State v. Kyles

233 So. 3d 150
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 7, 2016
DocketNO. 16-KA-295
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 233 So. 3d 150 (State v. Kyles) 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. Kyles, 233 So. 3d 150 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

LILJEBERG, J.

11 Defendant, Curtis L. Kyles, appeals his conviction for second degree murder in violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. For the reasons stated more fully below, we affirm defendant’s conviction and sentence.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On October 14,2010, a grand jury indicted defendant with the second degree mur[153]*153der of Crystal St. Pierre.1 Defendant was arraigned and pleaded not guilty on October 15, 2010. Defendant filed two motions to quash the indictment as constitutionally deficient on June 3, 2013 and September 19, 2015. The trial court denied both motions.

On September 21-29, 2015, the ease was tried before a twelve-person jury that unanimously found defendant guilty as charged of second degree murder. On November 9, 2015, defendant filed a motion for a new trial, which the trial court denied on November 10, 2015. On that same date, after defendant waived delays, the trial court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. Defendant filed a motion for reconsideration of sentence which the trial court denied. Defendant then filed a motion for appeal, which the trial court granted on November 12, 2015. This appeal follows.

FACTS

Chicwanda Forbes was initially charged as a co-defendant for the second degree murder of the victim, Crystal St. Pierre; however, in return for her testimony against defendant in this case, she pleaded guilty to second degree kidnapping and received a fifteen-year prison sentence. At trial, Forbes testified that she regularly visited defendant at his residence in the Cedar Point apartment complex in Algiers, Louisiana. On June 10, 2010, she went with defendant to a |aWinn Dixie in Algiers to purchase groceries. Defendant tried to pay for the groceries with a food stamp card, but he did not have a valid PIN number.2 Forbes explained that the victim gave defendant the card. After multiple failed attempts at using the card, defendant became “angry” and attempted to call the victim to determine her whereabouts. Forbes and defendant then drove back to his apartment complex. Once there, they located the victim at Lavelle Davis’ apartment, which was a few doors down from defendant’s apartment.

Forbes testified that defendant was very angry and beat on Davis’ door until Davis opened it. The victim exited the apartment and Forbes punched her. They then brought the victim to defendant’s vehicle. Forbes admitted the victim was not free to leave. Forbes sat in the back seat with the victim' while defendant drove. As they drove, defendant argued with the victim about the food stamp card and told her that “she’s going to die and he going to kill her.” Ms. Forbes testified that defendant drove to a location off the road and into a field. Defendant stopped, opened the back door and instructed Forbes and the victim to exit the vehicle. According to Forbes, defendant then grabbed the victim, pushed her down to her knees, and shot her in the head. Forbes described the gun used as a .38 revolver.

After shooting the victim, Forbes and defendant drove around for a couple of hours while defendant made various phone calls. Forbes testified that defendant called his daughter, but she told him not to come to her house because the police were there. Forbes further testified that when she told defendant she wanted to go home, he told her “[yjou’re not going home for a while.” They then drove to Bassfield, Mississippi, to stay with some of defendant’s relatives.3 [154]*154During their stay, Forbes attempted to leave, but defendant struck her on her head, lip and eye. | ¡¡Defendant then threatened Forbes, telling her he was going to kill her and that he did not trust her. After four days in Bassfield, defendant’s son, Curtis Burnes, drove defendant and Forbes to a bank in Covington, Louisiana, to cash a check. When they returned to Bassfield, defendant and Forbes were arrested.

Cedar Point apartment manager, La-velle Davis, testified that she had a close relationship with the victim, and was also familiar with defendant and Forbes because defendant lived in the apartment complex. Davis testified that on the day of the murder, defendant called her a few times, but she did not answer. A short time later there was banging on ,her front door. When Davis opened the door, defendant stated, “where’s that b***h.” When Davis inquired as to who he was talking about, defendant told her he wanted Crystal to come outside. The victim then came to the door and told Davis not to worry and that she would take care of the situation. As the victim exited Davis’ apartment, Forbes grabbed her by her hair and began punching her in the head and beating her as they went down the stairs. Davis then heard defendant demand that the victim give him his money. When Davis tried to intervene, defendant lifted his shirt, revealing what Davis believed to be the handle of a gun.

Sheridan Flax was drinking coffee with Davis at her apartment on June 10, 2010. He was in the bathroom when he heard banging at the door. He then heard a man “screaming for somebody” and yelling about money. Flax thought about intervening, but observed the man make a gesture which suggested he might be armed. Flax went to a bedroom window and watched as the victim attempted to escape from defendant’s vehicle, but was pulled back into the car by a black female. Flax got into his car and followed defendant’s vehicle. He wrote down the license plate number and called the police.

Officer Michael Washington of. the New Orleans Police Department testified that he was dispatched to the Cedar Point apartment complex in response to a ^possible kidnapping of a white female by a black male and female driving a vehicle with the license plate number SIU617. He was unable to locate the vehicle at the apartment complex, but upon running the plate, discovered that the vehicle was registered to Tatiana and Eric Narcese. It was later learned that Tatiana Narcese is defendant’s daughter.

Detective Gary Barteet of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office testified that he responded to a call the following day on June 11, 2010, regarding a body found in a wooded area in Avondale, Louisiana. Detective Barteet’s first lead in the ease was developed on June 14, 2010, when his office received an anonymous call, leading him to interview Ms. Davis. Through speaking with Davis, Detective Barteet identified defendant and Forbes as suspects in the victim’s murder. Detective Barteet obtained defendant’s cell phone number, and through his phone records, discovered that defendant’s cell phone was used in the vicinity of the crime scene near the time of the homicide.

In addition, Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent William Williams testified as an expert in historical cell site analysis. [155]*155Agent Williams explained that the phone registered to defendant used a cell phone tower near the Winn Dixie on Holiday Drive in Algiers at 10:46 a.m. on June 10, 2010. Agent Williams further testified that on the same morning, defendant’s cell phone was used at 10:68 a.m. in close proximity to the Cedar Point apartment complex, where the victim was last seen before her murder. Agent Williams explained that after 11:00 a.m., defendant’s cell phone demonstrated movement; specifically, at 11:11 a.m., the phone utilized a tower situated at the base of the Crescent City Connection in Algiers, approximately a mile from the Cedar Point apartments.

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Bluebook (online)
233 So. 3d 150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kyles-lactapp-2016.