State v. Odom

104 So. 3d 61, 2012 WL 3192793, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1028
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided August 8, 2012·No. No. 47,379-KA·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinions

BROWN, Chief Judge.

| defendant, Trivenskey Odom, was indicted for the crime of armed robbery that occurred on July 17, 2011, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Odom waived a jury, choosing a bench trial. The judge found defendant guilty as charged and sentenced him to 65 years’ imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Defendant has appealed, urging that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that his sentence is excessive. For the reasons set forth below, defendant’s conviction and sentence are affirmed.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

The state’s first witness was the victim, Robert Booker. He testified that on July 17, 2011, around 3:30 a.m., his home at 252 East 74th Street in the Cedar Grove area of Shreveport was burglarized. His burglar alarm went off while he was not home, and the security monitoring company alerted police. Later that morning, between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., Booker and his sister-in-law, Tiranisha West, were standing outside his home talking about how to further protect his property. During that time, Booker stated that he had approximately $1,800 which he was going to use to purchase burglar bars for his windows.

While they were standing outside, Ms. West noticed a blue Dodge Intrepid riding up and down the street, occasionally slowing down. According to Booker, Ms. West indicated that perhaps the people in the car were the ones who had broken into his home earlier that morning. Booker saw the car stop at the corner of Henderson and East 74th (one-half block from the victim’s home). Minutes later, two guys approached Booker from |2the side of the house with weapons drawn. Ms. West took off running and told Booker to run as well; however, Booker, a transplant recipient, could not run since the two men had him at gunpoint by that time.

Booker testified that one of the men, later identified as defendant, the “bright skin guy with a mask on,” demanded money, swung at him and then hit him in the head with the gun. The other guy was taller with “dreads or some type of long dark hair hanging from under the ski mask.” Booker further testified that he could only see the robbers’ eyes and mouth because of the masks they were wearing. He noticed that the robber who hit him was wearing a green shirt with a white shirt underneath, light color faded denim jeans and “dirty-looking” Air Max Nike tennis shoes.

From the testimony of Booker and Sergeant Suzanne Gallier, the following events which led to Odom’s arrest occurred next. Immediately after the robbery, Booker testified that he got in his car and started proceeding east on 74th Street. At that time, Sgt. Gallier was in the process of investigating another burglary at the corner of 74th Street and Fairfield. Sergeant Gallier stated that she saw Booker’s white vehicle turn north on Fairfield and then immediately turn back west on 73rd Street proceeding very quickly. Shortly thereaf[63] ter, Sgt. Gallier and another officer heard a gunshot to the west and the officers begin their response by going to their patrol cars. At that moment, Sgt. Gallier reports Booker’s return from 73rd Street in his vehicle, yelling to the officers that he had been robbed.

In the meantime, according to Booker’s account of the gunshot, he had traveled down 73rd Street to the corner of 73rd and Henderson. There, he observed the same two bandits still in masks waiting in the alley for the return of the blue Intrepid which was moving in their direction. Referring |3to the driver of the Intrepid, Booker’s testimony states: “When he seen me, he was hesitating. He wouldn’t come.” Booker was trying to read the license plate on the intrepid when one of the robbers fired the gun. In Booker’s retreat after the gunshot, he apparently was able to find Ms. West on 73rd Street and get her into his vehicle.

According to Sgt. Gallier, upon Booker’s report of the robbery and in response to the gunshot, she started in her patrol car west on 73rd Street while the other officers drove west on 74th Street. When Sgt. Gallier turned east onto 73rd Street, she saw two black males running west in the alley. She then radioed other officers, including the K-9 unit, and they set up a perimeter. Sergeant Gallier testified that as she continued west on East 73rd, she saw defendant running west toward Southern. This would be about a block from Booker’s house. She raced ahead of the runner and parked her car near Southern Avenue. She ran back toward defendant and apprehended him. Sergeant Gallier testified that when she apprehended the defendant, he had a black skull cap, commonly referred to as a do-rag, in his pants pocket.

Sergeant Gallier then left defendant in Officer Moss’s patrol unit. She picked up Booker and drove him back to identify the suspect. She testified that Booker positively identified defendant as the person who had just robbed him. Sergeant Gallier also testified that they located a Dodge Intrepid which had been abandoned at a dead end street in the 100 block of West 77th Street. The vehicle, which had been stolen, was abandoned 7/10th of a mile from Booker’s house. Booker identified it as the vehicle that he had seen being driven slowly up and down his street that morning just prior |4to the robbery. On cross-examination, Sgt. Gallier testified that she could see Booker’s house from the spot she apprehended defendant.

Corporal Susan Anderson of the Shreveport Police Department was the state’s next witness. Corporal Anderson corroborated the testimony of Robert Booker and Tiranisha West. Corporal Anderson testified that when she arrived, she began canvassing the scene for evidence. She found what appeared to be fresh shoe prints. Once defendant was in custody, Cpl. Anderson photographed the tread of defendant’s shoes. She opined that his shoes had the same type of tread as the prints found at the scene. However, Cpl. Anderson testified that she did not measure the shoe print or make a casting. Corporal Anderson also found a pocket knife and do-rag on defendant’s person. She indicated that the “do-rag was almost see through.”

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State v. Odom, 104 So. 3d 61, 2012 WL 3192793, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1028 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

104 So. 3d 61 (State v. Odom) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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