State v. Bishop

571 So. 2d 749, 1990 WL 194171
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 5, 1990
Docket21944-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 571 So. 2d 749 (State v. Bishop) 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. Bishop, 571 So. 2d 749, 1990 WL 194171 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

571 So.2d 749 (1990)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Robert Earl BISHOP, Appellant.

No. 21944-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

December 5, 1990.

*751 Crawford A. Rose, Jr., Rayville, for appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., New Orleans, William R. Coenen, Jr., Dist. Atty., and Penny Wise-Douciere, Asst. Dist. Atty., Rayville, for appellee.

Before SEXTON, NORRIS and HIGHTOWER, JJ.

NORRIS, Judge.

The defendant, Robert Earl Bishop, was charged by bill of information with armed robbery, La.R.S. 14:64. His first trial ended in mistrial; after his second jury trial he was found guilty as charged. The court sentenced him to 60 years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Bishop now appeals, advancing a total of four assignments of error, one of which has been abandoned. URCA-Rule 2-12.4; State v. Williams, 338 So.2d 672 (La.1976). For the reasons expressed, we affirm.

Facts

The following facts are summarized from the second trial, viewed in light most favorable to the state. On the night of January 6, 1988, Bishop and two confederates, Tyrone Williams and Freddie Gibbs, drove to Shoemaker's Fast Stop on Highway 80 in Rayville. Gibbs, the driver, parked behind the store and let out Bishop and Williams. They were wearing ski masks, hoods and dark clothing. After they entered the store, each walked to a cashier and brandished a pistol; Bishop ordered them at gunpoint to take a bag, put the money in, and make it quick. The cashiers complied. One of them, Ms. Kelly, testified that though she could not see their faces, she took close note of the clothes the assailants were wearing and the guns they were wielding. When the bags were filled the assailants grabbed them, ordered the cashiers into the rear of the store, and bolted out the door. Gibbs was waiting for them nearby. They drove to the vicinity of the public swimming pool, where Williams pitched part of his disguise. They then drove to Bishop's mother's house. Bishop did not actually enter the house but ran to a shed in the back yard. He returned to the car moments later but with different clothes on. They then drove to Richland Apartments to see Williams's girlfriend. There they dumped the money on a table and hastily divided it. Williams and Gibbs put their shares together and hid it in a closet in the apartment; Bishop kept his. They then left and drove Bishop to the trailer where he and his girlfriend lived on Texas St. After dropping Bishop off, Gibbs and Williams went downtown to go drinking.

Within minutes of the robbery, Rayville Police and Richland Parish Sheriff deputies arrived at the Fast Stop to investigate. Deputy Robinson had a hunch that Williams and Gibbs might be involved because deputies in adjacent Ouachita Parish had told him earlier that these two were plotting an armed robbery in Ouachita Parish. Dep. Robinson went down to Russell Street and started asking for Williams and Gibbs. Sometime later, they approached Dep. Robinson and followed him to the sheriff's office for questioning. Meanwhile, an anonymous caller, later identified as Lavelle Wilson, telephoned the sheriff's office to tell Dep. Robinson that he had witnessed the robbery. He later testified that he had been standing near the railroad tracks, observed the incident and recognized Gibbs's car. Wilson later received $50 from Crimestoppers for this information.

In the course of questioning, Gibbs eventually consented to let Dep. Robinson search his car. This search turned up a loaded pistol and a ski mask, both of which matched those described by Ms. Kelly. Gibbs then led Sgt. Graham to Richland *752 Apartments; in Williams's girlfriend's apartment they uncovered $254 in cash. Around this time, city police recovered the other ski mask near the swimming pool. The next day Williams and Gibbs consented to give taped confessions.

That afternoon, Dep. McDonald went to Bishop's mother's house and, pursuant to her consent to search, found in the shed a pistol and clothes that fit Ms. Kelly's description. Already in custody, Bishop telephoned his mother and she pleaded with him to return the money the officers were looking for. After the phone call, Bishop's mother led Dep. McDonald to the trailer, where $332 in cash was wrapped and stashed in a dresser drawer.

For his role in the crime Williams pled guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to the maximum, 99 years at hard labor without benefit.[1] Gibbs pled guilty to accessory after the fact of armed robbery; he was sentenced to the maximum, five years (he did not say whether hard labor was imposed). They were neither promised nor favored with any leniency for testifying against Bishop.

Bishop's first trial was in early December 1988. It ended in mistrial, however, when Dep. Robinson identified Wilson as his reliable confidential informant; the trial judge concluded that the state had unintentionally misled the defense about the identity and availability of a material witness.

The second trial was in April 1989. At this trial Williams testified that Bishop instigated the robbery on January 5 by asking him, "Do you want to make some money?" When Bishop explained that he had a gun and just needed a ride, Williams understood that he intended a robbery. Williams then solicited Gibbs, who had a car and a gun. Gibbs also testified for the state, corroborating Williams's account of the robbery and the tortuous path the robbers took afterward. Lavelle Wilson, the eyewitness, testified that he knew Gibbs and recognized his burgundy 1976 Olds Cutlass. From his vantage point near the tracks, Wilson saw Bishop and Williams get out of the car, don masks and enter the store; he saw they were holding something in their hands; he saw the cashier putting something in a bag; he saw Bishop and Williams run out, hop into Gibbs's car and drive down Rosa Street. Deputies Robinson and McDonald testified about the investigation; the cashiers at the Fast Stop verified that the masks and guns taken as evidence matched those used by the robbers, and that Bishop's build was similar to that of one of the robbers.

The defense urged an alibi; Bishop testified that he was at his girlfriend's trailer on the evening of the robbery, except for two quick errands to get some cigarettes. The girlfriend and her 10-year old daughter also testified in an effort to support the alibi. Bishop further explained that the $332 cash in the dresser drawer was money he had saved from his unemployment checks. The defense attacked Williams and Gibbs as felons and not worthy of belief. Even more strongly it attacked Lavelle Wilson. It produced a witness, Glen Miller, who was standing with Wilson near the tracks when, according to Wilson, the robbery occurred; Miller did not see a robbery, but he left the scene sooner than Wilson did. The defense also argued that Wilson was a "paid witness" who actually retracted his statement two months after the crime in a meeting at the defense counsel's office. Wilson admitted that this meeting took place between himself, Bishop's lawyer and Mr. Riser, the editor of the Richland Journal; nobody from the D.A.'s office was present.[2] He also admitted that when it was suggested to him, "You weren't there" and "Robinson is lying," he agreed. At trial, however, Wilson explained that he went along with Bishop's lawyer that day only because Bishop was threatening his (Wilson's) mother. Mr. Riser testified that Wilson was "very nervous" at the meeting and he was not sure about Wilson's alleged retraction. Gibbs testified *753

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
571 So. 2d 749, 1990 WL 194171, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bishop-lactapp-1990.