State v. Andy

793 So. 2d 485, 2001 WL 946491
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 22, 2001
Docket34,833-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 793 So. 2d 485 (State v. Andy) 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. Andy, 793 So. 2d 485, 2001 WL 946491 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

793 So.2d 485 (2001)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Jermaine ANDY, Appellant.

No. 34,833-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 22, 2001.
Rehearing Denied September 20, 2001.

*486 James Johnson, Minden, J. Mike Lawrence, Counsel for Appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, General Attorney, James M. Bullers, District Attorney, Charles Jacobs J., Schuyler Marvin, Assistant District Attorney, Counsel for Appellee.

Before NORRIS, BROWN and KOSTELKA, JJ.

*487 BROWN, J.

Defendant, Jermaine Andy, (also known by the nickname "Nig"), was indicted for the second degree murder of Mario Rabb. A jury convicted defendant of the responsive verdict of manslaughter. Defendant obtained new counsel after his conviction and filed motions for new trial and post-verdict judgment of acquittal. Both of these motions were denied. Thereafter, the trial court sentenced defendant to 15 years at hard labor. Following the court's denial of his motion for reconsideration, defendant filed the instant appeal. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

Brief Factual Synopsis

Mario Rabb attended a party at the Bayou Acres Apartments in Minden, Louisiana, on New Year's Eve 1997. In the parking lot of the apartment complex, an argument between Carlos Sanders and defendant escalated into a fistfight between Sanders and Monte Montgomery. The fight progressed into a general melee' in which people were either involved in the fight or were attempting to keep others from fighting. Defendant went to his car, got a .22 caliber revolver and fired one to three shots. Mario Rabb, who was in the crowd but not involved in the fight, was shot above his left eye and died upon arrival at the Minden Medical Center.

Discussion

Denial of Post-Verdict Judgment of Acquittal

In his motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal, defendant claims that the evidence was not sufficient to support his conviction of manslaughter.

When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, appellate courts are controlled by the standard enunciated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Mitchell, 99-3342 (La.10/17/00), 772 So.2d 78; State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676 (La.1984). The reviewing court must determine that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. This standard was codified by the Louisiana Legislature in La.C.Cr.P. art. 821, which applies to all post-verdict motions for acquittal based upon insufficiency of the evidence. Article 821, in pertinent part, provides:

(A) The defendant may move for a post-verdict judgment of acquittal following the verdict ...
(B) A post-verdict judgment of acquittal shall be granted only if the court finds that the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the state, does not reasonably permit a finding of guilty.

Defendant was charged with second degree murder. La.R.S. 14:30.1(A)(1) defines second degree murder as the killing of a human being when the offender has a specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm. Manslaughter is a responsive verdict to second degree murder. La. C.Cr.P. art. 814. La.R.S. 14:31(A) provides that manslaughter is:

(1) A homicide which would be murder under wither Article 30 (first degree murder) or Article 30.1 (second degree murder), but the offense is committed in sudden passion or heat of blood immediately caused by provocation sufficient to deprive an average person of his self-control and cool reflection....
(2) A homicide committed, without any intent to cause death or great bodily harm.
(a) When the offender is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any felony not enumerated in Article 30 or 30.1, or of any intentional *488 misdemeanor directly affecting the person; ...

Defendant specifically argues that State's Exhibit # 1, a .22 caliber revolver, was not shown to have been the weapon defendant possessed on the night of the shooting, nor was it shown to have fired the bullet that killed the victim.

Linking the gun to defendant

The gun started out in the possession of Monte Montgomery. Defendant and Montgomery both testified that Montgomery had defendant keep the gun at his house. Defendant admitted that before the shooting, Montgomery told him where the gun was and that defendant brought that gun to the party in a holster in his car. Defendant further admitted that, during the fight, he got the gun out of the car, but left the holster in the vehicle. Defendant testified that he fired one shot from the pistol, which was then taken from him by Montgomery. Some days later, Montgomery surrendered the weapon to police by showing Officer Danny Weaver the gun's hiding place, which was under a house. The gun recovered by police fit the holster found in defendant's vehicle after the shooting.

Numerous witnesses testified that defendant fired at least one shot from a gun that resembled the revolver recovered by Officer Weaver. Alonda Antuane ("Twone") Solomon, Mario Rabb's half-brother (they have the same father), testified that defendant fired two shots from a dark-colored .22 caliber revolver very similar to the one entered as State's Exhibit # 1. Solomon testified that his brother dropped after the first shot fired by defendant. According to Solomon, defendant fired as he was raising the gun into the air. Defendant told someone, "ya'll get off of him." Solomon believed that defendant was intoxicated. Diequiri Rabb, the decedent's half-brother (they have the same mother), stated that he saw defendant fire a gun twice. He further testified that defendant "aimed into the crowd" when he fired the gun the first time and that the second shot was fired into the air. Antuane Prince, Rabb's cousin, testified that defendant fired one shot into the crowd and two shots into the air. Timothy Loud (Loyd) testified that he saw defendant fire one shot "straight" and the other two "in the air." Loud (Loyd) stated that the gun marked as State's Exhibit # 1 was similar to the gun he saw defendant with the night of the shooting.

Antonio Robinson, a friend of both the defendant and the victim, testified that he heard one gunshot and related that "Nig had his gun, but it was pointing up in the air when I was looking at it." While he was unable to identify State's Exhibit # 1 as the weapon he saw the night of the shooting, he said "it looked like a revolver." Mitra Graham testified that she saw defendant with a gun, then ran inside. Ms. Graham stated that she heard but did not see any shots fired.

Monte Montgomery testified that he and Carlos Sanders got into a fight. While he had Sanders down on the ground, he heard three shots; he then looked up and saw defendant with a gun. Montgomery took the gun from defendant, then chased Sanders into Annie Allen's residence and fired a shot into Ms. Allen's floor. This bullet was never recovered. Montgomery then fled and hid the weapon. Three and one-half weeks later, Montgomery surrendered the gun to police and at trial identified State's Exhibit # 1 as that weapon. Detective Weaver confirmed that State's Exhibit # 1 was the gun turned over to him by Montgomery.

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Related

State v. Bradley
997 So. 2d 694 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
State v. McGee
862 So. 2d 452 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
793 So. 2d 485, 2001 WL 946491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-andy-lactapp-2001.