State v. Lafitte

63 So. 3d 1195, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 1253, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 560, 2011 WL 1771116
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 11, 2011
DocketNo. 10-1253
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 63 So. 3d 1195 (State v. Lafitte) 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. Lafitte, 63 So. 3d 1195, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 1253, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 560, 2011 WL 1771116 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

SAUNDERS, Judge.

| jOn January 10, 2008, the State charged both Defendant, Brock Anthony Lafitte, and Darien James Greenwood with one count of armed robbery, in violation of La.R.S. 14:64, and one count of aggravated second degree battery, in violation of La. R.S. 14:34.7. On July 13, 2009, Defendant waived his right to a jury trial and moved for a bench trial. At the conclusion of Defendant’s trial, the district court found Defendant guilty as charged. On February 5, 2010, the court ordered Defendant to serve ten years at hard labor for each conviction; designated that the armed robbery sentence was to be served without probation, parole, or suspension of sentence; set forth that the penalties were to run concurrently; and gave Defendant credit for time served.

Defendant now appeals. We affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

At trial, Thomas Cass first testified for the State. Mr. Cass was deer hunting with his son in the Kisatchie National Forest around dawn on October 20, 2007, when he encountered Josh Pilcher, the victim. Mr. Cass observed that Mr. Pil-cher seemingly had been severely beaten, as he was covered in dried blood and mud. Mr. Cass gave Mr. Pilcher a ride in his truck to seek medical attention.

Mr. Cass related what Mr. Pilcher told him about what happened. On the prior Thursday evening, Mr. Pilcher loaned his cell phone to two men, but they did not return it. After calling the number all day Friday, he finally spoke to them. The two men arranged to meet with Mr. Pilcher near where Mr. Cass went hunting. When Mr. Pilcher arrived, the two men jumped him, beat him, stole his wallet and keys, and placed him in the back of the truck. The men took turns driving and beating the man. After driving for a period of time, they pulled over and threw him into a ditch and |2commenced shooting in Mr. Pilcher’s direction. Finally, when the men appeared distracted, Mr. Pilcher ran away into the woods. The men followed and fired shots after him. Mr. Pilcher hid in the woods for the rest of the night until he sought help from Mr. Cass.

Detective Claude Weatherford, on October 20, 2007, went to Cabrini Hospital to meet with detectives regarding the battery of an individual at an unknown location. Once at the hospital, Detective Weather-ford talked to Mr. Pilcher then traveled to the location where he had been informed the incident had occurred. Detective Weatherford testified that, when he arrived on site where the battery took place, he observed Mr. Pilcher’s vehicle was parked near the scene, and Detective Weatherford found evidence that was consistent with Mr. Pilcher’s described events.

Detective Weatherford explained that, two days later, after being notified that a suspect had been located, officers photographed Defendant’s black extended-cab truck. Defendant informed the officers that he and Mr. Greenwood had used two rifles that night and gave them consent to search. The officers collected the rifles from Defendant’s bedroom. They collected a Remington seven millimeter magazine rifle. It appeared as if there was blood on the stock of the rifle. The second firearm collected was an SKS. The search also yielded spent cartridges in the back of Defendant’s truck that matched the SKS rounds.

Detective Reed, who supervised the Tio-ga detectives for the Rapides Parish Sheriffs Office, was the next witness called by [1198]*1198the State. On October 20, 2007, he spoke to Mr. Pilcher at Cabrini Hospital. Detective Reed recounted the information he obtained from Mr. Pilcher:

He gave me his statement, which began — that put him and some co-workers at GG’s Club. They had met two guys. He knew one of |sthe[m] by the name of Darien, is what he had said. They were — had told him that they were in the military. Darien had accused one of the persons with Josh of taking his cell phone. He lost his cell phone at the club. They — there were some attempts to find the cell phone. Josh had told me that he loaned Darien his phone to try to call the lost phone to see if they could locate it. That never happened at GG’s. Josh advised that Darien and the other person that was with Darien left GG’s with his cell phone. He contacted them using his wife’s cell phone. He called his own cell phone that Darien had, the guy he was calling Darien, and had made arrangements to meet them to get his cell phone back. Josh says that [sic] was going to be on Messina Road. He told me that he went out to Messina Road. When he arrived[,] ... the person he knew as Darien was in the passenger seat and another male was driving.... He says he got — they were parked parallel. He says he got out of his vehicle, asked for his phone. The passenger told him he wasn’t getting his phone. He said the guy that he knew as Darien got out, produced a rifle, which Josh believed to be an AK-47. He said he shot a round — pointed it at him and then shot a round at his feet into the ground. He said during this, he said the driver got out and came around the truck. And I believe in his statement he said that they double-teamed him. He said he — he fell to the ground. The — the unidentified male at the time got on top of him, was yelling at him, cussing at him. Josh said he hit him, he struck him a few times, hit him. There was talk about him having a pistol, that he— he said he had a Glock and he was going to shoot him, things like that. During that same time, Darien, the one identified as Darien at the time, came back on top of him with the other person, Darien was questioning him pretty strongly about the cell phone — where’s the cell phone. And when Josh would say, I don’t know where your cell phone is, the one he knew as Darien would — would stab him in his hand. Josh said that they had him pinned down flat, one arm behind his back and the other arm stretched out on the — on the gravel road. He said at some point when they both — when they both was [sic] off of him, that’s when he was able to run off into the woods. And he stayed there until he — I guess the next morning, when he was walking through the woods and came across a hunter.

Detective Reed said that, at the hospital, Mr. Pilcher had knife wounds to his hand and a laceration on his head. Mr. Pilcher reported being in a lot of pain. During his interview with Mr. Pilcher, Detective Reed learned that Mr. Pilcher had been robbed as well as beaten. Mr. Pilcher’s wallet and cell phone had been taken.

After speaking with Mr. Pilcher, Detective Reed also went to the scene of the offenses. Mr. Pilcher’s truck was still parked on the road near the scene of the J^incident. Detective Reed observed while Detective Weatherford processed the scene. Detective Reed then obtained information through Mr. Pilcher’s wife. Mrs. Pilcher had access to the cell phone bill, so she printed out a copy, which showed the numbers called by Mr. Pil-cher’s cell phone during the early morning hours of the twentieth. Detective Reed was able to call the numbers to find out [1199]*1199who had been calling them from Mr. Pil-cher’s phone.

Detective Reed related that one of the calls was to Olivia West, who said her boyfriend, Darien Greenwood, had called her to say he lost his cell phone at a night club. Ms. West gave Detective Reed information on Mr. Greenwood and stated she was unable to contact him during the day because he was attending a military school. Detective Reed then put Mr. Greenwood into a lineup and showed it to Mr. Pilcher; Mr. Pilcher identified Mr. Greenwood as the man he knew as “Dar-ien.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 So. 3d 1195, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 1253, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 560, 2011 WL 1771116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lafitte-lactapp-2011.