State v. Chambers

212 So. 3d 643, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0712, 2017 WL 606341, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 232
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 15, 2017
DocketNO. 2016-KA-0712
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 212 So. 3d 643 (State v. Chambers) 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. Chambers, 212 So. 3d 643, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0712, 2017 WL 606341, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 232 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Judge Joy Cossich Lobrano

hOn August 29, 2013, defendant John Chambers (“Defendant”) and his co-defendant, Kenneth Halley (“Halley”) were charged with the April 5, 2005, second-degree murder of Joseph Luden (“Victim”).1 After a three-day jury trial, Defendant and Halley were both found guilty as charged on December 9, 2015.

Defendant filed a Motion for New Trial on January 8, 2016, and a Motion for Post-Verdict Judgment of Acquittal on January 15, 2016. The district judge denied both motions on January 15, 2016, and sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, with credit for time served. Immediately after sentencing, Defendant filed a Motion to Reconsider Sentence, which was denied, and a Motion for Appeal, which was granted. Defendant now appeals his conviction and sentence, raising four counseled and two pro se assignments of error. Finding no reversible error, we affirm Defendant’s conviction.

^STATEMENT OF FACT

On the morning of April 5, 2005, Detective Ernest Rome2 (“Det. Rome”) of the New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”) responded to a report of a homicide in the 2300 block of Alabo Street. When he arrived on the scene, Det. Rome observed Victim, with apparent gunshot wounds, lying in an alley next to a house. As lead investigator, Det. Rome instructed officers to secure the crime scene and directed Crime Lab technicians in photographing3 and processing the scene for evidence. Emergency Medical Services arrived, and a physician riding with the medical technicians pronounced Victim dead at the scene. Det. Rome and other officers canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses and evidence but found neither.

Later that day, two witnesses4—R.R. and E.M.—met with Det. Rome at the [646]*646police station. As a result of the statements and identifications they gave, Det. Rome obtained arrest warrants for Halley and Defendant as well as search warrants for their residences, both of which were on Deslonde Street. The defendants were arrested the day after the shooting; however, no evidence was obtained from either residence. Because pertinent witnesses subsequently refused to testify, no charges were filed at that time.

According to the trial testimony of Gray-mond Martin, First Assistant District Attorney (“A.D.A. Martin”), the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office reviewed the case again in 2013, further investigation was conducted, and witnesses were | slocated. The case was then presented to a grand jury which returned an indictment against Defendant and Halley.

At trial in December of 2015, forensic pathologist Dr. Richard Tracy (“Dr. Tracy”) with the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office testified that Victim suffered two gunshot wounds. One bullet entered the front of Victim’s body and exited through his back, and the second bullet entered Victim’s right side, passing through his body and exiting on the left side. One bullet struck the heart, causing massive, fatal, internal bleeding. The other bullet went through Victim’s right lung.

The State presented the testimony of R.R., one of the witnesses who previously gave a statement to Det. Rome in 2005. R.R. testified that he lived in the Lower Ninth Ward on Alabo Street most of his life. He and Victim were neighborhood friends, and he knew Halley and met Defendant through Halley. Recounting the day Victim was killed, R.R. testified that his girlfriend dropped him off at his grandmother’s house on Alabo Street. R.R. then said he could not remember any particulars of the shooting. He stated that he was testifying at the trial involuntarily and only because he had been subpoenaed and arrested. R.R. acknowledged that he was at the scene of the shooting and went to the police station after the shooting, but stated that he did not remember anything that happened after Victim was shot.

Without objection, the State played the recording of R.R.’s statement in which he said that as he and others sat together on a porch in the 2300 block of Alabo Street on April 5, 2005, Victim approached and told them he had beaten up “Lloyd” at Wagner’s Market. About ten minutes later, Halley, Defendant, M.M., Land “Lloyd” drove up in a blue Explorer, which was owned by L.C.’s mother.5 The vehicle rode past R.R., circled the block and then stopped in front of the house where he was located. Halley, seated in the front passenger seat of the Explorer, jumped from the vehicle with an AK-47 and shot Victim once. As Halley re-entered the Explorer, R.R. shouted to the vehicle’s occupants to leave the neighborhood. Next, Defendant, who was driving the Explorer, stepped out of the vehicle and shot Victim with an AK-47. R.R. called 911. When the police arrived, R.R. directed them to Victim’s body and related the facts of the incident. Victim died on the scene. R.R. identified a picture of Halley as one of the shooters, noting Halley had eight gold teeth.

Continuing his statement, R.R. described Defendant as a tall, thin, red male with a gold plate in his mouth. R.R. said [647]*647Defendant lived in a black and white house on Deslonde Street. R.R. added that he feared for his life if the police did not arrest Defendant, Halley, M.M. and “Lloyd.”

Next, the State called E.M., who testified he lived in the Ninth Ward his entire life, knew Halley and Defendant and considered Victim to be a neighborhood friend. E.M. corroborated R.R.’s statement about the circumstances of the shooting. He reported that Halley stepped out of a two-door, blue Explorer and shot Victim once with a rifle, causing everyone to run. When Halley got back in the Explorer, it moved forward a bit and stopped. As E.M. was walking back to the scene, he testified he heard a second shot and observed Defendant running back to the Explorer, armed with the same rifle previously used by Halley. E.M. left the scene of the shooting and drove to the Fifth District Police Station where he gave a|fistatement of the events, specifically stating that both Halley and Defendant shot and killed Victim.

A.M. testified that Defendant, Halley and he were childhood friends from the Ninth Ward. A.M. sent a letter to the NOPD from a federal penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona, reporting that he knew details about the shooting of Victim. A.M. testified that when he was in jail in April or May of 2005, he was in the medical section of Orleans Parish Prison at the same time as Defendant. At that time, Defendant told A.M. that he was in prison for shooting Victim after Victim started a fight. Shortly after the fight, both Halley and Defendant drove through the neighborhood, searching for Victim. When they spotted Victim, they jumped out of a Ford Explorer and took turns shooting him with an AK-47.

A.M. denied seeing any news reports about the shooting and said the only information he received about the crime came directly from Defendant. Although A.M. also saw Halley at the time he spoke with Defendant, Halley did not mention the shooting. A.M. identified both Defendant and Halley at trial. He also testified he was neither promised nor expected any consideration from the federal government or the State for his testimony.

In support of A.M.’s testimony, the State called Blake Arcurie (“Arcurie”), General Counsel Risk Manager with the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office, who testified he kept all inmate records for the Sheriffs Office. He reviewed the lock-up records of Halley, Defendant and A.M. for April and May of 2005.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
212 So. 3d 643, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0712, 2017 WL 606341, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-chambers-lactapp-2017.