State v. Hill

796 So. 2d 127, 2001 WL 1131784
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 26, 2001
Docket35,013-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 796 So. 2d 127 (State v. Hill) 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. Hill, 796 So. 2d 127, 2001 WL 1131784 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

796 So.2d 127 (2001)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Deon L. HILL, Appellant.

No. 35,013-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

September 26, 2001.

*129 Peggy J. Sullivan, Louisiana Appellate Project, Monroe, Mary L. Harried, Assistant Indigent Defender, New Orleans, Counsel for Appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, Laura O. Wingate, J. Thomas Butler, Assistant District Attorneys, Counsel for Appellee.

Before WILLIAMS, GASKINS and KOSTELKA, JJ.

GASKINS, J.

The defendant, Deon L. Hill, was convicted of illegal use of a weapon while committing a crime of violence. He was then adjudicated a second felony offender and sentenced to 15 years at hard labor, without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence. The defendant now appeals. The conviction and sentence of the defendant are affirmed.

FACTS

At about 6:00 p.m. on May 18, 1999, Marlon Lemons and Michelle Clem were in the front yard of her home on 76th Street in Shreveport, visiting with friends Nehemiah Stafford and Linda Williams. The defendant then drove up in his girlfriend's car. The girlfriend, Nikesha Lemons, is Mr. Lemons' sister, and she was in the front passenger seat. The defendant stopped the car in the street and got out, approximately 10 to 15 feet from most of the victims. The defendant yelled words to the effect of "What's up, Kojack," Mr. Lemons' nickname.

As Mr. Lemons turned and started to walk toward the defendant, Ms. Clem realized that the defendant was pulling a gun. She called out and warned Mr. Lemons. As the defendant began firing the pistol, Mr. Lemons ducked behind his parked automobile. Mr. Stafford fled to the back of the residence. Ms. Clem pushed her 6-year-old child, who was about to come outside, back into the house. Ms. Williams also ran into the house and fell to the floor. Ms. Clem's mother was also inside the front room of the house.

The defendant began shooting indiscriminately with the .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. One round hit the automobile Mr. Lemons was crouching behind. Another round hit a trash can, and several bullets hit the Clem house and the house next door. All of the bullet holes found by the *130 police were located three to six feet off the ground.

After the defendant emptied the clip in his pistol, he ejected that clip, reloaded another clip, and resumed firing. All together, the defendant fired at least 13 rounds into the neighborhood.[1] He then picked up the spent clip and sped off. Fortunately, no one was hit by any of the bullets.

As the defendant drove off, Mr. Lemons attempted to give chase in his car, but was unable to do so. The police were called, and after investigating the scene, a warrant was issued for the defendant. However, the police were unable to locate the defendant.

Approximately a month later, Mr. Lemons encountered the defendant at a gas station. Mr. Lemons attempted a "citizen's arrest" of the defendant by pulling a pistol on the defendant.[2] The defendant's friends took Mr. Lemons' gun, but Mr. Lemons prevented the defendant from leaving until the police arrived and arrested both of them.

After his arrest, the defendant was Mirandized and gave a statement to the police admitting to the shooting. He stated that he was angry with Mr. Lemons for allegedly hitting his sister, the defendant's girlfriend, during an argument on the day of the shooting. According to the defendant, when he got home and learned of the siblings' altercation, he "just lost it" and went to confront Mr. Lemons. He admitted that he fired the weapon but denied trying to hit anyone. He maintained that he was only trying to scare Mr. Lemons. He also told the police that he disposed of the gun by throwing it off the Jimmie Davis Bridge into the Red River.

Following a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty of illegal use of a weapon while committing a crime of violence, the crime of violence being aggravated assault.

The state filed a habitual offender bill of information, alleging that the defendant had previously pled guilty to manslaughter in 1994 and had been sentenced to seven years. The defendant was on parole for that offense at the time of the shooting. The defendant filed an objection to the habitual offender bill of information.

The defendant pled not guilty to the habitual offender bill of information, and the matter was tried. The state introduced the bill of information and minutes of the December 9, 1994 guilty plea for manslaughter, and through expert testimony, established that the fingerprints on the manslaughter bill of information were those of the defendant. The trial court adjudicated the defendant as a second felony offender.

The defendant was sentenced to "15 years at hard labor without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence." The defendant filed a motion to reconsider his sentence, which was denied. This appeal followed.

SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE

The defendant argues that the matter was a family dispute, and that he fired because he was apprehensive about his own safety. The defendant further argues that the state did not prove that he committed an aggravated assault while firing the .45 caliber pistol into the neighborhood. The state argues that the evidence *131 clearly established that the defendant discharged a dangerous weapon during an aggravated assault.

La. R.S. 14:94 provides, in pertinent part:

A. Illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities is the intentional or criminally negligent discharging of any firearm, or the throwing, placing, or other use of any article, liquid, or substance, where it is foreseeable that it may result in death or great bodily harm to a human being.
. . . .
F. Whoever commits the crime of illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities by discharging a firearm while committing, attempting to commit, conspiring to commit, or soliciting, coercing, or intimidating another person to commit a crime of violence or violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law, shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not less then ten years nor more than twenty years, without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence....

A crime of violence, defined in La. R.S. 14:2(13), includes the offense of aggravated assault.

Under Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), the proper standard for appellate review of sufficiency of the evidence claims is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Bellamy, 599 So.2d 326 (La.App. 2d Cir.1992), writ denied, 605 So.2d 1089 (La.1992). The Jackson standard is applicable in cases involving both direct and circumstantial evidence. In reviewing sufficiency of the evidence, we must resolve any conflict in the direct evidence by viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. When the direct evidence is thus viewed, the facts established by the direct evidence and inferred from the circumstances established by that evidence must be sufficient for a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of every essential element of the crime. State v. Sutton, 436 So.2d 471 (La.1983); State v. Lott, 535 So.2d 963 (La.App.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
796 So. 2d 127, 2001 WL 1131784, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hill-lactapp-2001.