State v. Carey

110 So. 3d 221, 2013 WL 692469, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 322
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 27, 2013
DocketNo. 47,650-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 110 So. 3d 221 (State v. Carey) 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. Carey, 110 So. 3d 221, 2013 WL 692469, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 322 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, J.

liA Caddo Parish Grand Jury returned an indictment charging the defendant, De-mond Carey, with second degree murder, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30.1. Following a jury trial, he was found guilty of the responsive verdict of manslaughter. He was adjudicated a second-felony habitual offender and sentenced to serve 80 years at hard labor without the benefit of probation or suspension of sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

On July 19, 2008, at approximately 1:45 p.m., Detective James E. Cromer, Jr., a former member of the Shreveport Police Department Violent Crimes Unit,1 responded to a call that a man had been shot, possibly deceased, in the Cooper Road area. When the police officers arrived on Nena Street, they discovered the body of a deceased male inside a silver pickup truck parked on the side of the street. Detective Cromer testified that numerous bullet holes had been fired into the vehicle and the driver’s side window; the victim was behind the steering wheel, slightly leaned to the right, with his head tilted down. There was a gun on the floorboard next to the victim’s feet and blood splatter throughout the vehicle.

A short while into the investigation police officers learned that there was another crime scene — the Quick Pack convenience store on David Raines Road in Shreveport. When officers arrived at the Quick Pack location, they discovered a hole in the window of the convenience store and bullets lying on a newspaper stand. Detective Cromer, along with another detective, were able to identify and interview several witnesses: Haston | ¡.Smith, Roy Riley and two teenaged girls.

The investigation revealed that a group of people were sitting around drinking alcohol, playing dominoes and dice under a tree in an empty lot next to the Quick Pack. The group included Demond Carey (the defendant), Demarcus Jones and Lon-zell Armstrong (the victim). An argument ensued; the defendant, the victim and Jones left and later returned with guns. When the victim returned, he began to walk toward the tree next to the store. However, a witness, Haston Smith, convinced the victim to return to his truck and leave. The victim returned to his truck and started the engine. However, before he could drive away, Jones fired multiple gunshots at the victim’s truck from the driver’s side. Simultaneously, the defendant, Demond Carey, fired multiple gunshots into the back passenger side of the victim’s truck. After the shooting ceased, the victim drove away and was found dead in his truck on Nena Street, approximately two blocks from the scene.

Through the investigation and information obtained from a confidential informant, Detective Cromer was able to identify two suspects: Demarcus Jones (a.k.a. “Papa”) and Demond Carey (a.k.a. “Money”). Several days after the shooting, Jones was arrested at a hotel on Monk-[225]*225house Drive in Shreveport. Several months later, the defendant was taken into custody in Georgia, with the assistance of United States Marshals.

On October 16, 2008, the defendant was charged by bill of indictment with second degree murder.2 On October 8, 2010, the state filed a motion to ^invoke firearm sentencing provisions. The jury trial began on October 25, 2011.

Sergeant Tommy Rachal, of the Shreveport Police Department, assisted in the investigation of this matter.3 Sgt. Rachal testified that he processed the crime scene on Nena Street, as well as the crime scene surrounding the convenience store. The state presented into evidence the diagrams Sgt. Rachal made of both crime scenes. The state also introduced into evidence photographs taken of the crime scenes which depicted the following: the Quick Pack and the parking lot; two bullets that hit a Marlboro sign inside the Quick Pack; the victim’s truck on Nena Street; bullet holes along the passenger side of the victim’s truck; the front of the victim’s truck; bullet holes in the driver’s side of the victim’s truck; a bullet hole in the driver’s seat headrest; a .22 caliber revolver that was located on the floorboard underneath the victim’s feet; and the victim seated in the truck.

Sgt. Rachal testified that the bullets in the driver’s side of the victim’s truck were consistent with medium to large caliber bullets. Based on trajectory dowel rod tests conducted by Sgt. Rachal, he concluded that the shots on the driver’s side came from the left side of the vehicle and the two |4shots on the passenger side came from the rear of the vehicle. He stated that if the damage was inflicted simultaneously, it could not have been inflicted by only one person.

Based upon Sgt. Rachal’s testimony, the state also introduced into evidence several spent .40 caliber cartridge casings that were found in the front area of the parking lot of the Quick Pack. Sgt. Rachal testified that there were also spent casing by the roadway sidewalk, thus the gunshots came from the roadway toward the store. The state then introduced into evidence the .22 long rifle revolver that Sgt. Rachal recovered from the front floorboard of the victim’s truck; it had four spent casings and two cartridges. However, Sgt. Rachal testified that there was no physical evidence to indicate that the victim’s .22 caliber gun was fired at either crime scene. Based on his examination of the crime scene and the physical evidence, Sgt. Ra-chal concluded that two moderate to large caliber weapons were fired at the victim’s truck, and both weapons were aimed toward the occupant compartment of the truck.

On cross-examination, Sgt. Rachal testified that the legal limit for blood alcohol content in Louisiana is .08. He also stated that the bullets which landed in the passenger side window of the victim’s truck were fired from the driver’s side of the vehicle.

[226]*226Chasity Johnson also testified during the trial.4 Johnson testified that on the day of the shooting, she was outside on the porch at her grandmother’s house with her sister, Darika Kirkendoll. She stated that she | sheard men arguing about a dice game in the field next door to the house; she did not know any of the men. Johnson also testified that she saw a big, tall, “dark-skinned” man walk across her grandmother’s front yard, then come back, “fumbling with something” in his pants. This man and another “light-skinned” man walked to the Quick Pack and began shooting at a dark gray truck. She stated that she never saw the man inside the truck with a gun. Johnson testified that both men were shooting at the same time, but she did not know which man fired the first shot. She stated that one of the shooters was on the driver’s side and the other was on the passenger side. Johnson also stated that she did not hear anyone arguing immediately before the shooting. She stated that the man in the truck drove away when the shooting ended.

On cross-examination, Johnson testified that after she heard the argument about the dice game, she did not notice anyone leave in a vehicle. She also stated that she regularly goes to her grandmother’s house, and she had previously seen people sitting under the tree playing dice and drinking. However, she had never heard any of the men making threats.

Darika Kirkendoll also testified.5 Kirk-endoll testified that, on the day of the shooting, she and Johnson were in the yard at her grandmother’s house. She stated that she saw a group of older men playing dice in the field next door; she did not know any of the men.

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Related

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Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State ex rel. Carey v. State
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 So. 3d 221, 2013 WL 692469, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-carey-lactapp-2013.