State v. Jones

119 So. 3d 859, 2012 La.App. 1 Cir. 0510, 2013 WL 2632067, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1198
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided June 12, 2013·No. No. 2012-KA-0510·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

MADELEINE M. LANDRIEU, Judge.

| Michael Jones was charged by bill of information with one count of aggravated [861]*861burglary in violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:60, one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:95.1, and one count of illegal discharge of a weapon in violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:94. Following a jury trial, Mr. Jones was found guilty of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling (a responsive verdict to aggravated burglary) and guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was acquitted on the charge of illegal discharge of a weapon.

On the conviction for simple burglary, the trial court sentenced Mr. Jones to serve twelve years at hard labor. On the conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the trial court sentenced Mr. Jones to fifteen years at hard labor and assessed a fine of one thousand dollars. The trial court ordered that the sentences run concurrently. Mr. Jones timely filed this appeal of his convictions and sentences.

FACTS

The victim in this case, Keyondra Bridges, and the defendant, Michael Jones, knew each other. They had, at one point in their relationship, been dating 12partners. At Mr. Jones’ trial, Keyondra1 testified that she and Mr. Jones had dated back in 2003 and again from July through September of 2009. She denied they were still dating on November 10, 2009, the date of the incident in question. According to her testimony, on that date, Mr. Jones called her from his work at Popeye’s in Slidell and she agreed to go with him to a movie.2 She drove to Slidell, picked Mr. Jones up from his sister’s house, and they went in her car to see the movie, Paranormal Activity 2. On their way, they stopped at a daiquiri shop where Mr. Jones bought two daiquiris. According to Keyondra, he drank them both before the movie.

After the movie, Keyondra tried to bring Mr. Jones back to his sister’s house in Slidell but he refused to get out of the car. He wanted to go out, so she drove to Bourbon Street to placate him. Shortly after arriving on Bourbon Street, Keyon-dra was ready to leave so she called Mr. Jones’ sister, hoping that his sister would pick him up or would be able to persuade him to go to her house. When that tactic was unsuccessful, Keyondra drove to the Seventh District Police Station in New Orleans Bast hoping to get a police officer to help her get Mr. Jones out of her car. Mr. Jones ultimately got out of the car voluntarily at the police station, and Keyondra drove to her parents’ house.

Soon after she left him, Mr. Jones began calling Keyondra on her cell phone because he wanted her to drive him home. During the phone calls, he threatened to kill her parents, so she left their house and went to her grandmother’s, where she was living at that time, and went to bed.

|.c. Keyondra then heard Mr. Jones knocking on the window and doors of her grandmother’s home, but she did not respond. The front door to the house had a glass outer door and a wooden inner door. Mr. Jones broke the front glass door, but could not get in. He went to the side door and “kicked it in.” He then went to her bedroom, kicked in the bedroom door, and pulled her out of bed. Mr. Jones grabbed her by the neck and dragged her down the hall and out of the house. Keyondra yelled to her grandmother that Mr. Jones was trying to kill her and to call the police.

[862]*862Keyondra testified that Mr. Jones dragged her into the alleyway and pushed her to the ground. He started punching her in the face, chest and arms. At that point, a friend of Mr. Jones walked up and offered to take him home. Mr. Jones refused, saying that he wanted Keyondra to take him home. The friend then left, and Mr. Jones dragged Keyondra back into her bedroom, telling her to put clothes on. While they were in her bedroom, Mr. Jones noticed Keyondra’s gun on the floor. He saw Keyondra reach for the gun, pushed her out of the way and took the gun. He told Keyondra that if she called the police, he would kill her. Mr. Jones then took Keyondra back outside to her car at gunpoint and ordered her to take him home. As he got in the car, Keyondra was able to get away. As she ran back into the house, she heard gunshots. Key-ondra locked herself in the bathroom with her grandmother and called the police.3

According to Keyondra, Mr. Jones was not at the house when the police arrived but returned soon after. She saw the police arrest Mr. Jones and heard him yell, “I’m going to be back” or “It’s not over.”

|4Mr. Jones testified on his own behalf. He acknowledged three prior convictions— possession of cocaine in 1999, possession with the intent to distribute cocaine in 2003, and distribution of cocaine in 2004. He testified that he and the victim began dating in 2003 and were dating at the time of the incident. He corroborated Keyon-dra’s testimony that they went to a movie and then to Bourbon Street. He contends that they began arguing so she put him out of the car at the Seventh District Police Station. Mr. Jones was talking to Officer Gabriel Osborne in the parking lot of the Seventh District when Keyondra pulled away. He testified that he asked Officer Osborne to give him a ride to Sli-dell, but she declined. Mr. Jones continued to try to find a ride to Slidell. He found a friend who could not take him to Slidell, but could take him somewhere in the New Orleans East area. So, he had his friend take him to Keyondra’s grandmother’s house. Mr. Jones then started calling Keyondra from his cell phone and she answered a majority of his calls.

Mr. Jones stated that he knocked on the door of the house, but no one answered. He slammed the front glass door, and it shattered. He then went to the side door, hit it with his left shoulder and it came open. Mr. Jones went to Ms. Bridges’ bedroom and used his shoulder to break it open. He stated that Keyondra willingly went outside with him and agreed to take him home. After going back inside to get her keys, Keyondra returned with a gun but did not point it at him. Mr. Jones stated that while he was trying to disarm her, he accidentally punched her in the face while trying to grab the gun, and she fell to the ground. Mr. Jones stated that he knew Keyondra would call the police, so he walked up the street to wait for the police to arrive. He acknowledged that as a convicted felon, he was | Bnot supposed to be in possession of a weapon. He claimed, however, that he took the gun to disarm her, taking the bullets out of the magazine and putting them in his right pocket while keeping the gun in his left pocket. He denied that he shot the weapon, or that it ever went off during the incident.

When the police arrived, Mr. Jones walked back to the house with his hands up and told the officers that that he had a gun, though he stood watching the police for twenty minutes before approaching the [863]*863house. He testified that he was trying to explain the situation to the police, but they did not give him a chance to say anything before placing him under arrest.

Keyondra’s grandmother, Ms. Emma Bridges, testified that on the night of the incident she was home in bed watching television. She heard her granddaughter come in and, a short time later, heard a loud noise. She thought her granddaughter had dropped something but then heard her granddaughter yelling, “He’s going to kill me” and telling her to call the police.

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State v. Jones, 119 So. 3d 859, 2012 La.App. 1 Cir. 0510, 2013 WL 2632067, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1198 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

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