State v. Earls

106 So. 3d 1149, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 448, 2012 WL 6212890, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1636
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 11, 2012
DocketNo. 12-KA-448
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 106 So. 3d 1149 (State v. Earls) 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. Earls, 106 So. 3d 1149, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 448, 2012 WL 6212890, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1636 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

MARC E. JOHNSON, Judge.

^Defendant, Brandon D. Earls, appeals his second degree murder conviction from the 24th Judicial District Court, Division “M”. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On December 10, 2009, the Jefferson Parish Grand Jury indicted Defendant with second degree murder in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30.1. Defendant was arraigned the next day and pleaded not guilty. On November 8-10, 2011, the case was tried before a 12-person jury that found Defendant guilty as charged. Defendant’s motion for new trial was denied after a hearing on December 12, 2011. On that same date, after Defendant waived sentencing delays, the trial judge sentenced him to life imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. On December 28, 2011, Defendant filed a timely motion for appeal that was granted.

The following facts were obtained from the testimony at trial.

lain 2009, Dominique Sanders and Defendant were living together in an apart[1152]*1152ment on Martinique Avenue in Kenner with Defendant’s cousin, Ronald Walker, In the middle of August of 2009, Ms. Sanders broke up with Defendant because he physically abused her; however, they were still living together. Ms. Sanders subsequently became romantically involved with Terry Lewis. On the night of September 2, 2009, Ms. Sanders was at 3633 Martinique Ave. with Defendant, and Defendant told her to come inside. She went inside and spoke with Defendant. During their conversation, Ms. Sanders told Defendant that she and Mr. Lewis were “talking.”

When Ms. Sanders tried to go back outside, Defendant slung her on the sofa and told her he wanted to be with her. She told Defendant she would be with him if he let her go; so, Defendant let her go, and she went outside. Ms. Sanders then called Mr. Lewis, and they met in the front of Martinique Ave. Ms. Sanders and Mr. Lewis went to a gas station and returned. When they returned, Bianca Cloud, a neighbor, called and asked if Mr. Lewis could bring her to Burger King. Ms. Cloud then met Ms. Sanders and Mr. Lewis at the car on Martinique Ave.

At some point, Defendant came up to the car and pulled on the handle of the passenger side door where Ms. Sanders was sitting. Defendant told Ms. Sanders to get out of the car because he wanted to talk to her. Mr. Lewis exited the car, walked around it, pushed Defendant, and told Defendant that Ms. Sanders did not have to get out of the car if she did not want to. Defendant walked away and said to Angie Cloud, another neighbor, “I’m a[sic] kill that b*tch.” Mr. Lewis got back into the car. Ms. Sanders, Mr. Lewis, and Bianca Cloud then went to Burger King, and afterwards, they returned to Martinique Ave.

Defendant and Ronald Walker, Defendant’s cousin, walked toward the car, and Ms. Sanders told Bianca Cloud to pull around the back, so she did. Bianca |4CIoud went inside her apartment, and Ms. Sanders and Mr. Lewis sat in the car and talked for approximately 30 minutes. Ms. Sanders and Mr. Lewis subsequently exited the car, and they talked some more, hugged and kissed. As they did so, Ms. Sanders heard something in the bushes, and Mr. Lewis’ eyes became wide. Afterward, someone came out and started shooting. Ms. Sanders screamed, and she and Mr. Lewis started running. She went inside Bianca Cloud’s apartment and heard approximately three more gunshots. Ms. Sanders heard Mr. Lewis say, “Oh, sh*t.” Bianca Cloud also heard gunshots and called the police.

At approximately 12:55 a.m. on September 3, 2009, Officer Christine Urrata of the Kenner Police Department heard a dispatch over the police radio regarding gunshots and someone wounded in a rear alley of 3541 Martinique Ave. She immediately proceeded to that location. As Officer Ur-rata approached, she observed a white vehicle with bullet holes in the vehicle and the driver’s side window shattered. She also observed a subject’s feet in front of the vehicle and a red substance that looked like blood.

Officer Urrata knocked on the door of a nearby apartment to search for witnesses and/or suspects. Ms. Sanders spoke to Officer Urrata, telling her she could not believe Defendant would do this. Officer Urrata recalled that she had stopped Defendant in that same alleyway during a routine patrol just one hour prior. She did so because Defendant and others, including a young child, were out very late at night on a weeknight, bouncing a basketball. Officer Urrata reviewed her notes from that earlier stop, obtained Defendant’s address, and notified other respond[1153]*1153ing officers of Defendant’s possible location.

Officer Jeff Mocklin of the Kenner Police Department heard the broadcast over the radio. Officer Mocklin went to Defendant’s address, knocked on the door, and asked if Defendant was there. A black male answered the door and said IsDefendant was in the bathroom. The officers opened the bathroom door and saw a black male later identified as Defendant standing in front of a sink wiping his hands off in the sink. Officer Mocklin smelled bleach and observed a bottle of bleach below him in an open cabinet.

Officer Urrata was notified over the radio that Defendant was located inside of Apartment C at 3633 Martinique Ave. Officer Urrata went to that address and saw that Defendant had already been secured. She noticed that Defendant was “kind of chuckling a little bit” and had a “little bit of a smart alecky” kind of demeanor, unlike his earlier demeanor which was very agitated and aggressive. She also noticed at that time, Defendant was clad in a black t-shirt and dark colored blue jeans, unlike earlier when he was wearing red striped pajama pants and a white t-shirt.

Ms. Sanders was subsequently taken to the Kenner Police Department where she gave two statements. In her first statement, Ms. Sanders was not completely honest because she was scared of Defendant; however, in her second statement, she identified Defendant as the shooter. She testified that Defendant, while wearing a black hoodie, shot Mr. Lewis using a revolver. Ms. Sanders further testified that she could not see all of Defendant’s face that night, but she could see his top teeth as he was biting on his bottom lip, an expression she had seen on Defendant’s face before. She was certain that Defendant was the person who shot Mr. Lewis that night.

Detective Michael Cunningham of the Kenner Police Department advised Defendant of his rights. After Defendant waived them, he gave a statement confessing to the shooting, which was played for the jury. Detective Charlotte Synigal was present during Defendant’s statement as well. In the statement dated September 3, 2009, Defendant said that after Mr. Lewis pushed him away from the [ ficar, he went home, changed his clothes, came back, and shot Mr. Lewis with a revolver. Defendant stated that he was wearing a black hoodie at the time he shot Mr. Lewis. Afterwards, Defendant threw the gun into a canal and ran back to his cousin’s house.

Detective Shawn Watson of the Kenner Police Department obtained a search warrant for Defendant’s apartment and recovered a box of Winchester 9 mm Luger rounds, a gallon of Clorox bleach, a black hooded sweatshirt, and a box of Defendant’s checkbooks. Projectiles and fragments of projectiles were also found at the scene of the shooting.

Dr. Karen Ross, a forensic pathologist, performed the autopsy on Mr. Lewis. She testified that the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and the manner of death was homicide.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 So. 3d 1149, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 448, 2012 WL 6212890, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-earls-lactapp-2012.