State v. Curtis

112 So. 3d 323, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 1676, 2013 WL 979585, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 503
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 13, 2013
DocketNo. 2011-KA-1676
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 112 So. 3d 323 (State v. Curtis) 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. Curtis, 112 So. 3d 323, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 1676, 2013 WL 979585, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 503 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

EDWIN A. LOMBARD, Judge.

LThe defendants, Michael Curtis and Demond Solomon, challenge the sufficiency of the evidehce underlying their respective convictions for manslaughter and raise other assignments of error pertaining to the validity and constitutionality of their convictions. In addition, defendant Curtis contends that his sentence is unconstitutionally excessive and illegal. After review of the record in light of the applicable law and arguments of the' parties, we affirm the defendants’ convictions and sentences.

Relevant Procedural History

The defendants were jointly charged by grand jury indictment on August 27, 2009, with second degree murder, a violation of La. Rev.Stat. 14:80.1, for the shooting death of Lindsey Singleton which occurred on March 29, 2009.1 On September 2, 2009, they pleaded not guilty. After a hearing on March 12, 2010, the trial court denied defendants’ motions to suppress the evidence and identifications. The defendants’ trial before a twelve-person jury began on February 14, 2011, with jury selection. The trial court denied the defendants’ motion to declare La.Code Crim. Proc. art. 782(A) unconstitutional on February 15, 2011, and the following day both defendants were found guilty of 1 manslaughter. The trial court denied defendant Curtis’s motion for new trial and defendant Solomon’s motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal on May 26, 2011, and, after waiver of sentencing delays, both defendants were sentenced to forty years at hard labor. On June 22, 2012, defendant Curtis was adjudicated a second-felony habitual offender, his original sentence was vacated and he was resen-tenced to eighty years at hard labor with credit for all time served.

The defendants’ appeal is timely filed.

Relevant Facts

The following evidence was adduced at trial.

On the evening of March 29, 2009, Officer Thomas Clark of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Sixth District responded to a call pertaining to a shooting incident at 1223 South Johnson Street in the B.W. Cooper Housing Development. He arrived at the scene and observed a black male lying on the steps at that address, bleeding profusely. That individual, Lindsey Singleton, subsequently died.

Detective Nicholas Gernon of the NOPD arrived at the scene at approximately 7 p.m. to assist in the murder investigation. Although he canvassed the area and attempted to speak to potential witnesses, no one gave him their own names or that of any of the perpetrators.

NOPD Crime Lab Technician Shaheed Mohammed photographed the crime scene and collected evidence, including at least two CBC .40 S & W caliber cartridge casings, and wrote a report.

|3Panielle Singleton, the victim’s sister, testified that she was sitting in her parked car with the door open in the driveway of the South Johnson Street residence when her brother was shot. Just before the shooting, he had walked over to her to get a cigarette and returned to the porch where ten or fifteen people were gathered, including Calvin Rankins and them cousin Venezia Singleton. Ms. (Danielle) Single[327]*327ton was talking on her cell phone when she heard gunshots. After ducking down, she lifted her head and saw a white Grand Prix speed out of the driveway in front of her car. Looking back towards her brother, she saw him run towards her, grab his back, turn around, run to the other side of the driveway, and collapse on a porch. She did not see the license plate or the driver of the car but asserted that a photograph of a white Grand Prix depicted the same model of car, if not the specific car, that she saw drive away after the shooting. She admitted that she and her brother both knew defendant Curtis as a former resident of the housing project but was unable to say whether his (defendant Curtis) relationship with her brother was friendly or one of conflict.

Calvin Rankins testified that he was sitting on the porch with the victim, someone he knew only as “Nunu,” (subsequently identified as Venezia Singleton) and other persons when a white Pontiac stopped for a speedbump halfway through the driveway in front of them and “Demond” rolled down the window of the front passenger seat (which was closest to the porch) and pointed a gun. As “Demond” brought up the gun to fire, Mr. Rankins ran.

Mr. Rankins subsequently identified “Demond” in a photographic lineup as defendant Solomon. He also identified the driver of the vehicle in another photo lineup shown to him by the police, as well as an individual he referred to as “Bam” in a third photo lineup as the passenger in the backseat of the vehicle. Although |4Mr. Rankins identified the photo lineups relating to the two defendants, he was unable to definitely identify them in court. Specifically, when first asked whether he saw the shooter and the driver in court, Mr. Rankins replied in the affirmative but then identified defendant (Michael) Curtis as the driver referring to him as “Kevin” and when asked again whether he saw the shooter in court, Mr. Rankins replied in the negative. Mr. Rankins reiterated, however, that the individuals he picked out in the photo lineups were the individuals he saw on the day of the murder. He also asserted that the police did not promise him anything, coerce him in anyway, or force him to make an identification when they showed him the photo lineups. He stated that he did not know any of the people involved personally and that the only person he had seen prior to the day of the shooting was “Kevin,” and that was just around the project. Mr. Rankins declared he had never seen “Bam” or the individual he referred to as “Demond” before the shooting but that people in the project told him the names of “Bam” and “Demond.” On redirect examination, Mr. Rankins confirmed that the person he identified as “Demond,” number five in the photo lineup labeled State Exhibit 41, was the shooter. When asked if he was certain of his identification, he replied affirmatively. When asked again on recross examination whether, as he had previously stated, he did not see the shooter in the courtroom, Mr. Rankins replied: “I guess not. I don’t see him. Not right now I don’t. He could be somewhere else. I don’t know.”

In a recorded bench conference after Mr. Rankins was excused as a witness, the State moved to have the court permit the jury to be made aware of the fact that defendant Solomon had obscured his facial tattoos with makeup. Ultimately, the State read a stipulation to the jury, agreed to by defense counsel, to the effect that defendant Solomon had makeup applied to his forehead for trial that obscured his |fifacial tattoos. In addition, the defendant removed the makeup at the direction of the court and stood in front of the jury so that the jurors could observe his face without the makeup.

[328]*328Venezia Singleton, a cousin of the victim, testified that she was sitting to the left of the victim when shots rang out from the white Grand Prix automobile. Ms. Singleton stated that she saw the window of the vehicle being rolled down and then someone stick a gun out. The first shot fired hit the ground, but the shooter continued firing. As she ran behind a car on her left, she felt a bullet graze her. Her cousin ran in the other direction where there was no cover and, once shot, grabbed his side, staggered across the driveway and collapsed on a porch. Ms.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Louisiana v. Johnathan Trayvon Kelly
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
State of Louisiana in the Interest of R.B. Vs.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State of Louisiana v. Dajuan A. Alridge
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2020
State of Louisiana v. Troy Varnado
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2020
State v. Alridge
249 So. 3d 260 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State v. McBride
239 So. 3d 383 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State v. Jackson
193 So. 3d 425 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State v. Dove
194 So. 3d 92 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State v. Lambert
186 So. 3d 728 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State v. Mack
162 So. 3d 1284 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
Jones v. Cain
151 So. 3d 781 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State v. Hankton
122 So. 3d 1028 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
112 So. 3d 323, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 1676, 2013 WL 979585, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 503, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-curtis-lactapp-2013.