State v. Holmes

931 So. 2d 1157, 2006 WL 1382182
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 10, 2006
Docket2005-KA-1248
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 931 So. 2d 1157 (State v. Holmes) 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. Holmes, 931 So. 2d 1157, 2006 WL 1382182 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

931 So.2d 1157 (2006)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Joseph HOLMES.

No. 2005-KA-1248.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

May 10, 2006.

*1158 Eddie J. Jordan, Jr., District Attorney, Battle Bell IV, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee.

William R. Campbell, Jr., Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant.

(Court composed of Chief Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG, Judge JAMES F. McKAY III, Judge ROLAND L. BELSOME).

ROLAND L. BELSOME, Judge.

Appellant Joseph Holmes appeals his conviction for purse snatching. We affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACT

Celeste Orris stated that on July 25, 2004 she went out for the evening with several people. Orris' group arrived at the Balcony Bar at approximately 9:00 P.M. Orris stated that she and her friends consumed alcohol while at the Balcony Bar. Orris' group eventually left the Balcony Bar and went to the Half Moon Bar. Orris testified that the Half Moon Bar is located near the corner of Sophie Wright and St. Mary Streets in New Orleans. Orris arrived at the Half Moon Bar at approximately 1:30 a.m. on July 26, 2004. Orris stated that she consumed alcohol while at the Half Moon Bar. Neither the state nor the defense introduced any evidence as to the amount of alcohol consumed by Orris at either bar over the course of the evening. At approximately 2:30 A.M., Orris and her friends were sitting at a table on the sidewalk outside of the bar. Orris testified that she was sitting in a chair with her back to the street with her black leather handbag was sitting beside her on another chair when a man rode up to her on a bicycle, snatched her purse, and rode away. Orris stated that she had seen the man earlier that evening *1159 inside the Half Moon Bar. Orris described the man to the police as approximately twenty to twenty-five years old and wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Orris testified that her purse contained ten to fifteen dollars in cash and a cell phone.

Orris testified that Sgt. Chris Billiot contacted her approximately two weeks after the incident and asked her to come to the police station. At the police station, Orris viewed a photographic lineup and was asked whether one of the photographs depicted the man who snatched her purse. After consideration, Orris picked photograph two, and signed and dated the back of the photograph in the presence of Detective Sandra Contreras. Orris testified that Detective Contreras told her nothing prior to the lineup, and stated that Detective Contreras neither suggested whom she should pick nor promised her anything. In court, Orris identified the lineup and the photograph she picked at the police station. Further, Orris also identified defendant as the purse-snatcher.

Questioning by the State and defense expanded upon Orris' testimony at trial. Specifically, Orris testified that after arriving at the Half Moon Bar she saw defendant sitting at the bar drinking a beer. Orris testified that defendant was approximately five feet away from her when she saw him in the bar. When asked how she knew that the man she saw sitting at the bar was the same man who snatched her purse, Orris testified: "Because he was coming from this direction and I could see him out of the corner of my eye and I saw him grab my purse, because it was right beside me and I saw him continue going." Orris stated that there was no physical contact between her and defendant. Orris also testified that in addition to cash and a cell phone, her stolen purse also contained a credit card and her friend's passport. Following the incident, Orris' friend telephoned the police, who came out and took a statement from Orris. Orris testified that that at the photo lineup the police did not force her to select a photo, did not promise her anything for selecting a photo, and did not suggest anything to her.

Detective Sandra Contreras testified that she was assigned to the Sixth District on July 26, 2004 and participated in the investigation of the foregoing purse snatching. Detective Contreras stated that her sergeant reassigned the case to her on July 28, 2004. After getting the assignment, Contreras read the incident report and learned that the prior detective on the case had completed a subpoena duces tecum for the production of Orris' cell phone records. After receiving Orris' phone records Contreras began tracking the cellular phone activity on the records and developed defendant as a suspect. Detective Contreras described her phone record investigation accordingly:

After I obtained the cell phone numbers, I put them into an information system that gave me the address to which the phone was registered as well as the person who the phone was registered to. After that, I entered it into a data base. At which time, it revealed several subjects at several locations.
From there, I just tracked it back to — I tracked it back to the subjects. Then I entered those names into another data base. And from there, I was able to link, I believe it was, two subjects to the 6th District area.

Detective Contreras clarified that Orris' phone was used to make several calls to three addresses. The first location was a Benson Street address. It was subsequently learned that defendant's girlfriend lived at the Benson Street address. Under cross-examination, Detective Contreras admitted that several individuals lived at the Benson Street address, some of *1160 whom fit the description provided by Orris of the purse-snatcher. However, Detective Contreras explained that she discounted these other individuals as suspects because defendant had a Felicity Street address at the time of the incident, and the purse-snatcher was last seen fleeing down Felicity Street.

The second location was a Deslonde Street address. Detective Contreras stated that no one was at this address when she visited it. Detective Contreras noted that she learned that an individual later came back to this address but she discounted him as a suspect because there was no evidence that he was in the Sixth District at the time of the incident.

The third location was a Werner Street address. This address yielded another potential suspect, one Charles Baumer. Detective Contreras could not locate Baumer but nevertheless spoke with the owner of the residence at the Werner Street address. The owner told Detective Contreras she was on vacation at the time of the calls and that no one was supposed to have been in the house at the time. The phone records indicate that two calls were placed to the Werner Street address and that someone answered and spoke to someone for a number of minutes. Nevertheless, Detective Contreras discounted Baumer as a suspect in the underlying crime because he did not fit Orris' description of the purse-snatcher.

Accordingly, Detective Contreras concluded that defendant was the most likely suspect for the purse snatching. Moreover, Detective Contreras testified that she ordered a photo-lineup containing defendant's photograph. Detective Contreras also stated that she filed the photo-lineup into evidence after Orris viewed the lineup.

Sergeant Chris Billiot testified that he was assigned to the Sixth District and investigated the July 26, 2004 purse snatching. Sergeant Billiot testified that he prepared a photographic lineup containing defendant's photograph. Sergeant Billiot also interviewed Orris and presented to her the photographic lineup. Billiot testified that Orris viewed the photos, identified a perpetrator, and signed and dated the back of the perpetrator's photo.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
931 So. 2d 1157, 2006 WL 1382182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-holmes-lactapp-2006.