State v. Little

174 So. 3d 1219, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1546, 2015 WL 4748988
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 12, 2015
DocketNo. 49,978-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 174 So. 3d 1219 (State v. Little) 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. Little, 174 So. 3d 1219, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1546, 2015 WL 4748988 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

CARAWAY, J.

| temario Little was indicted by a grand jury and subsequently convicted of second degree murder. He was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment. Little now appeals arguing, that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction and that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements. We affirm the conviction and sentence.

Facts

On July 30, 2011, Roshenna Crowder was shot and killed as she hid in the closet of her bedroom in the house she shared with her boyfriend, Donald Brown (a/k/a “Scrap”). Brown was also shot several times, in the leg, groin and eye, but survived. Roshenna’s two children (4 and 8 years old) were in the home when the shooting occurred and ran to their grandmother’s home and reported that their mother was dead. They were able to say that some men knocked on the door, came in with a gun and shot their mother. Police were dispatched to the scene.

It was not until late 2011 that police received information implicating Demario Little as the shooter.1 It was then that one of Little’s girlfriend’s sons gave police information that ultimately connected his brothers, Kenneth and Tracy Moore, to [1221]*1221the crime. The Moore brothers admitted their participation in the events leading up to the shooting and separately provided very detailed information about the crime. Their identification of 12Little as the shooter led to his arrest in December of 2011. A grand jury indictment was handed down on January 19, 2012, charging Little with the second degree murder of Crowder. Little was convicted as charged by a jury on April 25, 2014. He received the mandatory life sentence. He has appealed his conviction and sentence.

Discussion

In his first assigned error, Little argues that the evidence' presented by the state was insufficient to convict him. Specifically, his argument is presented in brief as follows:

The State charged three other people with this murder, based on the statements of two of those men. Then, the State decided a version of the story where Demario Little was the shooter made more sense. The testimony provided at trial to support this allegation was not sufficient to' convict Demario Little of second degree murder.

In his pro se brief, Little provides no additional argument, but includes a lengthy discussion of inconsistencies among the various witnesses’ accounts of the circumstances of the offense. '

The evidence presented at trial included the testimony of Corporal John Madgerick, one of the officers responding to the scene, who described what he saw from a video and photographic evidence as well as his memory. Madgerick testified that when the first officers arrived, Crowder was found deceased in the closet of her bedroom, partially covered with a jacket as if she were trying to hide. The closet had no door, but was covered with a curtain. Brown was still alive, lying on the floor of the bedroom next to the bed, clutching a cereal box with marijuana inside. Mad-gerick stated that | -¡marijuana was found in the bedroom and the kitchen as well as loose tobacco, cigar wrappers and sandwich bags. In the bedroom where the victims were found, drawers on the dresser were open. Five spent bullet cartridge cases were located in the bedroom; no guns were found.

Carla White of the Northwest Louisiana Crime Lab testified that the cartridge casings were from a 9mm gun, most likely a pistol. She also identified a 9mm bullet, taken from the victim.

Dr. Long Jin, who performed the autopsy on the victim, testified that she suffered six gunshot wounds, including one to the head .and two near the chest area which would have been fatal. Dr. Jin testified that the trajectory of these bullets would have been from top to bottom and front to back with the shooter being above the victim. Dr. Jin believed the wounds were “distance” wounds due to the lack of soot and estimated that they were shot from a distance of up to three feet away.

Detective Rod Demery, the lead investigator on the case, testified he spoke with Crowder’s children on the night of the crime: He stated that the 4-year-old little boy kept saying that the man who came into his house looked like Snoop Dogg, a famous rapper. From his observation of the crime scene, Demery believed that the incident involved a home invasion robbery: Detective Demery suspected that Crowder and Brown were selling drugs from the home because the front door was fortified with wooden braces from the inside. He testified that it did not appear that the door had been kicked in or damaged in any way.

LDemery stated that early on in his investigation he received tips from two jailhouse informants that Barnell Johnson [1222]*1222(a/k/a Freddie Loke) and Shawnee Barnard were involved in the homicide. He was told that the two men had kicked in the door and shot and robbed Crowder and Brown. One of the individuals had been housed with Johnson at some point. The other came into prison after the incident. Johnson and Bernard were currently under investigation for unrelated armed robberies, and were eventually arrested for those robberies. While incarcerated, they each began telling officers that the other had committed the murder of Crow-der.

When Brown regained consciousness, but was still in the hospital and unable to speak, Detective Demery presented him with photographic “arrays” containing Johnson’s and Bernard’s photographs. Brown was unable to speak and pointed to the two men when asked if he could identify who robbed and shot him. Demery testified that Brown “seemed to be awake” and understand what he was saying.

Detective Demery testified that this gave him probable cause to believe that Johnson and Bernard committed the murder and, thus, he arrested them and charged them with Crowder’s murder approximately a month after the crime. He further testified, however, that he was not convinced that the men were the real offenders and he chose to keep the case open and continue the investigation because the two men did not know any details of the crime and the door did not appear to have been kicked in. 15Pemery also referenced a later recantation by Brown of his identification of Johnson and Bernard.2

Nearly six months after the murder, Detective Demery testified that he was informed by a veteran detective that a burglary suspect who was in custody claimed to have information about Crow-der’s murder. Detective Demery stated that he went to the jail to interview Danta-vious Jamerson. Jamerson told Demery that his brother, Kenneth Moore, had admitted being involved in the murder and that Little had shot and killed Crowder. At the time of the murder, Little had been dating Polly West, Kenneth’s mother, for approximately a year and a half. Jamer-son told Demery that on the day of the incident, his mother was crying because she was short on money. Little wanted to get money, but Kenneth told him he would not rob anybody. Eventually, Little and Kenneth left the house and went to Crow-der’s home and asked for a nickel pouch of marijuana. When Crowder declined, Little pulled out a gun and said he wanted everything. Crowder ran to a back room yelling for Brown. Little followed and shot Brown a couple of times, in the groin area and once in the eye. Demery knew that some of the information relayed by Jamerson was not released to the public or media.

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Related

State v. Louis-Juste
201 So. 3d 308 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)

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Bluebook (online)
174 So. 3d 1219, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1546, 2015 WL 4748988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-little-lactapp-2015.