State v. Johnson

151 So. 3d 683, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0343, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 3134, 2014 WL 4923083
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided October 1, 2014·No. No. 2013-KA-0343·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

MADELEINE M. LANDRIEU, Judge.

|]The defendant, Kedrick Johnson, was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and sentenced as a multiple offender to two consecutive eighty-year terms. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Mr. Johnson’s convictions and sentences.

PROCEEDINGS BELOW

On February 24, 2011, in a multi-count indictment, Kedrick Johnson was charged with violating the Louisiana Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act, [687] Louisiana Revised Statute 15:1404(B), by engaging in a pattern of criminal gang activity involving four instances of the sale and/or possession of and transportation of controlled dangerous substances during the period of August 17, 2000 through January 9, 2007. The indictment also charged Mr. Johnson with two counts of second-degree murder, violations of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:80.1, relating to the December 1, 2002 shooting death of Jerome Scarborough and the April 2, 2007 shooting death of Alexander Williams. After a jury trial on August 7, 2012 through August 9, 2012, Mr. Johnson was found guilty of two counts of |amanslaughter. The jury declined to find him guilty of the charges arising from the Louisiana Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act.

After the trial, the State filed a multiple bill of information, pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statute 15:529.1. The trial court adjudicated Mr. Johnson a second-felony offender as to the Scarborough manslaughter conviction and as a third-felony offender as to the Williams manslaughter conviction. Mr. Johnson was sentenced to two consecutive eighty-year sentences. This appeal follows.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Mr. Johnson first asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support his manslaughter convictions for the deaths of Mr. Scarborough and Mr. Williams. Intertwined in this assignment of error are Mr. Johnson’s assertions that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing into evidence (1) the statement of Stephen Hymel, an eyewitness to Mr. Williams’ murder, (2) the statement of Joshua Johnson, a witness to Mr. Williams’ murder, and (3) a report from ATF Special Agent Cheryl Harrell. In his final assignment of error, Mr. Johnson asserts that his sentences are excessive under the circumstances of this case.

FACTS

The December 1, 2002 Shooting Death of Jerome Scarborough

On December 1, 2002 at 11:47 p.m., Ms. Arva Lewis called 911 and reported that she had heard gunshots and thought there was possibly a dead body on her back porch. New Orleans Police Department Officer Carolyn Dalton responded to the call and observed the body of a black male, later identified as |3Jerome Scarborough, on Ms. Lewis’ back porch as she had reported. Officer Dalton notified EMS personnel, who pronounced Mr. Scarborough dead on the scene. A fully loaded, unfired, .38 caliber weapon was in Mr. Scarborough’s back pocket.

New Orleans Police Department Homicide Detective Greg Hamilton, the lead investigator in the case, learned that Ms. Lewis and three children, Leonard, Ivan, and Shelby, lived at the St. Claude Avenue residence and were present when the shooting occurred. Ms. Lewis, Ivan, and Shelby were transported to the homicide office, where they gave statements about the events leading to the shooting. Based on the statements, Detective Hamilton obtained arrest warrants for Leonard Lewis and his friend, Kedrick Johnson, the defendant in this appeal. Both men were arrested and charged with the second-degree murder of Mr. Scarborough.1 The facts giving rise to the defendant’s arrest and conviction will be addressed later in this opinion.

[688] The April 2, 2007 Shooting Death of Alexander Williams

On April 2, 2007, Sergeant John Blatcher of the New Orleans Police Department investigated a 911 call reporting a shooting in the 1200 block of Louisa Street. When he arrived on the scene, a black male, later identified as Alexander Williams, was lying face up near the driver’s side door of a black Taurus parked in front of 1220 Louisa Street. Mr. Williams was unresponsive and |4had suffered an apparent gunshot wound to the back of his head. EMS personnel transported Mr. Williams to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

ATF Special Agent Cheryl Harrell, assigned to New Orleans to investigate street gangs, narcotics offenses, and federal firearms violations, participated in the investigation of the homicide of Mr. Williams. During her investigation, she learned that Mr. Williams had received a call from a man named Joshua Johnson seven minutes before the first 911 call reporting the shooting.2 Agent Harrell met with Mr. Johnson twice. She first met with him at a federal prison in Yazoo City, Mississippi and later met with him at his attorney’s office in New Orleans in 2009. In the latter meeting, Agent Harrell was accompanied by Detective Michael McCleary.

At this second meeting, Mr. Johnson revealed that he was inside 1220 Louisa Street cooking cocaine on the day Mr. Williams was shot. Prior to the shooting, he observed Mr. Williams in the area trying to buy narcotics from the defendant. According to Mr. Johnson’s statement to Agent Harrell, Mr. Johnson observed the defendant and Mr. Williams argue over the price of the drugs and then observed Mr. Williams leave the area. Shortly thereafter, an acquaintance told Mr. Johnson that he had heard that Mr. Williams had a gun in his car and was looking for the defendant. Soon thereafter, Mr. Johnson heard gunshots. When he Hooked out of his window, he saw Mr. Williams lying on the ground and saw the defendant holding a gun.

ERRORS PATENT

A review of the record for errors patent reveals none.

DISCUSSION

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

In his first assignment of error, the defendant contends that the State presented insufficient evidence to support his two manslaughter convictions beyond a reasonable doubt. When reviewing for the sufficiency of the evidence, this court is controlled by the standard enunciated in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Under this standard, we must determine whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781. As stated by the Louisiana Supreme Court in State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305, 1311 (La.1988):

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State v. Johnson, 151 So. 3d 683, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0343, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 3134, 2014 WL 4923083 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

151 So. 3d 683 (State v. Johnson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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