State v. DeSilva

726 So. 2d 44, 97 La.App. 4 Cir. 0462, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 3783, 1999 WL 11720
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 9, 1998
DocketNo. 97-KA-0462
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 726 So. 2d 44 (State v. DeSilva) 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. DeSilva, 726 So. 2d 44, 97 La.App. 4 Cir. 0462, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 3783, 1999 WL 11720 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

^LOBRANO, Judge.

The defendant, Chanda DeSilva, was charged with the first degree murder of Martin Hecker1, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30. The State later amended the bill to charge the defendant with second degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. Her first trial ended in a mistrial but in her second trial a jury found her guilty of manslaughter, a violation of La. R.S. 14:31. ■ The defendant was sentenced to serve twenty years at hard labor. She now appeals.

The facts of this case are as follows: Sometime after 4:00 a.m. on May 1,1994, Off. Dwight Powell, a grounds patrol officer in Armstrong Park, discovered Martin Hecker lying injured in the middle of the street at the intersection of St. Philip and Marais Streets. Hecker was lying facedown in the street, with his head pointing toward N. Rampart Street, and a gun was lying under his leg, near his left hand. Standing near Hecker’s head was the defendant, Chanda DeSilva. When questioned, Ms. DeSilva stated that someone had shot Hecker. Off. Powell called for assistance.

bAlthough Hecker was alive when Off. Powell discovered him, he died soon thereafter. An autopsy revealed the cause of death as a single gunshot wound to his left side, which injured his left lung, spleen, and aorta. The path of the bullet was downward and toward the back. The coroner testified that due to the lack of stippling, the weapon must have been at least twelve to eighteen inches from Hecker when he was shot. Although the coroner admitted thick clothing could impede the buildup of stippling on the skin if a weapon were fired at a closer range, when she viewed the victim’s shirt she indicated its thinness would not have impeded the deposit.

The defendant remained on the scene during the police investigation of the shooting. She told the officers initially responding to the incident that she had seen Hecker walking in the1 area of St. Philip and N. Villere Streets. She ■ indicated she approached Hecker, told him he was in a dangerous area, and offered to lead him back to a safer area. She stated she was walking with him back down St. Philip, going toward the French Quarter, when they were 'approached by an unknown young black female, who pulled a gun. She stated Hecker and the woman struggled, and the gun fired twice.. She stat[46]*46ed Hecker gained control of the gun, and the female fled the scene, going toward N. Rampart Street. Hecker began following her and then collapsed in the street.

After the defendant concluded her statement, the officers placed her in their car in order to keep her isolated from other potential witnesses. After she had been inside the car for a short time, she motioned to one of the officers and gave him a wallet that she indicated belonged to the victim. She told the officer that she had taken the wallet after Hecker was shot because she feared someone else would Osteal it. Neither officer, however, remembered seeing the wallet in the defendant’s hand prior to that moment.

The defendant also spoke with two detectives from the homicide division who arrived some time after the victim was removed from the scene. She told the first officer substantially the same story, adding that the unknown female tried to rob Hecker prior to shooting him. She stated that the female fired a shot, demanded money, and then fired again, hitting Hecker. She then told the second homicide detective a similar story, but he became suspicious when she told him that the unknown female fled toward N. Claiborne Avenue, in the opposite direction from N. Rampart and from the direction that the victim’s body was positioned. The second detective also became suspicious because the defendant admitted she “hung out” in the area, but she claimed she did not know the shooter’s identity. After some questioning, she admitted she recognized the shooter as a juvenile nicknamed “Cocoa”. The detective advised her she was under investigation for the shooting,, advised her of her rights, and transported her to the homicide office.

Once there, the officers ran the nickname through the police computer and identified “Cocoa” as Michele Benjamin. The defendant further volunteered “Cocoa’s” address, which coincided with Ms. Benjamin’s address. The detectives compiled a photographic lineup containing Ms. Benjamin’s picture, which the defendant subsequently chose as portraying the female who shot Hecker. While at the homicide office, the defendant told the officers that she and Ms. Benjamin had met Hecker in the French Quarter the night before, and Hecker had asked Ms. Benjamin for a “date”. She stated Hecker was walking them home when Ms. Benjamin pulled a gun and tried to rob Hecker. She stated Ms. Benjamin fired the fegun, and Hecker grabbed the gun. The gun then fired a second time, striking Hecker in the side. The defendant insisted she did not know Ms. Benjamin was carrying a gun or that she was going to try to rob Hecker. The defendant refused, however, to make a formal statement.

Ms. Benjamin surrendered to the police later that day and gave a formal statement that was introduced at trial. In her statement, Ms. Benjamin insisted the shooting was accidental. She testified she met with the defendant at a gameroom in the French Quarter at approximately 11:30 the evening before the shooting. She and the defendant joined a group of friends in the Quarter, but the others left around 1:30 a.m., and the two girls continued to roam the Quarter, sharing a beer. They eventually met the victim, who told them he would walk them home. Ms. Benjamin stated that as they were walking, the victim told them his wife was in Germany, that he had no companion in New Orleans, and that he was looking for a “date.” Ms. Benjamin insisted she refused to be his date, and she dropped back behind the victim and the defendant. As they neared the corner of Marais and St. Philip, the victim produced a gun, and it discharged. She stated she was afraid he would shoot her, and she grabbed the gun. She stated she. and the victim struggled over the gun, and she kicked him in the groin. She stated she was able to turn the gun toward the victim, and the gun discharged again. She stated the victim “body-slammed” her to the ground. She stated she got up and ran from the scene. She denied taking anything from the victim, and she insisted no one discussed money. She also insisted neither she nor the defendant had a gun. When asked about the defendant’s purported statement where she indicated Ms. Benjamin produced a gun and tried to rob the victim, Ms. Benjamin insisted the defendant’s statements were lies. She stated she decided to surrender to the police when a friend told her she fehad seen a story on [47]*47television about the defendant’s arrest and the officers’ search for a sixteen-year-old who had been in the defendant’s company.

The detectives also took a statement at the scene from Mary Miller, a woman who lived near the scene of the shooting. Ms. Miller stated that she heard a man speaking loudly to a woman, and then she heard two gunshots. She stated she looked out her window and saw a man lying in the middle of the street, a woman fleeing toward Rampart Street, and another woman standing by Armstrong Park whose participation in the shooting was unclear.

The gun used in the shooting could only be traced to September of 1973, when it arrived in New Orleans in a store on Howard Avenue. No records of its whereabouts after that date existed.

The defense presented Althea Howard, who lived in an upstairs apartment at the corner of St. Philip and Marais.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
726 So. 2d 44, 97 La.App. 4 Cir. 0462, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 3783, 1999 WL 11720, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-desilva-lactapp-1998.