State v. Graves

699 So. 2d 903, 1997 WL 578275
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 10, 1997
Docket96-KA-1537
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 699 So. 2d 903 (State v. Graves) 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. Graves, 699 So. 2d 903, 1997 WL 578275 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

699 So.2d 903 (1997)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Ronald GRAVES.

No. 96-KA-1537.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

September 10, 1997.

*904 Dwight Doskey, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for Defendant/Appellant, Ronald Graves.

Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Val M. Solino, Assistant District Attorney of Orleans Parish, New Orleans, for Appellee, The State of Louisiana.

Before ARMSTRONG, LANDRIEU and MURRAY, JJ.

MURRAY, Judge.

Ronald Graves and John Kevin Johnson were charged with the first degree murder of Joseph Balog. On Graves' motion, the cases were severed for trial. A jury found Graves guilty as charged, and recommended life imprisonment. On July 7, 1995, he was sentenced to serve life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. Graves appeals his conviction, assigning two errors by the trial court: (1) the evidence was insufficient to show that he intended to kill or inflict great bodily harm upon more than one person; (2) the admission of his testimony from an earlier trial, which resulted in a mistrial, violated his Fifth Amendment right not to testify. We affirm.

FACTS:

At midnight on November 11, 1993, Joseph Balog and Charlie Burks drove from Gulfport, Mississippi, to the French Quarter in New Orleans. They went first to the Maiden Voyage and then to Molly's Irish Pub on Bourbon Street. After checking on their truck, the two men headed back to Bourbon Street. Enroute, they encountered four men, one of whom men yelled, "We're going to get some faggots." Charlie Burks yelled the same thing back to the four men.

Burks and Balog walked approximately one block further before turning around to return to their truck. At that point, one of the four men came from around the corner and confronted Burks, who then heard Balog yell. Burks turned to see Balog on the ground surrounded by two men. Burks then was hit, and fell to the ground. He jumped up and ran to get help. As he was running, he heard someone say, "you'd better save your homey." He eventually flagged down a cab. Once in the cab he realized that he had been stabbed in the side. The cab driver took Burks to Charity Hospital, where he underwent exploratory surgery in the area where the stab wound had been inflicted. The jury was shown the scars left from the surgery and stabbing.

Detective Norman McCord was the first police officer to arrive at the scene. By that time, Balog, who had been stabbed seven times, had been transported to Charity Hospital where he died of his wounds. All of the wounds were inflicted by a single-edged knife, but only four of the wounds were lethal. Two single-edged knives were found near the scene of the murder: a knife with a black handle was located in an alley; a knife *905 with a red handle was thrown on a second floor balcony. Latent prints were taken from the knife with the black handle; they did not match Graves' prints. There was human blood on the red knife.

Four suspects were developed during the course of the investigation: Grant Gunderson, Ronald Graves, Mingo Graham, and Kevin Johnson. Gunderson and Graham gave a recorded statement to the police. In an unrecorded statement given to Detective McCord, Graves stated that a fight broke out in Jefferson Parish; during that fight he had pulled a knife and held it to a man's neck, but did not cut the man. He also told the detective that the knife with the black handle was not his. He said that he owned a knife with a red handle, but had lost the knife.

Both Gunderson and Graham accepted a plea bargain with the state in exchange for their testimony at Graves' trial. Both pled guilty to accessory after the fact of first degree murder.

Gunderson testified that he drove to the French Quarter in a separate car from Johnson, Graves and Graham on the night in question. They did not go to any place in particular, but mostly walked around. He stepped into Lafitte's in Exile to buy a beer. When Graham informed him that Lafitte's was a gay bar, he left abruptly. However, while inside he noticed that Balog and Burks were seated at a corner table inside the bar.

When Gunderson exited the bar, he noticed that Graves, Graham, and Johnson were talking to someone in a 300ZX. The car sped away, and the others chased after the car. It was getting late, and Gunderson decided it was time to go home. He felt that Balog and Burks, who were behind him but on the other side of the street, were following him. He turned around and cut diagonally across the street. When he neared the two men, Balog shoved him and said, "Get out of my way faggot." Graves then ran up and shoved Balog, and a fist fight ensued. Gunderson ran for his car, and passed Graham on the street.

Enroute to Metairie on the interstate, he saw Graham, Johnson and Graves. He flashed his lights, and the two cars pulled along side each other on the interstate. He and Graham got out of their cars and agreed to meet at a Time Saver on Causeway Boulevard. Graham told Gunderson that Graves had stabbed the man in the French Quarter.

When they got to the Time Saver, Graves and Johnson went to the bathroom. Graham left to go home, and Johnson and Graves rode with Gunderson. Gunderson said that during the ride they were excited about stabbing the man in the French Quarter.

Mingo Graham testified that he and Graves were roommates. That evening, he asked Graves if he could borrow his pocket knife. Graham wanted to use the knife to cut back a piece of skin from around a bad fingernail. Before Graves could get his knife from his pocket, Johnson volunteered his knife. Johnson's knife had a single blade and a black handle.

Graham testified that when they were walking back to their cars that night, some men in a 300ZX shouted obscenities at Johnson, who chased after the car. Graham watched to make sure the car did not return. When he turned to tell his friends that the car was gone, he heard Gunderson tell two men that he was not a faggot. Graves and Johnson attacked the two men. Graham stated that Graves went after Balog, and Johnson went after Burks, but in the end, both Graves and Johnson were beating Balog. When Burks ran away, Graham asked him whether he was going to help his homey.

Once inside the car, Graves told them that he stabbed the man and threw away his knife. Both Graves and Johnson stated that they stabbed both men. Graham testified that the black handled knife recovered by the police was similar to the knife carried by Johnson that night. He also testified that the red handled knife was similar to the one carried by his roommate, Graves. Although Graham presently has a knife on his key ring, he denied having a knife on the night of the murder.

Finally, the jury heard a tape of Ronald Graves' testimony at his first trial.[1] At that *906 time Graves testified that he and Graham had gone to a bar named Key West where they met up with Johnson and Gunderson. When they were leaving the bar, an altercation occurred between some people and Gunderson. One of the people threw a bottle at Gunderson's car and broke the windshield. Even though Graves was not in Gunderson's car, one of the people came at him with a crowbar. Graham reached over him and cut the person on the face with a small red knife similar to the one entered in evidence.

Eventually, they went to the French Quarter. In his testimony, Graves alluded to the incident regarding Gunderson's attempt to enter a gay bar, and the incident with the people in the 300ZX.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
699 So. 2d 903, 1997 WL 578275, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-graves-lactapp-1997.