State v. Redditt

868 So. 2d 704, 2003 WL 22439693
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 28, 2003
Docket03-KA-0354
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 868 So. 2d 704 (State v. Redditt) 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. Redditt, 868 So. 2d 704, 2003 WL 22439693 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

868 So.2d 704 (2003)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Lionel REDDITT.

No. 03-KA-0354.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

October 28, 2003.

*705 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Margaret E. Hay, Terry M. Boudreaux, Frank Brindisi, Vincent Paciera, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Prentice L. White, Louisiana Appellate Project, Baton Rouge, LA, for Defendant/Appellant.

Panel composed of Judges EDWARD A. DUFRESNE, JR., SOL GOTHARD and THOMAS F. DALEY.

SOL GOTHARD, Judge.

Defendant, Lionel Redditt, appeals his conviction and sentence in this criminal appeal. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

The record shows that, on May 16, 2001, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office filed a bill of information charging defendant, Lionel Redditt, along with Prescott Smith, with one count of second degree kidnapping in violation of La. R.S. 14:44.1, and one count of armed robbery in violation of La. R.S. 14:64[1]. On May 18, 2001, defendant was arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges. After preliminary rulings on various motions, defendant proceeded to a jury trial.

After a two-day trial in May 2002, a 12person jury found the defendant guilty as charged on both counts. Thereafter, on June 13, 2002, defendant was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence as to count one, second degree kidnapping, and 50 years of imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension as to count two, armed robbery. The trial court ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

On November 21, 2002, the State filed a habitual offender bill of information alleging defendant to be a third felony offender. On January 16, 2003, after the denial of a defense motion to quash the habitual offender bill of information, the court held a habitual offender hearing and *706 found defendant to be a second felony offender[2]. Thereafter, the trial court vacated defendant's original sentence as to count two, armed robbery, and re-sentenced defendant to 198 years at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence to run concurrently with his 40-year sentence on count one in the original bill of information. On January 22, 2002, the defendant filed a motion to reconsider sentence, which was denied on February 11, 2002. Defendant, thereafter, filed a timely motion for appeal.

FACTS

The victim, Raion Hill, testified that, on January 22, 2001, after leaving his girlfriend's home, he proceeded to the Rhythm City Nightclub in New Orleans. After staying five or ten minutes, the victim and a female acquaintance, exited the club and walked back to the victim's vehicle. Before driving away from the parking lot of the club, the victim observed defendant[3] pointing at the vehicle. Thereafter, the victim and his friend drove to Denny's Restaurant in Gretna near the Oakwood Mall. After getting his food order, the victim exited the restaurant by himself and made his way to his vehicle, at which time he was approached by two men, one of whom was the defendant herein. The other individual, Prescott Smith, put a gun to the victim's side and forced him into the rear seat of his own vehicle. Defendant got into the driver's seat of the vehicle, while Smith joined the victim in the back seat.

Defendant drove away from the restaurant and proceeded towards New Orleans. After driving through the toll plaza, Smith and defendant switched seats and Smith drove to New Orleans, exited at Claiborne Avenue, and drove to an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) on Elysian Fields. At the ATM defendant and Smith attempted to withdraw cash, but were unable to do so because the victim could not remember his personal identification number. Thereafter, defendant and Smith dropped the victim off near Brother Martin High School, taking the vehicle. The victim called the police from a nearby payphone and relayed the events that occurred.

Officer Scott DeJong testified that he was employed by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in January of 2001, and conducted an investigation into the robbery of Mr. Hill. As a result of his investigation, he interviewed the victim and obtained a description of the perpetrators. The victim was also able to give a description of defendant to a composite sketch artist and a sketch was rendered. Subsequently, Officer DeJong was able to develop defendant as a possible suspect in the case. A photographic lineup containing defendant's photograph was compiled and shown to the victim. The victim made a positive identification and defendant was later arrested.

Officer DeJong, after advising defendant of his constitutional rights and obtaining a waiver of those rights, obtained two separate statements from defendant in which defendant indicated his involvement in the crimes. Defendant also indicated that the gun used in the robbery could be found at 1308 Tupelo Street in New Orleans. At the request of Officer DeJong, Detective *707 Darrell Doucette of the New Orleans Police Department (N.O.P.D.) obtained a search warrant.

Detective Kevin Decker of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office testified he was present during defendant's first two statements given to Officer DeJong, and subsequently obtained a third statement from the defendant in which defendant identified certain individuals connected to the robbery from photographic lineups. Detective Decker also assisted in the execution of the search warrant and testified that various items belonging to defendant were seized from the Tupelo Street address. Defendant was subsequently charged with the crimes in the bill of information.

LAW

In brief to this Court defendant assigns three errors for our review. In the first, defendant argues the trial court erred in denying a defense motion to suppress a statement made to investigating officers. Specifically, defendant argues, the motion to suppress should have been granted because the investigating officer conceded that he knowingly questioned the defendant while the defendant was already heavily intoxicated and further, made promises to this defendant in exchange for a statement that incriminated defendant and another individual. Defendant asserts that at the time of the statements, he was highly intoxicated. Defendant also argues that the investigating officers' promises of a favorable outcome if he cooperated were coercive and rendered his statements involuntary.

The State responds that there was no evidence defendant was intoxicated at the time of his statements, or that the officers' statements were sufficient inducements to render defendant's statements inadmissible.

Before an inculpatory statement made during a custodial interrogation may be introduced into evidence, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was first advised of his constitutional rights and that the statement was made freely and voluntarily and not under the influence of fear, intimidation, menaces, threats, inducement or promises. La. R.S. 15:451; State v. Comeaux, 9327296 (La.7/1/97), 699 So.2d 16, 29, cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1150, 118 S.Ct. 1169, 140 L.Ed.2d 179 (1998).

A determination of voluntariness is made on a case-by-case basis, depending on the facts and circumstances of each situation. State v. Quest, 00-205 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/18/00), 772 So.2d 772, 780, writ denied, 00-3137 (La.11/2/01), 800 So.2d 866; State v. Watts, 98-1073 (La.App. 5 Cir. 5/19/99), 735 So.2d 866, 869.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Louisiana v. Martin P. Broussard
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012
State v. Jones
975 So. 2d 21 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2007)
State v. Stapleton
924 So. 2d 453 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
State v. Smith
888 So. 2d 280 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2004)
State v. Falkins
880 So. 2d 903 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2004)
State v. Stein
874 So. 2d 279 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
868 So. 2d 704, 2003 WL 22439693, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-redditt-lactapp-2003.