State v. Peters

123 So. 3d 307, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1641, 2013 WL 4477036, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1699
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 21, 2013
DocketNo. 2012-KA-1641
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 123 So. 3d 307 (State v. Peters) 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. Peters, 123 So. 3d 307, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1641, 2013 WL 4477036, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1699 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

hOn 7 April 2011, the state indicted the defendant, Joseph Peters (“Peters”), and codefendants, Derrick Allen (“Allen”) and Jazmun Tolbert (“Tolbert”), with one count of second degree murder.1 Peters pleaded not guilty on 12 May 2011. A hearing on motions was held on 28 October 2011; the trial court found probable cause and denied Peters’ motions to suppress evidence and identification. On 24 January 2012, on joint motion, trial was continued to 10 April 2012. On 2 April 2012 Allen elected a trial by judge. Thereafter, on 10 April 2012, the state filed a motion to sever Allen’s case from Peters’; it also sought to sever Tolbert’s case from Peters’. According to a minute entry, Peters refused the state’s offer of a plea bargain. Trial was again continued on a joint motion. On 12 June 2012, Peters elected a trial by jury, and trial began with jury selection. Peters’ trial was held on 12-15 June 2012. The jury found Peters guilty of manslaughter, a violation of La. R.S. 14:31. Peters filed a motion for a new trial and motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal on 20 June 2012, as well as a motion to reconsider sentence, all of which the trial court denied. The trial court sentenced Peters to forty years at [2hard labor with credit for time served from 26 October 2010, to run concurrently with any and all sentences. According to the 25 July 2012 minute entry indicating that it was an amended 20 June 2012 entry, the trial court granted Peters’ motion for appeal on 20 June 2012.

I.

Latoya Dugay, a 911 operator and the custodian of records in the 911 department, testified that she takes calls from witnesses reporting incidents, types up an incident recall (with an item number), and sends the recalls to the dispatcher. She stated that she had reviewed the incident recalls and 911 radio dispatch recordings for item numbers 3-3353110, 3-3352710, and 3-3353610, consisting of (1) incident recalls of the 911 calls on 25 October 2010; [309]*309(2) an incident recall of dispatcher talking to police officer in the field; (3) a disk recording of the 911 calls; and (4) a disk recording of dispatcher providing information to a police officer. The 911 tape and the recording of the dispatcher’s call to an officer were played for the jurors. Ms. Dugay stated that she had not listened to the recordings that day, but she recognized the voices when it was played in court. She agreed that she had heard the caller say that there were “four black males” in the recording, but the incident recall did not indicate that there were four shooters. She explained that the number in the recording referred to the subjects at large, not the ones apprehended. The incident recall noted three apprehensions.

Dr. Cynthia Gardner, a forensic pathologist with the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office, was accepted as an expert, and testified that she performed an autopsy on Sedale Dorsey, the victim, on 26 October 2010 and prepared the autopsy protocol. The protocol was introduced in evidence. She stated that, prior |sto the incident, the victim had been a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair. She found three older bullets that were positioned very near Mr. Dorsey’s spinal column, which gunshots probably caused his paralysis. The doctor noted that Mr. Dorsey’s right kidney and right adrenal glands were absent (surgically removed). As to the current injuries, Dr. Gardner testified that the victim had fourteen acute gunshot wounds. Two of the wounds were to the head, one of which went through the head and exited; the wounds caused injury to the soft tissue of the victim’s face and eye, as well as fractures to the skull and bleeding around the surface of the victim’s brain. Ten wounds were to Mr. Dorsey’s torso, which caused injury to his spinal column and the large vein in his upper chest, as well as injuries to both of his lungs and an extensive injury to his heart. The last two gunshot wounds injured his right hand and forearm, injuring only soft tissue. Dr. Gardner stated that Mr. Dorsey “died as a result of these multiple gunshot wounds.” She explained the paths of the bullets and the damage they caused; an enlarged copy of a page of the autopsy protocol was shown to the jury. The doctor said that all bullet entrance wounds were on the victim’s back, and some wounds indicated that Mr. Dorsey was sitting down (presumably in his wheelchair). Dr. Gardner said that she recovered one bullet from the victim’s skull and five from his torso. She stated that the guns were fired at a distance from the victim, at least two feet, because she found no gunpowder stippling (unbumed flakes of gunpowder around the entrance wounds that would have been present if the gun had been within two feet of Mr. Dorsey). She stated that once a shot is fired more than two feet away, there is no way to know the exact distance. Dr. Gardner explained the entry and exit wound of each bullet that exited the body and marked each of those on the enlarged diagram of the victim’s body.

|4Sergeant Irving Gasper, an eighteen-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”), testified that on 25 October 2010 he responded to a 34-S, which is an aggravated battery by shooting. He was the first officer at the scene at St. Andrew and South Liberty Streets. He observed a black male seated in a wheelchair with apparent gunshot wounds. The victim was about twenty feet from the intersection, positioned directly behind a parked blue Dodge minivan. The sergeant observed a lot of blood on the front of the victim’s body and multiple gun casings on the ground around the victim. Sergeant Gasper indicated that the victim’s back was positioned toward the street. He began stringing the crime scene with tape and talked to the large number of people [310]*310at the scene (about 150), but he could not find any witnesses to the drive-by shooting.

Detective Justin Rice of the Homicide Division testified that he was the lead investigator in the murder; twenty-seven spent casings were recovered from that scene. The second crime scene was in the 7800 block of Fig Street, where a Chrysler Sebring automobile crashed into a house, and its occupants, who were suspects in the drive-by shooting, jumped out of the vehicle and fled. Two suspects were apprehended there. One gun was recovered within a suspect’s flight path. The detective said that he located two witnesses, who were reluctant to cooperate. Detective Rice said that he spoke to the two Orleans Parish Sheriff’s deputies who were executing an arrest warrant when they heard the gunshots nearby. The deputies headed to investigate, but a Chrysler Sebr-ing sped in their direction before the driver threw the car into reverse and sped away. The deputies followed the Chrysler until NOPD units took over the lead. Detective Rice said that the dashboard cameras (“cams”) on the NOPD units captured the high speed chase. [{¡Detective Rice contacted Sergeant Henry Burke of the mobile data unit, and he obtained the video footage for the detective.

Detective Rice said that a Glock 19 pistol, which was discarded by Peters, was recovered in the 8200 block of Fig Street, and a Glock 27 pistol was recovered in the 7800 block of Fig Street, which was in the flight path of the suspects. A Glock 17 was found in the Chrysler Sebring. The detective submitted a ballistics request so that the three firearms would be compared to the spent casings at the scene of the homicide. He requested that the weapons be swabbed for any DNA, that Detective Tim Bender apply for a search warrant for the Chrysler, had the vehicle dusted for latent fingerprints.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 So. 3d 307, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1641, 2013 WL 4477036, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1699, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-peters-lactapp-2013.