. Conerly noticed that Danny’s Seafood establishment, located at that corner, had a surveillance camera. Detective Conerly spoke with a witness on the scene, Quint-rale Williams, who provided him with a description of the perpetrator of the homicide. Detective Conerly went to the scene of the second shooting where the body of the deceased victim, Jonathan Gallagher, had been removed by the coroner’s office. Julian Gallagher, a second witness, and the brother of Jonathan Gallagher, along with Quintrale Williams, were transported to the First District Police Station to be interviewed. Both men gave statements at the station that were recorded. Each provided a description of the perpetrator. The two audio cassette tapes were logged into evidence at police headquarters. Detective Conerly identified a receipt for those tapes.

Detective Conerly eventually developed defendant Ronald Anderson as a suspect. Anderson lived at 2326 Annette Street which, according to Detective ^Conerly, was within walking distance of the locations of the homicides. He testified that Ace Brown lived in Eastern New Orleans, which was not near the area of the homicides. Detective Conerly conducted photo lineups with the defendant’s photo includ[751]*751ed. Detective Conerly presented the photo lineups to the witnesses Julian Gallagher and Quintrale Williams separately, at their respective residences. Detective Conerly detailed the identification procedure and stated that Gallagher and Williams picked defendant’s photo out of the lineup, “without hesitation or waiver.” When asked how long it took them to make the identifications, Detective Conerly replied, “I would say immediately.”

Quintrale Williams testified that victim George Roberts was his cousin and that the victim Jonathan Gallagher was his best friend with whom he had grown up. He positively identified the defendant in open court during the trial as the person who murdered George. Williams testified that on the night of the murders, he was at Jonathan and Julian Gallagher’s Republic Street residence when George Roberts telephoned and said he was coming by. Jonathan wanted to go to his girlfriend’s home, so Quintrale, Julian and George Roberts walked with Jonathan from Republic Street to St. Bernard Avenue. As they were walking down St. Bernard Avenue, they observed the defendant and another individual approach and walk behind and alongside them for some period of time allowing both Quintrale and Julian to observe the defendant.

Quintrale testified that he observed the defendant stop at the store, and as the four of them went around the corner next to Danny’s Seafood, defendant and his companion came behind them and asked where they were from. George replied that they were from the Seventh Ward, which is where they were at the time, and defendant asked ‘What side?” George then ran at the defendant to hit him. | ¿Quintrale testified that the defendant sidestepped George, pulled out a gun, and he shot toward George. He further testified that he heard one shot, and that when he ran and turned the corner he heard another shot. He testified that he had seen the video of them walking from the surveillance camera mounted on Danny’s Seafood. The video was played at trial and he identified the defendant and his companion.

Quintrale said that after George was shot he ran towards Claiborne Avenue and the Circle Food Store, where he called 911. He then went to his cousin’s home and after a short period of time returned to the scene and spoke to police officers. Quint-rale said he described defendant to police as approximately five feet seven or eight inches tall. He later estimated defendant’s age that night as sixteen. Quintrale testified he was presented with a photo lineup, and he freely and voluntarily picked out the defendant’s photo as the shooter.

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Related

State v. Torregano
101 So. 3d 76 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
85 So. 3d 747, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1879, 2012 WL 503614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-anderson-lactapp-2012.