State v. Preston

178 So. 3d 207, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 306, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2106, 2015 WL 6687610
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 28, 2015
DocketNo. 15-KA-306
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 178 So. 3d 207 (State v. Preston) 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. Preston, 178 So. 3d 207, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 306, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2106, 2015 WL 6687610 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

FREDERICKA HOMBERG WICKER, Judge.

^Defendant Joshua Preston appeals his convictions for second degree murder in violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1, illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of La. R.S. 14:95.1, and armed robbery in violation of La. R.S. 14:64, assigning error to the court’s denial of defendant’s motion to suppress an in-person line-up identification, the court’s refusal to order a mistrial after denying a request to replace two jurors with alternate jurors, and alleging that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his armed robbery conviction. For the following reasons, we affirm the defendant’s convictions.

Procedural History

On June 14, 2012, a Grand Jury returned-a true bill of indictment charging defendant with second degree murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and armed robbery., At his June 15, 2012 arraignment, defendant pled not | «¡guilty to all charged offenses. On July 18, 2012, defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained from a physical line-up identification, alleging that a pre-indictment physical lineup conducted without the presence of appointed counsel violated his right to counsel. After a hearing, the trial court took the matter under advisement and permitted the parties additional time to file memoranda in support of their positions. On September T2, 2013, the trial court denied defendant’s motion to suppress, 'finding that the law does not require the presence of appointed .counsel at pre-indictment lineups and that there was no evidence the police engaged in any bad faith éffort to deny defendant’s right to counsel.

On June 25, 2014, trial commenced before a twelve-person jury. During the trial, defense counsel moved for substitution of two of the jurors with alternate jurors on the grounds that defendant had observed two of the jurors sleeping. The trial court denied the motion, and defense counsel immediately moved for a mistrial, which the trial court also denied. On June 26, 2014, the jury returned a verdict finding defendant guilty of all three .counts. At. the sentencing hearing on July 10, 2014, the trial court sentenced defendant as follows: on count one, for second degree murder, to life imprisonment at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence; on count two, for illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, to twenty years imprisonment at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence; and on count three, for armed robbery, to forty years imprisonment at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. Defendant’s timely appeal followed.

[211]*211 Facts

On the evening of July 16, 2011, Alfonso Silva was murdered on the 900 block of Roosevelt Boulevard in Kenner, Louisiana. Police investigating the murder were able to reconstruct the events leading up to the victim’s death from | ¿surveillance videos of nearby businesses and residences. The surveillance videos showed that the victim was leaving Brother’s Food Mart located on Airline Highway and walking toward his home when a thin black male wearing a white polo shirt with blue stripes, blue jeans, and a blue hat, began following him. After following the victim for several blocks, the suspect confronted the victim at the corner of Airline Highway and Roosevelt Boulevard, shot the victim in the abdomen, and ran north on Roosevelt Boulevard. Despite medical intervention, the victim ultimately succumbed to this gunshot wound.

At the time of the shooting, Sherry Go-nant was talking on the phone on the front porch of her home located at 917 Taylor Street in Kenner, which is. one block northwest of where the victim was shot. Upon hearing the gunshot,' Ms; Conant ended her conversation to call 9-1-1, at which point she witnessed a young black male running down the street from the direction of the gunshot.' Ms. Conant testified that she got a “good look” at the suspect and described him as a “young black male,” with “short hair ... clean cut ... ’ long face, high cheekbones,” wearing a “white shirt, blue stripes, double blue stripes, blue jeans,” and a “bright blue hat.” Ms. Go-nant then called the police to report what she had witnessed and recounted the same events later that night to Detective Joseph McRae, the lead Kenner Police Detective on the investigation. Approximately two weeks later, Detective McRae showed Ms. Conant still photographs captured ft’om Brother’s Food Mart surveillance-videos depicting, a suspect wearing clothes that matched Ms. Conant’s description. Ms, Conant identified the suspect in-these photos as the same man she had witnessed running in front of her home on the night of the murder.

Kenner police officers also developed a composite sketch of the suspect based on Ms. Conant’s description. These still photographs and the composite Usketch were later used in a Crimestoppers bulletin posted throughout the area seeking information as to the identity of the pictured suspect. In response to this Crimestop-pers bulletin, the Kenner Police Department received anonymous tips implicating defendant in the murder. Based, on these tips, Detective McRae developed a photographic lineup that included .defendant’s photo and returned to Ms. Conant’s home on September 18, 2011, with the photo lineup, but she was unable to positively identify anyone in the lineup. Ms. Conant later testified that she was “not very good with photographs.”

Danielle Lathers, the mother of defendant’s girlfriend, later told police that she had provided an anonymous tip implicating defendant. At trial, Ms. Lathers testified that she and her daughter saw the .bulletin while shopping with - defendant and • that they both .immediately, recognized defendant as the suspect in the picture based on his clothing. Ms. Lathers also testified that defendant later told her that he had needed some money and that he had killed the victim because he had seen defendant’s face.

On February 1, 2012, defendant was arrested for the armed robbery of Tiffany Hayes French in front of the New Generar tion Fellowship church on Roosevelt Boulevard in Kenner. At trial, Ms. French testified that she was approaching the church around 7 p.m. when a young African American male pufa silver handgun to [212]*212her neck and grabbed one strap of her purse. Ms. French testified that she “let go of [her] purse and the person ... just took off running.” Due to the late hour, the poor lighting around the church, and being “shaken” from the incident, Ms. French could not offer a clear description of the suspect’s face. Based on the limited description provided by Ms. French, police dispatchers broadcasted a description of the suspect as being a thinly-built male between 20 Rand 25 years old, with a height of 5'7", wearing a black, short-sleeved t-shirt, dark jeans, and carrying a gray purse and a silver pistol.

' Kenner Police Officers in the area began searching for the suspect around Roosevelt Boulevard. Officer John Cusimano testified that during the search, he heard the sound of tin-fences moving and witnessed’ a male jumping a fence and running away from the officers. While pursuing this suspect, two men outside of a nearby house waved to Officer Cusimano and indicated that someone was underneath the elevated house at 718 Filmore Street. As Officer Cusimano circled the house he heard “scuffling” coming from beneath the house and then saw a person fleeing from under the house wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt with red writing on it,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
178 So. 3d 207, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 306, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2106, 2015 WL 6687610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-preston-lactapp-2015.