State v. Davis

115 So. 3d 68, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 512, 2013 WL 1749382, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 797
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided April 24, 2013·No. No. 12-KA-512·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

SUSAN M. CHEHARDY, Chief Judge.

12Pefendant was convicted of four counts of second degree murder, one count of attempted second degree murder, one count of armed robbery, one count of illegal use of weapons, and one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. The trial court sentenced defendant to four consecutive sentences of life imprisonment at hard labor on the four murder counts, 50 years at hard labor on the attempted murder count, 99 years at hard labor on the armed robbery count, 2 years at hard labor on the illegal use of weapons count, and 49 years at hard labor on the conspiracy to commit armed robbery count. Defendant now appeals his convictions and sentences. For the following reasons, we affirm defendant’s convictions on all counts and his sentences for attempted second degree murder, armed robbery, illegal use of weapons, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. We vacate in part his four life sentences and remand for resen-tencing with instructions.

Procedural History

On June 16, 2011, a Jefferson Parish Grand Jury issued an eight-count ^indictment charging defendant, Dominique Davis, with four counts of second degree murder in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30.1 (counts one, four, five, and six), one count of armed robbery in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:64 (count two), one count of illegal use of weapons in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:94 (count three), one count of attempted second degree murder in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:27:30.1 (count seven), and one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:26:64 (count eight).1 Defendant entered pleas of [71] not guilty to all charges and proceeded to trial by jury.

On November 18, 2011, after a four-day trial, the twelve-person jury found defendant guilty as charged on all eight counts. On December 5, 2011, the trial court denied defendant’s motion for a new trial. Thereafter, defendant waived sentencing delays and on his four convictions of second degree murder, the trial court sentenced defendant to four consecutive sentences of life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. On his armed robbery conviction, defendant was sentenced to 99 years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. On his illegal use of weapons conviction, defendant was sentenced to 2 years at hard labor. On his attempted second degree murder conviction, defendant was sentenced to 50 years at hard labor. And on his conspiracy to commit armed robbery conviction, defendant was sentenced to 49 years at hard labor. These sentences were ordered to be served concurrently with one another. Defendant filed a written motion for appeal, which was granted on December 7, 2011.

\ ¿Facts

Around 6:20 p.m. on January 15, 2009, Julio Miramontes, Alphonso Vincent, and Luis George were standing in Mr. George’s driveway at 1513 Kings Road in Harvey, Louisiana. As the three men stood there, a truck proceeded down the street, appearing to stop in front of them for a moment, but continued on before suddenly reversing back down the street and stopping in front of the driveway. Two men exited the vehicle armed with pistols. One approached Mr. Miramontes, told him that “it was a stick-up and not to move,” put the pistol to his head, and grabbed his wallet, which contained six hundred dollars. Then, before returning back to the truck, the gunman shot Mr. Miramontes and Mr. George. Meanwhile, the other gunman took a work permit from Mr. Vincent and retreated back to the vehicle. After the gunmen left, Mr. Vincent called the police and upon their arrival Mr. Miramontes relayed the events of the shooting to the officers before being transported to the hospital. Mr. Mira-montes was unable to identify the gunman who robbed Mr. Vincent because his head and face were covered, but he was able to get a good look at the gunman who shot him and Mr. George.

Detective Brett Beevers of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office responded to this incident. Upon his arrival at the scene, Detective Beevers observed three .45 caliber casings, some loose change, and blood at various locations in the driveway. Mr. George and Mr. Miramontes had been transported to the hospital and Mr. Vincent, who had not been wounded, was brought to the detective bureau for questioning. No suspects were developed from Mr. Vincent’s interview, and the case was later transferred to the homicide division after Mr. George died as a result of his injuries.

Nearly four months later, on the evening of April 11, 2009, Deputy Judd Harris of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office responded to a report of an illegal | ^discharge of a firearm at 1645 Alexander Court in Terrytown. Deputy Harris found twenty-nine spent casings at the scene, but was unable to develop any suspects at the time. The casings were subsequently identified as having been discharged from two 9 mm weapons, a .45 caliber weapon, and a .40 caliber weapon.

Later that same evening, at 945 East Monterey Court in Terrytown, ten-year-[72] old M.O.2 was asleep in her bedroom with her twelve-year-old sister K.O., and K.O.’s friend A.M., when she was awakened by a loud “boom” coming from inside the apartment. A black man then came into the room where the three girls slept, turned on the light, told them to “get up,” and put a gun to the back of M.O.’s neck. The man, whose face was covered, pushed M.O. into the next bedroom where her six-year-old brother, F.O., was asleep with the nineteen-year-old babysitter, D.S., and D.S.’s 28-month-old son, R.C. M.O. awakened D.S. D.S., who apparently was not yet aware of the intruder’s presence, took M.O. back to her bedroom and then walked back down the hallway. A.M., who had remained in the bedroom with K.O., then observed two men enter the living room with D.S.

At about this moment, M.O., now back in her room, heard someone running and gunshots outside of her room. A.M. also heard D.S. screaming right before she heard gunshots in the living room. Once this gunfire ceased, a man appeared in the doorway of the girls’ room. K.O. testified that she observed two men standing in the doorway, one behind the other. The man closest to her was dressed in black and armed with a black gun, but K.O. was unable to see his face. This gunman then opened fire. A.M. was shot twice, once in the stomach and once in the arm.

| fiAs soon as this gunfire stopped, K.O. crawled to her brother’s bedroom where she found F.O. and R.C. lying in pools of their own blood. K.O. also observed D.S. lying dead in the hallway. K.O., M.O., and A.M. each testified that they witnessed two intruders in the house that night.

Deputy Harris, who had reported to the scene of the illegal discharge earlier in the evening, was dispatched to 945 East Mon-terey Court. Upon his arrival at the scene, the deputy encountered M.O. and K.O. who both appeared to be in shock. K.O. told the police that she believed a man named Dayshawn Young, who lived in the neighborhood and bought drugs from her step-father, might have been involved in the shooting based on the height of the gunman she observed standing in her doorway, although she never saw his face. Pursuant to this information, Young was arrested. However, after further investigation, including the execution of multiple search warrants and multiple interviews, Young was released because police were unable to recover any evidence linking him to the crimes.

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State v. Davis, 115 So. 3d 68, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 512, 2013 WL 1749382, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 797 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

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