State v. Bentley

116 So. 3d 891, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1106, 2013 WL 2102634, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 947
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 15, 2013
DocketNo. 2012-KA-1106
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 116 So. 3d 891 (State v. Bentley) 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. Bentley, 116 So. 3d 891, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1106, 2013 WL 2102634, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 947 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

DANIEL L. DYSART, Judge.

| Russel Bentley appeals his conviction for second degree murder arguing that the trial court erred in not granting his motion to suppress the evidence. For the following reasons, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF CASE:

Defendant, Russel Bentley (“Bentley”), and a co-defendant, Norman Newman (“Newman”), were charged by grand jury indictment with one count of first degree murder, in violation of La. R.S. 14:30. The bill of indictment provided that Bentley and Newman committed first degree murder of Clifton Barnes on July 19, 2006, while perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate an armed robbery.

Bentley and Newman filed motions to suppress the evidence and identification. The trial court denied the motions to suppress the evidence, specifically regarding the seizure of the gun. The defendants sought review in this court, which was denied.

Thereafter, the State amended the bill of indictment to charge both Bentley and Newman with second degree murder. Newman pled guilty to a charge of manslaughter, in violation of La. R.S. 14:31, and received a forty year sentence. | ¡The State also offered Bentley a plea bargain of twenty years in exchange for a guilty plea, which he refused.

Bentley was found guilty by a jury of the amended charge of second degree murder. He subsequently filed a motion for new trial which was denied. The same day, the trial court sentenced Bentley to life in prison without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND:

In July of 2006, the victim, Clifton Barnes (“Clifton”), and his wife, Tyra Barnes (“Tyra”), were living in a FEMA trailer near Clifton’s barbershop with their two young children in the 3600 block of St. Claude Avenue.

Tyra testified that on July 16, 2006, two men came to the trailer asking for her husband, who was in Texas with their son. The two men returned the following two days. After the third visit, Tyra observed the two men sitting in a red Camaro with a black hood, watching the residence. She stated that she became concerned, but did not notify authorities.

On July 19, 2006, Clifton returned from Texas. Tyra told him about the two men, but Clifton said he did not know who they were. Later that afternoon, the Barnes’s went to the bank and withdrew about $9,000.00 to purchase building materials to rebuild their flooded home. They returned home with about $3,500.00.

That evening, the same two men, who had previously visited, knocked on their door and asked Clifton for a haircut. Clifton told them that he was closed for the night, but to return the next morning. The two men then backed Clifton into the trailer at gun point. Tyra testified that one man, later identified as Newman, had the gun and demanded money. The other man, later identified as Bentley, |sstood at the door of the trailer. When Clifton asked the men what they were doing, Newman again demanded money and shot [894]*894Clifton. The men allowed Tyra to go into the bedroom with the children. Newman again demanded, “where’s your money?” Clifton again stated that he did not have any money, and Newman shot Clifton again. Tyra heard Newman again demand money. Clifton stated that he did not have any. She then heard Bentley say “hit him in the head” and Clifton plead “don’t do this; I have a family.” Newman shot Clifton two more times, once in the head, killing him. Tyra testified that she did not see her husband give the men money but that after they had left, her husband’s pants were down around his knees and the money was gone. The police were called, and Tyra gave the description of the two men and the events that unfolded. Several days later, she identified Newman and Bentley out of two separate photographic line ups as the men who killed her husband.

Sergeant Ronald Ruiz (“Sgt. Ruiz”) of the NOPD testified that he responded to the scene on St. Claude Avenue. He stated at the motion to suppress hearing that he developed Newman as a suspect from a “crimestoppers” tip. During the investigation, Sgt. Ruiz determined that Newman was residing in an apartment on Parc Brittany Boulevard. As a result, Sgt. Ruiz conducted a surveillance of the apartment complex and observed a red Camaro that matched Tyra’s description. After determining that the Camaro was registered to Newman, Sgt. Ruiz compiled the photographic line-up from which Tyra identified Newman as the gunman.

Thereafter, Sgt. Ruiz spoke with the apartment manager at Parc Brittany to determine in which apartment Newman was living. Sgt. Ruiz subsequently obtained an arrest warrant for Newman and a search warrant for his apartment. A SWAT team executed the warrants, while Sgt. Ruiz and other members of the 14homicide team waited in the parking lot. The SWAT team found Newman, his wife Conchetta Jackson (“Conchetta”), their two children, and Bentley inside the apartment. Bentley was found in the children’s bedroom where he had been sleeping.

Ruiz testified that when he entered the apartment, Conchetta and Bentley were handcuffed sitting at the dining room table, and the children were sitting on the sofa. Newman was injured during the SWAT team entry and immediately taken to the hospital. After interviewing Con-chetta, Sgt. Ruiz and other members of the homicide team searched the apartment.

During the search, the police confiscated two photographs of Newman in the red Camaro as well as a Glock pistol. The handgun was found inside a duffel bag between the children’s beds, next to where Bentley was sleeping. Ruiz identified the duffel bag and handgun found in the children’s room from a photograph at trial. He also identified the Glock .40 caliber handgun, magazine, and eight live .40 caliber rounds, as the items he discovered in Bentley’s duffle bag. Sgt. Ruiz testified that Bentley was developed as an additional suspect because he was inside Newman’s residence and because he matched Tyra’s general physical description of the second man who had entered her trailer. Tyra subsequently identified Bentley’s photograph in a line-up.

As noted by the State, due to a hearsay objection, Sgt. Ruiz could not testify at trial as to Bentley’s location during the SWAT tekm’s entrance. However, Sgt. Ruiz’s testimony from the motion to suppress hearing provides that the SWAT team informed him that Bentley was sleeping in one of the children’s beds, next to the duffle bag containing the handgun.

^Conchetta, who divorced Newman pri- or to trial, testified that Bentley was residing at the Parc Brittany apartment with [895]*895them for approximately two weeks before the search. He slept in her children’s’ bedroom and had a duffle bag with clothes. Conchetta testified that when the police entered their apartment, she asked Bentley if he had anything in their home, and he nodded his head towards the children’s room. Conchetta testified that on the night of the incident, when the police officers showed her the handgun found in the duffle bag, she stated, “that’s not his [Newman]; he doesn’t have anything to do with guns.” Meredith Acosta, a firearms examiner for the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Officer, testified that the bullet casings found at the trailer on St. Claude matched the .40 caliber pistol found at the Parc Brittany apartment.

DISCUSSION:1

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Bluebook (online)
116 So. 3d 891, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1106, 2013 WL 2102634, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 947, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bentley-lactapp-2013.