State v. Hankton

719 So. 2d 546, 1998 WL 656081
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 16, 1998
Docket96-KA-1538
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 719 So. 2d 546 (State v. Hankton) 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. Hankton, 719 So. 2d 546, 1998 WL 656081 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

719 So.2d 546 (1998)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Fred HANKTON, Jr.

No. 96-KA-1538.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

September 16, 1998.

*547 Archie B. Creech, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for Defendant/Appellant.

Harry F. Connick, District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Susan Erlanger Talbot, Assistant District Attorney of Orleans Parish, New Orleans, for State/Appellee.

Before SCHOTT, C.J., and JONES and WALTZER, JJ.

WALTZER, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Fred Hankton, Jr. was charged, along with Kerry Lacy, by grand jury indictment with first degree murder. He was arraigned, pled not guilty and filed motions to suppress a statement and an identification which were denied. His trial was severed from that of his co-defendant that date. A twelve member jury found him guilty of second degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1, on 2 May 1996. He was sentenced on 9 May 1996 to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation of suspension of sentence. He appeals his conviction and sentence.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Luciana "Shannon" Beard testified that on 8 June 1995, she had been living with the victim, John Stevenson, at 2118 Clio Street, Apartment 4A for about a month. At 11:00 p.m., she heard fumbling at the back door. She unlocked the door, which then flew open. Fred, whom she later identified as the defendant Fred Hankton, and a man whom she knew as "Lacy" came into the apartment. Hankton had Stevenson by the neck and was choking him. Lacy pulled out a gun, ordered Stevenson and Beard to lie down on the floor, and Hankton then asked Stevenson, "Where it's at?", whereupon Stevenson directed him to a shelf in another room. Hankton began looking around the house. He came back into the room at one point, and Beard saw him putting a tin foil packet in his pocket. He then began asking for money. Beard and Hankton went into the other room to get the money. After she gave him the money that was kept in that room, he asked Stevenson where the remainder was located. Stevenson directed Beard to a rice bag in the kitchen where she found a white object which she gave to Hankton. Stevenson and Lacy began arguing. Stevenson asked Lacy not to kill him in front of Beard. Then Lacy emptied the gun into Stevenson and Hankton told Beard she had better not tell anyone what happened. Beard called to Stevenson, and, having received no response, jumped over her year old daughter and called out of the window for help. She grabbed the baby and ran downstairs where a man had already called for the police and she spoke to the police operator. When the police arrived at the scene, she told Detective Deal that Lacy lived at an address on Thalia Street. She testified that she was uncomfortable talking to the police at the scene. A few days later, she identified both men in photographic lineups. She repeatedly testified that she recognized Hankton's photo as a picture of the man who had held Stevenson around the neck, and said that Detective Deal did not use force, threat, coercion, promise or suggestion in any way to lead her to make the identification. She also made an in-court identification of Hankton.

*548 Officer Ernest Joseph testified that he responded to the gunshot call and found the victim lying face down in a pool of blood. He spoke to Ms. Beard and tried to calm her, and secured the crime scene.

Officer Jake Schnapp arrested both Hankton and Lacy on 19 June 1995, outside 2319 Thalia Street.

Dr. Paul McGarry, qualified as an expert in forensic pathology, testified that Stevenson's death was caused by multiple gunshot wounds. One shot to the head and one to the heart had penetrated his body deeply. One shot to the head had been fired at close range.

Detective Dwight Deal of the New Orleans Police Department's Homicide Division testified that he arrived at the scene in response to the 911 call and spoke to Beard, whom he described as cooperative but frightened, shaken and scared. She gave extensive descriptions of the suspects and said that she knew Lacy by name but was afraid that if she told, the killers would be able to trace the information back to her. She said that she knew the name of a man with whom he lived, Troyell "Turkey" Ross, on Thalia Street. Deal obtained a picture of Ross, whose registered address was 2319 Thalia Street, Apartment D, and Beard said that he was indeed the man who lived with Lacy. Two days later, Deal compiled two photographic lineups, one containing a picture of Lacy, and one containing a picture of Hankton. On 12 June he showed Beard the pictures and asked only if she recognized anyone in either or both sets of pictures. Beard immediately chose Hankton and Lacy, and wrote on the back of each photo a description of that person's part in the crime. Detective Deal confirmed Beard's testimony that he did not force, threaten or coerce her to make an identification, did not promise her anything, tell her she had to pick someone or suggest whom she should pick. He applied for and obtained arrest warrants for the two men.

After Hankton's arrest on 19 June 1995, Deal advised him of his rights and had him sign a rights of arrestee form. Hankton made a statement that was transcribed and recorded. The tape was played for the jury, and a copy of the transcript was provided to each of them. In the statement, Hankton said that he and Lacy had gone to the Stevenson's apartment the night of the murder to take Stevenson's dope. He grabbed Stevenson around the neck and Lacy had drawn a black .357 handgun on Stevenson. He and Lacy made him lie on the floor. A girl in the house showed Hankton where the drugs were, he took the drugs, including heroin from a rice bag, and money, and Lacy shot Stevenson. He confirmed that there was a baby in the house at the time of the murder.

Kendra Spencer, Hankton's seventeen year old girlfriend, a junior at Joseph S. Clark high school, testified that she was with him all night on the night of the crime. At one point, after midnight, they left his mother's house on the west bank and drove to a daiquiri shop at the corner of St. Charles and Carrollton Avenues, in the uptown section of New Orleans, where they bought daiquiris. She remembered the night because she testified that it was the night she lost her virginity. She said 8 June 1995, was either a Saturday or a Sunday. It was, in fact, a Thursday. Scott Sorenson, manager of the daiquiri shop, testified that the store always closed at midnight on Thursdays. He produced a tape from the register that showed that the store did in fact close at midnight on 8 June 1995.

ERRORS PATENT

We have examined the entire record for errors patent and have found none.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR: The lack of a transcript of the hearing on Hankton's Motion to Suppress Evidence denied him his right to appellate review based upon a complete record.

The transcript having been provided and a supplemental brief having been filed on Hankton's behalf based upon the transcript, this assignment of error is moot.

SECOND ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR TWO: The trial court erred in allowing gruesome photographs into evidence.

At the trial, the State introduced into evidence photographs of the victim at the scene. The defense objected that they were gruesome and inadmissible. The trial court admitted the photographs, and Hankton now *549 complains that in so doing, the trial court erred.

The admission of gruesome photographs will not be overturned unless it is clear the prejudicial effect of the photographs outweighs their probative value. State v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
719 So. 2d 546, 1998 WL 656081, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hankton-lactapp-1998.