State v. Bryant

80 So. 3d 754, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1577, 2011 WL 6379961
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 21, 2011
DocketNos. 46,744-KA, 46,745-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 80 So. 3d 754 (State v. Bryant) 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. Bryant, 80 So. 3d 754, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1577, 2011 WL 6379961 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

LOLLEY, J.

| iThis criminal appeal arises from the First Judicial District Court, Parish of Caddo, State of Louisiana. The defendant, Jerome Bryant, Jr., was found guilty, following a bench trial, of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling (a violation of La. R.S. 14:62.2) and aggravated burglary (a violation of La. R.S. 14:60). Bryant was subsequently adjudicated a second-felony offender and sentenced to serve 25 years at hard labor, without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence for the aggravated burglary conviction, and 12 years at hard labor for the simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling conviction, the first year of which to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The trial court ordered the sentences to run concurrently to one another. Additionally, the defendant was ordered to pay court costs, or in lieu of such payment, to serve an additional 30 days in the parish jail. Bryant appeals his convictions and sentences.

Facts

On March 11, 2009, by three separate bills of information, Bryant was charged [756]*756with two counts of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, in violation of La. R.S. 14:62.2, and one count of attempted second degree murder, which was later amended to aggravated burglary, in violation of La. R.S. 14:60.

In November 2010, Bryant’s bench trial commenced. The state called Corporal Diane Coleman of the Shreveport Police Department as its first witness. Corporal Coleman testified that she received a call on February 5, 2009, regarding shots fired at a home on Pennsylvania Avenue in | j>Shreveport. When she arrived at the house, Jason Goetz, the homeowner, told her that he had been at home with his young daughter and heard a noise at the back door. When he went to investigate, a black male was standing in the doorway and shot at him.

Corporal Coleman testified that in the course of her investigation, she interviewed Sarah Knots, a witness who told Cpl. Coleman that on her way home from school she had seen a white Crown Victoria with dark tinted windows driving very slowly down Pennsylvania Avenue. Some time after seeing the vehicle, Knots heard two gun shots.

The state called Sarah Knots as its next witness. Knots corroborated Cpl. Coleman’s testimony by verifying that she had seen the white Crown Victoria on February 5, 2009, on Pennsylvania Avenue. The windows on the vehicle were tinted and the front license plate was a blue Ford license plate. The car stayed stopped at a stop sign for several seconds to let Knots pass. A little while later, Knots heard two gunshots. During the investigation, when Knots was later shown the vehicle, she positively identified the Crown Victoria as the car she saw.

Officer Joseph Anthony Dews, a supervisor for the Shreveport Police Department, was then called to testify. Officer Dews stated that he responded to a burglary complaint on East Washington Street in Shreveport in February 2009. The homeowner, Carolyn Jones, told Officer Dews that when she returned home that morning, her front door was unlocked and her house had been burglarized. The back door had been kicked open. Officer Dews photographed a shoe print on the outside of the back door, and ^another officer obtained a full hand print from inside the house. Several guns, a laptop and an iPod were taken from the home. ■

The state called Deandrae Jackson, Bryant’s codefendant, as its next witness. Jackson had previously pled guilty to illegal possession of stolen things for his part in the burglaries and was sentenced to serve 10 years at hard labor, suspended, with four years of probation.

Jackson testified that he was with Bryant on February 5, 2009, and that they were driving Jackson’s stepfather’s car, a white Crown Victoria with tinted windows. Jackson admitted that items found in the vehicle — a flat screen television, video games, a mink coat, a printer, a digital camera, an iPod, a Nintendo Wii, and some guns — had been stolen from various homes; however, he claimed he could not remember the exact addresses of the homes. Jackson also testified he drove the Crown Victoria while Bryant entered the homes and brought the valuables out to the vehicle. Jackson testified that when Bryant returned from the house on Pennsylvania Avenue, Bryant told Jackson to “go, go, go.” Jackson refused to admit that he told police that Bryant told him that he shot at someone, despite the fact he had previously testified to such at his guilty plea hearing.

The state then played the recorded video testimony of Jason Goetz, the homeowner at 433 Pennsylvania Avenue, who [757]*757was serving in Afghanistan at the time of the trial. Goetz testified that he was home with his two-year-old daughter when he heard a noise at the back door. He went to the back door, which was actually a set of French doors. Because the blinds were halfway down on the doors, he could see the pants of the person |4standing at the door. Suddenly, the doors were kicked in and a young blackman was standing with a gun in his hand. The young man raised the gun, holding it sideways, and fired off two shots aimed at Goetz, that missed. According to Goetz, he and the shooter met eye-to-eye. Goetz testified that after the shooter fired the shots, he fled, and Goetz ran to check on his daughter. Peeking out of the blinds in her room, he saw the shooter run to a light-colored vehicle to flee. Goetz testified that the shooter never entered the house, but shot from a step outside, which was lower than the house. Detectives later found the bullets on Goetz’s floor, about eight or ten feet from where Goetz had been standing. Goetz identified Bryant as the shooter.

After watching the shooter drive away, Goetz called police and gave a statement. Goetz was later taken by police to a location where some suspects had been apprehended. Goetz immediately identified Bryant as the shooter. During his testimony, he reiterated his confidence that Bryant was the shooter, because he looked him in the eyes at the time.

The state called Damon Jordan, the homeowner of a house at 146 Patton Avenue, in Shreveport, Louisiana, to testify. Jordan explained that on February 5, 2009, his home was burglarized some time after 8:00 a.m., after he and his wife had left for work. Some time later that afternoon, when his son returned home from high school, he discovered that several items were missing from the home. Jordan recalled specifically that games for a Wii console, a camcorder, a printer, a digital camera, a mink coat, a | r,pellet gun and two iPods had been stolen. Jordan opined that the burglars had entered through the back door, which was unlocked.

The state called Detective Rachel Alkire, with the Shreveport Police Department, to testify next. Detective Alkire stated that on February 5, 2009, she received a call regarding a burglary on Pennsylvania Avenue. Shortly thereafter, Det. Alkire and her partner noticed a vehicle matching the description of the one involved in the burglary traveling west on 85th Street in Shreveport. The detectives followed the Crown Victoria until it stopped at a residence on David Street. Detective Alkire then saw two black males in dark clothing standing at the rear of the vehicle looking into the trunk. The detectives drove around the block and when they returned they noticed that the front license plate matched the one described by witness Sarah Knots. Detective Alkire and her partner immediately called for backup and waited down the street. When additional officers arrived, they returned to the house and saw two black males standing outside.

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Related

State v. Bryant
101 So. 3d 429 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
80 So. 3d 754, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1577, 2011 WL 6379961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bryant-lactapp-2011.