State v. Gross

621 So. 2d 130, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 2450, 1993 WL 217251
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 23, 1993
DocketNos. 24894-KW, 24897-KW
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 621 So. 2d 130 (State v. Gross) 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. Gross, 621 So. 2d 130, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 2450, 1993 WL 217251 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinions

BROWN, Judge.

In separate indictments Virgil Gross and his wife, Ronnie Gross, were charged respectively with first and second degree murder of Loyce Sheftall-Harrison. A third person, Mario Jones, was also independently indicted with first degree murder. Both husband and wife moved to suppress their joint confession and its derivative evidence. Ronnie Gross also moved to suppress another statement given the following week. The trial court heard both motions at the same time and found the confessions and evidence admissible. Both sought a review of this ruling through our supervisory jurisdiction. Because their motions presented identical issues and involve the same evidence, their writ applications to this court were consolidated. Initially, we declined to exercise our supervisory jurisdiction because the applicants, if convicted, had an adequate remedy on appeal; however, a writ application to the Supreme Court was granted with the case being remanded to this court for briefing, argument and a full opinion. The pivotal issue argued is the voluntariness of the statements.

Being assisted by counsel, both husband and wife entered into a plea agreement with the District Attorney. The agreement resulted in a joint statement that led to the location of the victim’s body and murder [132]*132weapon. Further investigation, however, revealed that the statement was not completely true and that both husband and wife were more involved in the murder than related in their confession.

The plea agreement provided that if applicants were not totally truthful they could be prosecuted fully. Invoking that provision, the District Attorney obtained indictments for first and second degree murder. If applicants had been truthful, the agreement provided immunity to the wife and a plea for the husband to accessory after the fact; however, neither applicant claimed entitlement to enforcement of that provision. Applicants assert only that the confessions and the discovered evidence were the result of an inducement or promise and thus were involuntary. The trial judge denied the motions to suppress. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

The victim, Loyce Sheftall-Harrison, disappeared from her home in West Monroe on or about July 27, 1989. Shortly, thereafter, the West Monroe Police Department was notified of the disappearance and entered a missing person report into the National Crime Information Computer (NCIC).

On August 29, 1989, Chief Charles Johnson of the Mississippi Valley College campus police in Itta Beta, Mississippi, approached a group of students standing by a Lincoln Continental parked on campus. Mario Jones told Chief Johnson that he was the owner of the vehicle. After Jones had left in the vehicle, Chief Johnson received a response to his license check and found that the automobile was registered to Loyce Sheftall-Harrison who was reported missing in Louisiana. Chief Johnson, who was also a deputy sheriff, relocated the vehicle, which was being driven by Jones, at a store just off-campus. Johnson informed Jones of the problem. Another deputy arrived at the store and was told by Jones that he was given the car by Mrs. Harrison who was his “auntie.” Jones was taken to the LeFlore County Sheriffs Office where he again claimed the vehicle had been given or sold to him by Mrs. Harrison.

The West Monroe Police were notified and detectives McDanell and Powdrill traveled to Mississippi on August 30, 1989. There, the officers questioned Jones. After questioning, Jones voluntarily consented to return with the officers to West Monroe. Jones continued to assert that Mrs. Harrison had sold him the Lincoln.

Virgil and Ronnie Gross lived in the victim’s apartment complex with Virgil acting as a handyman. In the middle of August, Virgil had been questioned by the police and stated that he had no knowledge of Mrs. Harrison’s disappearance. On August 30, 1989, the police obtained information that a man fitting Virgil’s description had gone to the morgue and inquired about the time frame for the decomposition of a body. After returning from Mississippi on August 30, detectives McDanell and Powd-rill took two recorded statements from Virgil who continued to deny knowledge of what had happened to Mrs. Harrison. Virgil stated that he knew Mario Jones and that Jones had attempted to rent an apartment but was refused by Mrs. Harrison because she did not lease to blacks. Virgil also stated that Jones threatened to kill Mrs. Harrison. After being identified by a witness, Virgil admitted that he had gone to the morgue and asked about the decomposition of bodies because he was concerned for Mrs. Harrison. Virgil denied seeing Jones with the Lincoln on the day of Mrs. Harrison’s disappearance which contradicted Jones’ statement to the detectives. Virgil did not move to suppress these statements of August 30 and their admissibility is not in question.

On August 31, 1989, Virgil Gross and his wife, Ronnie, met with officers at the West Monroe Police Department; however, before talking they requested and were allowed to telephone their attorney. While waiting on defense counsel’s arrival, Detective Powdrill contacted the Ouachita Parish District Attorney who came to the police station. After consulting with Virgil and Ronnie, their attorney told the District Attorney what he could expect the Grosses to say and then arranged a plea bargain. Defense counsel represented to the district [133]*133attorney that Ronnie Gross had not been involved in the homicide, that Virgil Gross participated only after the fact and that he could lead the police to the victim’s body.

The district attorney agreed that if the Grosses cooperated and were truthful, he would grant Ronnie Gross transactional immunity from prosecution and would allow Virgil Gross to plead guilty to being an Accessory After The Fact to Second Degree Murder.

A specific provision of the plea agreement stated that if applicants were untruthful “at any time concerning matters directly or indirectly connected to [the] Loyce Sheftall-Harrison investigation” there would be no immunity and no plea to accessory after the fact. The Grosses acknowledged that if they did not fulfill the terms of the agreement their statements could be used as evidence in any subsequent prosecution.

Following a thorough discussion of the terms of the agreement, the Grosses gave a joint statement naming Mario Jones as Mrs. Harrison’s killer. In an effort to explain how the victim’s blood was in their apartment, the Grosses claimed Jones forced Virgil by threats to help dispose of the body. The Grosses then led police to a remote area where the skeletal remains of the victim were found. The Grosses later helped the police recover a steel pipe that was allegedly used as the murder weapon.

Independently, the police discovered evidence that the August 31, 1989, joint statement was not completely true and that both Virgil and Ronnie Gross had played a much larger role in the murder. Specifically, it was discovered that Ronnie Gross possessed a considerable amount of jewelry belonging to Mrs. Harrison including what she had been wearing on the day she disappeared; a witness had seen Virgil loading the victim’s body into the trunk of a car while Ronnie watched; and Ronnie had told a friend that she was burning a map because it was incriminating.

On September 6, 1989, the district attorney contacted defense counsel and explained the new information which demonstrated that Virgil and Ronnie Gross had not been truthful and were more involved than their statement indicated.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Louisiana Versus Dermaine Norman
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
621 So. 2d 130, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 2450, 1993 WL 217251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gross-lactapp-1993.