State v. Cook

729 So. 2d 634, 1999 WL 31225
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 26, 1999
Docket98-KA-848
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 729 So. 2d 634 (State v. Cook) 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. Cook, 729 So. 2d 634, 1999 WL 31225 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

729 So.2d 634 (1999)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Romalis M. COOK.

No. 98-KA-848.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

January 26, 1999.

*635 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Assistant D.A., Thomas J. Butler, Quentin R. Kelly, Gretna, La, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Sandra C. Jenkins, Louisiana Appellate Attorney, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant-Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges EDWARD A. DUFRESNE, Jr., MARION F. EDWARDS and SUSAN M. CHEHARDY.

DUFRESNE, Judge.

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant, Romalis Cook, with five counts of first degree robbery in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:64.1. However, count five was subsequently amended to the reduced charge of attempted first degree robbery. LSA-R.S. 14:27:64.1. The matter thereafter proceeded to a bench trial. At the conclusion of the proceedings, the judge found defendant guilty as charged. The court sentenced defendant to thirty-five (35) years at hard labor on each of the first four counts, without *636 benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, and to twenty (20) years at hard labor as to count five. The judge ordered that the sentences be served concurrently.

The state subsequently filed a bill of information seeking to have defendant adjudicated a multiple offender pursuant to LSA-R.S. 15:529.1. After a hearing, the court found defendant to be a third felony offender and imposed an enhanced sentence of life imprisonment. The defendant now appeals.

FACTS

The defendant was convicted of five separate offenses occurring on three different days.

Count One

On July 19, 1997, Latanya Ketchens was working as a cashier at an Exxon filling station at the corner of Belle Chasse Highway and Wall Boulevard in Gretna. She testified that she saw a black man walk inside the building, look around, then walk out. The man returned a short time later carrying a chrome-plated gun in a bag, and wearing sunglasses and a multi-colored welder's hat. He ordered Ketchens to put all the money from the cash register into his bag. The cashier complied, giving defendant four hundred thirty dollars ($430.00). Investigating officers obtained a surveillance tape from the Exxon station, and it was played for the court at trial. Ms. Ketchens testified that the tape accurately depicted the robbery.

On September 10, 1997, Ms. Ketchens identified defendant, Romalis Cook, in a photographic lineup. She also identified defendant at trial. Ms. Ketchens identified a gun seized from defendant's residence as the gun defendant used in the robbery.

Count Two

Lorna Moore, a teller at a Westbank Expressway branch of Hibernia Bank, testified that on July 22, 1997, she saw a man wearing sunglasses and a green or yellow hard hat enter the bank and offered him assistance. The man gave her a piece of paper on which was written, "Bitch, if I go to jail, you're going to hell." In the note the man also demanded currency in 20's and 100's. Ms. Moore testified that the man continually grabbed a bulge in his shirt, and that she believed the bulge was a gun. Ms. Moore gave the man about one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00), and he ran from the building. She further stated that she was unable to make an identification from a photographic lineup. She did, however, positively identify defendant in court as the man who robbed her.

Betty Higgins, a paying and receiving clerk at Hibernia, testified that she saw the robber come into the bank twenty to thirty minutes before the robbery. He asked her whether he could cash a check there, and Ms. Higgins told him he could do so only if he was an account holder. The man then left the bank. She noticed that when he returned to the bank, he approached another teller. Ms. Higgins later learned the teller had been robbed. At trial, Higgins tentatively identified defendant as the man she saw that day. She also recognized a bandanna and a pair of sunglasses seized from defendant's house as those worn by the man she saw at the bank.

Ena Evans, another Hibernia employee, testified that she also remembered a man who entered the bank on July 22, 1997 and inquired about cashing a check. She stated that the man left the bank, and returned fifteen to twenty minutes later. Evans saw the man go to Ms. Moore's teller window, then run from the building. Evans testified that, due to the robber's disguise, she would not recognize him if she saw him again.

Count Three

On August 5, 1997, Trina Gardner was working as a teller at the Dryades Savings Bank on Lapalco Boulevard. A man entered the bank and told her he wanted to cash a check. She recognized him as a man who had been in the bank a week before to inquire about opening a checking account. The man approached her holding a piece of paper. When Ms. Gardner tried to take the paper from him, he told her, "Bitch, don't act like you don't understand. You know what this is all about." The man ordered Gardner to open her cash drawer and to give him "all hundreds." The teller complied, and defendant departed. Ms. Gardner told police that the robber had on a hat, glasses, and a green *637 uniform. She identified defendant in a photographic lineup on August 6, 1997, and identified him in court as the man who robbed her.

Andrea Bass, another Dryades employee, saw defendant enter the bank on August 5, and recognized that he was robbing Ms. Gardner. She immediately pressed the alarm button. Ms. Bass testified that the robber took three hundred dollars ($300.00). At trial, she identified a photograph of the robber taken by the bank's surveillance camera. She also identified defendant in court as the robber. Deborah Dulich testified that she was working at Dryades on August 5, 1997, and that she saw a man enter the bank and hand Ms. Gardner a piece of paper. Because of the man's nervous demeanor, she immediately suspected he was robbing Gardner. Dulich identified defendant from a photographic lineup as the man she saw on August 5, 1997. She also identified him in court as the robber.

Count Four

Roshawn Davis testified that on August 5, 1997, she worked as a teller at Deposit Guaranty Bank on South Clearview Parkway in Metairie. She was approached by a black male in a work uniform. The man handed her a note in which he demanded money. She opened her cash drawer and began to slowly gather money. The man told her, "You don't have to die over this." Davis gave the man nearly three thousand dollars ($3,000.00). The robber then left the bank. Ms. Davis testified that the man appeared to have a gun hidden under his shirt. Davis stated that she would not recognize the robber if she saw him again, because he wore a disguise.

Suzette Michelet, another Deposit Guaranty employee, witnessed the August 5 robbery. She testified the robber wore khaki clothes, a welder's cap and sunglasses. She identified defendant in court as the man who robbed Davis.

Count Five

Deanne Dendinger, an employee of Ace Cash Express on Terry Parkway in Terrytown, testified that she was unlocking the building on the morning of August 5, 1997, when a black male attempted to force his way through the door. The man ordered her to go to the area where the money was kept. Dendinger pushed the alarm button, and the man fled. She testified that the robber's shirt was open, and his hand was tucked into his pants as if he carried a gun. Ms. Dendinger identified defendant from a photographic lineup, and also identified him in court as the man who accosted her on August 5, 1997.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
729 So. 2d 634, 1999 WL 31225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cook-lactapp-1999.