State v. Parker

141 So. 3d 839, 2014 WL 1943978, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1291
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 15, 2014
DocketNo. 49,009-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 141 So. 3d 839 (State v. Parker) 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. Parker, 141 So. 3d 839, 2014 WL 1943978, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1291 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

BROWN, Chief Judge.

LA jury convicted defendant, James Alphonso Parker, of second degree kidnapping and armed robbery with a firearm. The trial court sentenced him to 30 years at hard labor for the armed robbery conviction; an additional five years without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for use of a firearm, to run consecutive to the 30-year armed robbery sentence; and, a concurrent sentence of 20 years at hard labor, two of them to be served without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, for the second degree kidnapping conviction. Defendant has appealed his convictions and sentences. For the following reasons, defendant’s convictions and sentences are affirmed, except that his sentence for armed robbery is amended to delete the five-year enhancement for use of a firearm.

Facts

On the morning of October 30, 2012, while driving to his office at Centenary College, Matthew Jarrod Bailey stopped at the Auto Zone on Kings Highway in Shreveport to buy a new taillight for his ear. Bailey got out of his car and went into the Auto Zone. After making his purchase, Bailey returned to his car and attempted to change the taillight. Unsuccessful in his attempt to fix the light, Bailey got back into his car and responded to a few emails on his cell phone. As he sat in the car with his door partially open, Bailey heard someone walking toward him. Before Bailey could close the door fully, a man pulled it open and pointed a black semi-automatic handgun (a 9mm or .45 caliber) at Bailey. After [843]*843looking into the man’s face for only a moment, Bailey turned his face forward and held his hands in the air. Bailey assumed that the man was trying to steal his car, but when Bailey tried to get out of the car, the man kicked Bailey’s legs back | ¡.into the car and said, “Don’t fight. Don’t fight.” The man then opened the back door and got in the car behind Bailey, grabbed him by his collar, pressed the end of what Bailey assumed to be the gun into his ribs, and commanded Bailey to drive. Bailey frantically pled with his captor not to hurt him.

As directed by the assailant, Bailey drove away. Bailey told the man he had no cash, so the man told him to stop at the Family Dollar store on Centenary Blvd. The man first said that he wanted Bailey to go into the Family Dollar and use the ATM to withdraw money, but as they neared the store, the man changed his mind because he did not want Bailey to leave the car. The man then directed Bailey to turn around and drive to two banks on Line Avenue. At the Regions Bank, the man instructed Bailey to go to the drive-through ATM and make a withdrawal. The ATM had a $400 withdrawal limit, and Bailey withdrew that amount. During the withdrawal, the man reclined in the back seat to avoid being seen by security cameras. After the first withdrawal, the man directed Bailey across the street to the Chase Bank, which had another outside ATM. The assailant ordered Bailey to request “quick cash” in the amount of $200, which Bailey was able to do.

Through almost all of the car ride, the captor talked to Bailey and asked him questions about things like his family and job. The man also took Bailey’s wallet, looked through it, and read aloud his name and address before throwing the wallet back to the front seat so that Bailey could use his ATM card.

Is After the second withdrawal, the man told Bailey, “I made you a deal. I told you I wouldn’t hurt you if you got me what I needed. And so I’m just going to let you go.” The man then directed Bailey to drive to a park on Coty Street, where the man got out of the car and began walking down the hill by the park. Bailey drove straight to the Centenary police station, where he reported the incident to Corporal Denise Thornton and Detective Jack Miller.

On the same morning, Michelle Wells and her father were at the Auto Zone on Kings Highway to get some oil for her truck. When they arrived, Wells’ father stayed in his car while Wells went into the store to buy the oil. As Wells stood waiting to pay for her purchase, she heard her father outside blowing his car horn. As she looked out of the store window, she saw a man standing next to a green Jeep sport utility vehicle “tussling” with a white man. The Jeep quickly departed the parking lot. After realizing what had occurred, Wells called the police.

Michelle Wells identified defendant as the person whom she saw standing next to the green Jeep and fighting with its owner. She recognized him at the Auto Zone because she had seen him a day or two previously, knocking on people’s car windows at the intersection of Kings Highway and Youree Drive, and later that day as he was approaching cars in the parking lot of the Super 1 Foods grocery store. When Wells saw defendant at Kings and Youree, the distance between them was about five to ten feet. At Super 1 Foods, Wells saw him close up, and he looked directly at her before walking to the next truck in the parking lot.

|4In a meeting with Detective Miller after the crime, Wells selected defendant’s [844]*844picture from a six-person photographic lineup. Wells was also able to identify in court Matthew Bailey as the white man who drove the Jeep. Wells testified that she was “positive” that defendant was the man whom she saw at the Auto Zone. Wells stated that, other than these three encounters, she had never seen or met defendant before.

On cross-examination Wells testified that she did not know whether the assailant wore a hat or gloves, and she did not see a firearm. She testified that she had told police that he wore denim blue jean overalls and a blue jean jacket, and was not wearing glasses. Wells admitted that she initially told the police that her last name was Johnson when she talked to them because she did not want defendant to be able to find her. She explained that Johnson had once been her name, and had merely been changed by marriage.

Bailey stated at trial that he had not been able to look prolongedly at his captor. When the man first approached him and opened his door, Bailey looked into his face for only a moment before seeing the gun and then looking forward. After the man entered the car, he held Bailey’s shirt collar from behind for most of the ride and continued to hold something at Bailey’s ribs (the object which Bailey assumed was the gun). The man told Bailey not to look at his face. Nonetheless, Bailey was able to see that the assailant was a black male in his late forties or fifties, that he was five feet and ten inches to six feet in height and taller than Bailey, who is five feet and eight and one-half inches tall, that he was “bigger” though neither fat nor skinny, and that he had a little facial hair. Bailey also saw the man’s clothing, |fiwhich he described as a blue jacket, black pants, black boots, a black knit hat, and black gloves.

Two or three days after the incident, Bailey met with Detective Miller of the Shreveport Police Department. Based on the descriptions given by Bailey and Wells, Corporal Javon Tyler, a community liaison officer for District Five, came across defendant later the same day as the incident. After defendant was taken into custody, Detective Miller prepared a photographic lineup which included defendant’s picture. Although Detective Miller told Bailey that the lineup might not contain the assailant’s picture, Bailey chose defendant’s picture and said that he was “78%” sure that this was the man who kidnapped and robbed him. Bailey testified that he was in the courtroom the day before the trial began, and he saw defendant in the courtroom at that time.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
141 So. 3d 839, 2014 WL 1943978, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-parker-lactapp-2014.