State v. Lam

837 So. 2d 749, 2003 WL 282803
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 11, 2003
Docket36,862-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 837 So. 2d 749 (State v. Lam) 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. Lam, 837 So. 2d 749, 2003 WL 282803 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

837 So.2d 749 (2003)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Jimmy LAM, Appellant.

No. 36,862-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

February 11, 2003.
Rehearing Denied February 27, 2003.

*750 Blanchard, Walker, O'Quin & Roberts by A.M. Stroud, III, for Appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, J. Thomas Butler William Edwards, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.

Before KOSTELKA, DREW and MOORE, JJ.

*751 DREW, J.

Defendant Jimmy Lam appeals from his conviction and sentence for the crime of illegal use of a weapon under La. R.S. 14:94. We affirm the conviction and sentence, but vacate the condition of probation relative to restitution.

FACTS

On January 1, 2000, racial name-calling and ethnic slurs commenced between members of the Blackwell and Lam families, unfriendly neighbors on Rosedown Street in Shreveport. Soon this conflict escalated into a street brawl. During the second wave of fighting, T. P.,[1] the seven-month-old infant son of Maura Blackwell Paige and Wilford Paige, was struck on the forehead, sustaining injuries. The defendant was charged by bill of information with violation of La. R.S. 14:94(A), illegal use of a weapon. Waiving a jury trial, Mr. Lam elected to be tried by a judge. He was convicted and now appeals.

The trial testimony of Jason Blackwell, apparently believed by the trial court, was that:

• the physical conflict began after the defendant called him some names;
• he (Jason Blackwell), attacked the defendant, Jimmy Lam;
• at the time of the attack, the defendant was near his own truck, which was parked in front of the defendant's house;
• he (Blackwell) punched the defendant in the face, knocked him to the ground, and then got on top of him;
• he then picked up the defendant and shoved him into Don Lam, defendant's brother;
• he (Blackwell) got up and went back to his yard and into his garage; and
• he then saw the defendant coming with a baseball bat.
Maura Blackwell Paige testified that:
• at the time of the incident, she had just picked up her infant son, T. P, from his nap;
• she then noticed that her front door was open and her husband, Wilford, was gone;
• she walked out of the house with T.P. to see what was occurring;
• she saw her brother, Jason, fighting in the middle of the street;
• she walked outside to the end of the driveway and yelled at Wilford to break up the fight;
• she watched the Lams run into their garage;
• she saw one of the defendant's brothers hit her brother John Blackwell on the head with a flashlight;
• then she saw the defendant run toward her and her baby and swing a bat at them;
• she put an arm up to slow the bat, holding her baby on her left side as she faced the defendant, who was about an arm's length away;
• she felt the impact of the bat on her back, and felt the baby go limp in her arms;
• her husband (Wilford Paige) pushed her and the baby into the house;
• realizing that her baby was hurt, she and her husband immediately rushed the infant to LSU Medical Center where he was hospitalized for four days with a closed head injury;
*752 • the picture of T.P.'s injury shown to her in court was accurate; and
• she identified the defendant, sitting in court, as the person who hit her and her baby with the baseball bat.

Maura's brother, John Blackwell, also testified that:

• the defendant ran across the street, stopped near Maura, then swung the bat and hit her and the baby; and
• the baseball bat shown to him in court was the instrument he saw the defendant utilize in the attack.

Maura's husband, Wilford Paige, testified that:

• he had gone outside to break up the fight between Jason and the defendant;
• he was distracted by one of the defendant's family members, who brandished a policeman's flashlight; and
• he saw the defendant run back across the street with a bat towards Maura and his baby, but did not see the blow that injured the baby.
Charles Poma testified that:
• he knew the Lams from the neighborhood;
• he "hung out" with the Blackwells;
• he and Trey Beard were crossing the street at Rosedown when they witnessed the fight;
• he saw Jason and the defendant arguing;
• Jason and the defendant began fighting in the middle of the street;
• he witnessed Maura run out of the house holding the baby, apparently trying to grab her husband;
• after the initial fight was broken up, he saw the defendant and his family go into their garage and get a bat and a flashlight;
• at this time, the Blackwells were in the grass in front of their house;
• he was not sure who had the bat and who had the flashlight because the light was dim, but the person with the bat went across the street and struck Maura and her baby with it;
• under cross examination, he admitted he did not see the defendant with the bat, but believed he saw one of the defendant's brothers swing the bat at Maura and her baby;
• the fight was still going on in the street when Maura and the baby were struck with the bat; and
• the aluminum baseball bat shown him at trial was the one used in the attack.
Trey Beard testified that:
• he was walking with Poma when they witnessed the fight;
• he heard the defendant and Jason arguing;
• Jason was in his yard or driveway and the defendant was on a walkway, separated by a street and a yard;
• from across the street (about 50 yards away) he saw the fight between Jason and the defendant begin in the middle of the street;
• the streetlight lit-up the middle of the street and he could see who was fighting;
• the Blackwells came out to pull Jason back and the Lams ran out of their house;
• he saw the fight push into the Blackwells' yard, where the light was dimmer and it was harder to distinguish who was fighting;
• he noticed that some of the Lams had objects in their hands, but he couldn't see exactly what they were holding because of the dim light;
• he saw the woman come out of the house and try to break up the fight;
*753 • he heard the woman scream; and
• he then heard someone exclaim, "They hit the baby. They hit the baby."

Three of the defendant's siblings, William Lam, Cindy Lam and Don Lam, testified at trial.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
837 So. 2d 749, 2003 WL 282803, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lam-lactapp-2003.