State v. McGrew

769 So. 2d 782, 2000 WL 1396226
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 26, 2000
DocketNo. 00-KA-200
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 769 So. 2d 782 (State v. McGrew) 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. McGrew, 769 So. 2d 782, 2000 WL 1396226 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

CANNELLA, Judge.

Defendant, Carlos A. McGrew, appeals from his convictions on two counts of second degree murder and his sentence to life imprisonment on each count. For the reasons which follow, we affirm and remand.

On September 24, 1998, at 11:43 p.m., Dale Frank Savoy (Savoy) and Kevin Der-mody (Dermody) were each shot twice in the head at close range outside of a discount store in a strip shopping mall in Jefferson Parish approximately 20 feet from an E-Z Serve store. The mall is located on the corner of Bannerwood Street and Lapalco Boulevard.

The Defendant and Chattman were charged with two counts of first degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30. The Defendant pled not guilty to both counts. On March 10, 1999, the trial court severed the trials of the Defendant and Chattman.

On August 14, 1999, after a five day twelve-person jury trial, the Defendant was found guilty of the lesser offenses of two counts of second degree |3murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. The Defendant filed a motion for post verdict judgment of acquittal. On August 18,1999, the trial judge denied the motion and the Defendant waived all legal delays and was sentenced on each count to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The Defendant orally moved to appeal his conviction and on that same day he filed a written motion for. appeal.

At the trial, Dr. Fraser McKenzie, an expert in the field of forensic pathology, testified that she performed the autopsies of Savor and Dermody on September 25, 1998. There was no indication that the victims had been in a fight. Savoy had two gunshot wounds to the head. Two projectiles were recovered from his brain. Dr. McKenzie’s examination revealed that the weapon was placed directly on his head at the time of discharge. She identified State’s Exhibits Numbers 19 and 20 as the projectiles which she removed from Savoy. The drug screen revealed a Valium-like drug and marijuana in his body. The cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head, with perforating wounds to the brain. Dermody also had two gunshot wounds to the head. He had two entrance wounds and two exit wounds. One shot was fired between his eyes from a weapon which was within two feet from his head at discharge, while the other shot was fired from a weapon that was placed on his head at the time of discharge. The drug screen indicated the presence of a Valium-like drug, marijuana and cocaine. The cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head, with perforating wounds to the brain.

Lieutenant Steve Buras arrived at the scene of the homicides at approximately 12:45 p.m. He recovered, inter alia, one [784]*784projectile located in back of a Coke machine near the victims’ bodies, which he identified as State’s Exhibit Number 30. He also obtained the surveillance video of the night of the 14homicide from the E-Z Serve store. There were no eyewitnesses to the shootings.

Danny Rees1 (Rees) testified that he was employed at a pawn shop located approximately one block from the strip shopping mall where the homicides occurred. On the day of the incident, between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., Defendant, one of his regular customers, and William B. Chattman (Chattman), whom he also knew, entered the pawn shop to purchase .38 caliber ammunition. The two men were acting “erratic” and “so out of the ordinary” that Rees told them that he did not have the ammunition, that he had placed an order, and that they should return in a few days. Defendant and Chattman persisted claiming that they needed it for that night. They asked him to either sell or to give them some of his personal ammunition. Chattman did most of the talking, but Defendant also asked for the ammunition. Rees stated that he told the police that there was another man accompanying the two men. He thought the other man was Dalton Batiste 2 (Batiste).

Batiste denied being in the pawnshop. Batiste testified that at the time of the homicides he generally saw Defendant and Chattman on a daily basis. At the time of the homicides, Defendant’s girlfriend and Batiste lived in the same apartment complex. Batiste testified that he now lives at his mother’s house, 416 Melbrook Drive in Gretna, Louisiana. At the time of Defendant’s trial, Batiste had two felony convictions and pending charges' of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and theft, for which the State made no deal with him in exchange for his testimony. Batiste testified that on the day of the homicides, he |Bsaw Defendant and Chattman at his apartment complex between 10:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. The two were walking and told him that they were trying to get home to Oakdale Subdivision. At that time Chatt-man lived at 505 Bannerwood Street and Defendant, Batiste believed, lived at 404 Melbrook Drive. Batiste testified that he did not give Defendant and Chattman a ride. According to Batiste, Defendant was carrying a .38 caliber weapon and Chatt-man a .45 caliber weapon.

The police questioned Batiste regarding his whereabouts at the time of the homicides. However, they did not believe that he was a suspect. Batiste testified that in October of 1998 when he spoke to the police, he had not been arrested nor had any charges pending against him.

Keymba Williamson (K. Williamson) and Rossi Thomas (Thomas) testified that around 11:00 p.m. on the night of the homicides, they saw Defendant and Chatt-man walking toward the E-Z Serve store on Bannerwood Street. Thomas estimated that it was between 11:00 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. K. Williamson testified that Defendant and Chattman were walking in the same direction as she was driving. She stated that, although it was dark, there was sufficient lighting and that she had no problems seeing either Defendant or Chattman. She also testified that they were not friends, but she recognized both men from the neighborhood.

K. Williamson testified that at the time she saw the two men, she was approximately 18 to 20 feet away and had ample opportunity to see them. K. Williamson testified that she saw them for approximately one or two seconds as she drove past and that she was positive of their identities. She further testified that the two men were wearing white tee shirts and dark-colored jeans. At trial K. Williamson testified that she did not know whether the two wore short or long |fipants. Previously, at a pre-trial motion hearing K. Wil[785]*785liamson testified that Defendant and Chattman wore long jeans.

Thomas testified that she was riding in the front passenger seat of the car, that Bannerwood Street is a well-lighted area and that she had no trouble seeing Defendant and Chattman, whom she had seen hundreds of times. Like K. Williamson, Thomas saw Defendant and Chattman approximately two to three seconds, but there was no question in her mind as to the identities of the two men. Thomas also testified that Defendant and Chatt-man were wearing white tee shirts and dark-colored pants. She did not remember whether the pants were long or short.

After driving passed Defendant and Chattman, K. Williamson and Thomas went to the E-Z Serve store on the corner of Lapalco Boulevard and Bannerwood Street and neither saw either Defendant or Chattman at the E-Z Serve store.

Thomas admitted that the area in which she saw the two men walking was dark and that she did not see anything in either of their hands.

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Related

State v. Chattman
800 So. 2d 1043 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
769 So. 2d 782, 2000 WL 1396226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mcgrew-lactapp-2000.