State v. Fontenot

918 So. 2d 1096, 2005 WL 3579353
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 30, 2005
Docket05-553
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 918 So. 2d 1096 (State v. Fontenot) 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. Fontenot, 918 So. 2d 1096, 2005 WL 3579353 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

918 So.2d 1096 (2005)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Junior Ray FONTENOT.

No. 05-553.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

December 30, 2005.

*1097 Carla S. Sigler, Assistant District Attorney, Lake Charles, Counsel for Appellee: State of Louisiana.

Edward K. Bauman, Louisiana Appellate Project, Lake Charles, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant: Junior Ray Fontenot.

Court composed of JIMMIE C. PETERS, MARC T. AMY, and ELIZABETH A. PICKETT, Judges.

AMY, Judge.

On December 11, 2003, the defendant was charged with the second degree murder of his wife. During the trial, the defendant filed an oral motion to suppress his videotaped statement. A hearing was conducted outside the presence of the jury, and the motion was denied. On February 25, 2005, a jury found the defendant guilty of second degree murder. The defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Alleging two assignments of error, the defendant appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm and remand with instructions.

Factual and Procedural Background

The record shows that the defendant, Junior Ray Fontenot, and his wife, Rufie Mae Gallow, began having marital problems, which ultimately led Ms. Gallow to obtain a protective order against the defendant. Ms. Gallow's daughter, Carl Lynn Gallow Guillory, testified that she and her brother asked the defendant to leave her mother's house in July of 2003. Mrs. Guillory's brother took the defendant to Lake Charles.

The events at issue in the case occurred on November 10, 2003. Charleta Aaron explained that her house is directly across the street from the defendant's house in Lake Charles. Ms. Aaron testified that on November 10th, she woke up to the sound *1098 of someone screaming, "Help, call the police." Upon getting out of bed, she peaked through her blinds and saw a woman trying to get into her house. According to Ms. Aaron, while the woman was beating and pulling on the door, the defendant pulled her arm and yanked her down. Ms. Aaron explained that the woman broke loose and started running toward the end of the driveway. She fell and the defendant began dragging her to her car. Ms. Aaron testified that the defendant was yelling at the woman that he was her husband and "you see how this feel[s]." Ms. Aaron saw the defendant place the woman into the driver's side of a blue Cadillac, move her over to the passenger side, and fasten her seatbelt before taking off in the vehicle. Ms. Aaron later identified the defendant from a photographic lineup as the man she saw that morning.

Cody Chaisson was on his way to school that morning when he heard someone yelling, "Help, call the police!" Mr. Chaisson testified that when he walked to the road, he saw a man standing in the road and a woman lying half in the road and half in Ms. Aaron's driveway. When his mother came outside, he told her to call the police, which she did. Mr. Chaisson saw the woman get up and try to open Ms. Aaron's door, continuously calling for help. The defendant pulled her down and dragged her back to the road. Mr. Chaisson testified that the defendant yelled, "Why did you do this? You're supposed to be my wife ... Okay, you did what you had to do. You're satisfied. Go home now." The defendant then threw some bags and keys on her chest and told her to go home. According to Mr. Chaisson, the woman appeared to be going in and out of consciousness. Mr. Chaisson watched as the defendant put the woman in the driver's side of the car and pulled her to the passenger's side. Mr. Chaisson testified that the defendant "got in the vehicle and he drove off."

Mr. Chaisson identified the defendant from a photographic lineup, noting that his hair was different. Mr. Chaisson testified that he was thirty or forty yards from the incident and had a clear view of events. According to Mr. Chaisson, he could see a handle in the front of the defendant's pants but was unable to see the blade. He later told his mother and the police that he thought it was either a knife or a gun.

Gaynell Chaisson, Cody Chaisson's mother, also testified at the defendant's trial. Ms. Chaisson was getting ready for work that morning when she heard a voice calling for help and for "someone [to] call 911." When she went outside, she saw an older woman being dragged by a man from Ms. Aaron's door to the street. The defendant threw keys at the woman. Ms. Chaisson noticed blood on the right side of the woman's abdomen. Ms. Chaisson testified that the defendant yelled at the woman, "How could you do that? I'm your husband." Ms. Chaisson saw something with a brown handle tucked into the defendant's pants. She watched the defendant put Ms. Gallow in the car and leave the area. Ms. Chaisson later identified the defendant as the man she saw that morning.

Around 7:00 a.m. that morning, Andrew Rider, an employee of Pine Shadows Golf Course, was headed to work. Mr. Rider noticed a vehicle parked on the car path between the sixteenth green and the seventeenth tee, which is in a thickly wooded area about 150-200 yards from I-10. Mr. Rider asserts that the car would not have been visible from I-10. Since there was not supposed to be anyone on the golf course at that time, Mr. Rider approached the car. He heard the woman in the passenger's seat calling for help. Mr. Rider testified that he called 911 immediately after seeing the blood on the woman's shirt. Mr. Rider testified that the woman told *1099 him that her husband, Junior Fontenot, had beaten her, stabbed her, taken the keys and run toward the interstate.

Deputy Roy Malone and his trainee were employed by the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office as patrol officers on November 10, 2003. They were dispatched to Ellis and Jones Streets but were unable to locate the blue Cadillac. Deputy Malone later received and responded to a call that a vehicle had been abandoned on Pine Shadows Golf Course, and en route, they were flagged down by Mr. Rider. Deputy Malone testified that Ms. Gallow was in Mr. Rider's truck, and it appeared to him that she had a stab wound to her stomach. When he asked her who had done this to her, she responded, "Junior Fontenot." She also told him that Mr. Fontenot left in the direction of the interstate.

Deputy Cornell Guidry and another deputy later found the defendant walking through a cemetery located on Opelousas Street. The defendant was arrested and read his rights. He subsequently gave a videotaped statement to the authorities, which was introduced at trial.

Although Ms. Gallow was taken by ambulance to the hospital and underwent surgery in an attempt to repair her injuries, she later died as a result of the stab wound.

The defendant was charged with the second degree murder of Ms. Gallow. The defendant's videotaped statement was admitted into evidence. Following a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty as charged. He was sentenced to life in prison at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. The defendant appeals, asserting that there was insufficient evidence to find him guilty of second degree murder and that a Motion to Suppress was improperly denied.

Discussion

Errors Patent

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed by the court for errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find one error patent requiring correction. The defendant was not informed of the two-year prescriptive period for filing an application for post-conviction relief as required by La.Code Crim.P. art. 930.8.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
918 So. 2d 1096, 2005 WL 3579353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fontenot-lactapp-2005.