State v. Reed

185 So. 3d 206, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 550, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 133, 2016 WL 360836
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 27, 2016
DocketNo. 15-KA-550
StatusPublished

This text of 185 So. 3d 206 (State v. Reed) 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. Reed, 185 So. 3d 206, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 550, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 133, 2016 WL 360836 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

STEPHEN J. WINDHORST, Judge.

j 2Pefendant, Leslie Reed, was convicted of second degree murder in violation of La. R.S. 14.30.1. After denial of his motion for post-judgment verdict of acquittal and his motion for new trial,1 defendant was sentenced to life in prison at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. In this appeal, we affirm defendant’s conviction and sentence.

FACTS

On May 29, 2012, Jared Mealey was shot and killed in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of St. Rose, Louisiana. The following facts were adduced at trial."

In the evening, hours of May 29, 2012, defendant (known as “Rolla”) and Keywine Bradford (known as “Poppa”) went to see Anthony Randle at. his grandmother’s house. Defendant, Bradford, Randle, and Randle’s cousin, Mike McCray talked for some time and “caught up” with each other. The group decided to go to the party being held down the street. As they were walking down Turtle Creek Road, the victim, Jared Mealey, drove past them. Bradford testified that when -Mealey saw the group he sped up. At trial,- Bradford [208]*208recalled that Randle»said something about Mealey looking “scary,” meaning “afraid.” Mealey had previously been a part of the group, and he and defendant had been really good |sfriends, however, there had been a problem between Mealey and defendant concerning drugs, and Mealey had not “hung out” for weeks.2

After Mealey drove past.them,' defendant motioned for Bradford to follow him, while Randle walked a few steps ahead of them. The two men walked towards the railroad tracks, in the opposite direction of Randle. They turned the corner, and defendant told Bradford that it was “the perfect time to commit the murder.” Defendant handed the gun to Bradford, but before the two m,en got to Turtle Creek Road, Bradford handed the gun back to defendant because he.“could not do it.” Defendant instructed Bradford to flag Mealey down.

Bradford flagged Mealey down and called for him saying “yo.” Mealey put the car in reverse and.rolled down his window so that they could talk. While Bradford was talking to Mealey, Mealey did not look at him. Bradford testified that he could tell Mealey was on drugs. Mealey told Bradford that he was going to watch a sporting event,’ and he asked Bradford if he wanted to “smoke' crack” and “get loaded,” to which Bradford replied he did not “do crack.”

Bradford saw defendant walk up to the car out of his peripheral vision, so he backed up. . Defendant stood at the driver’s side window and fired six shots into the car.

At trial, Bradford testified that he had been with the defendant, the previous evening when defendant acquired a “nine millimeter” gun with “Millennium” written on it from Bradley Price. Bradford testified that the gun defendant used to shoot Mea-ley was the same gun that defendant acquired from Price. Bradford had kept the gun the previous evening, and returned it to defendant on the day of the shooting. Bradford further testified that he knew when he flagged the car down Uthat Mea-ley was going to be murdered, and he did it to show defendant his loyalty and to impress him. .

After defendant shot Mealey, he and Bradford walked back the way they had come, to meet up with Randle. When they caught up with Randle, they all went to a party down the street. According to Bradford, they tried to act as if nothing had happened and blend in with everyone else. People asked them if they had heard the gunshots, and they responded that they had not heard them. Randle told them he saw police in the neighborhood soon after he heard the shots.

Defendant and Bradford continued walking and went to the ■ fence of Bradley Price’s home. Defendant handed the gun he had used to shoot Mealey to Mr. Price over the fence. While talking to Mr. Price, defendant said, . “f* * * Mealey,” and said he killed Mealey by saying, “I smoked him.”

While defendant and Bradford were on their way home, they saw Mealey’s headlights shining down the street. Defendant stopped in the middle of the road and said “look at my work” in reference to the headlights. The .two then went home. Walking quickly, it took about seven minutes to get from where the shooting occurred to Bradford’s house.

[209]*209Deputy David Jones of the St. Charles Parish Sheriffs Office was dispatched- to the 600 block of Turtle Creek Road concerning shots fired and a car parked in front of a house. He was the first officer present .on the scene. Deputy Jones observed a ear backed up into a fire hydrant. He approached the car and noticed that the rear driver’s door window was shatr tered. As he got closer, he saw the victim “slumped back” in his seat covered in blood. Deputy Jones observed that the car was still running and was in reverse. Upon arrival, the coroner, Dr. Brian Bro-gle, classified Healey’s death as a homicide. Evidence collected at the | ¿scene included four Winchester Luger 9 mm casings, one RP Luger 9 mm casing, and one CCINR Luger 9 mm casing.

Colonel Timothy Scanlan, the Laboratory Service Commander for the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office, was accepted at trial as an expert in the fields of firearms, tool mark examination, and crime scene reconstruction. He reviewed the photographic and firearms evidence collected from the scene and the autopsy in this case, and was able to narrow down the type of weapon used in the murder to be a 9 mm semi-automatic weapon with a circular firing pin. He stated that this assessment narrows the possible weapons tó a general class, and the Taurus Millennium falls into that general class. He also determined that all 6 casings found at' the crime scene were fired from the same weapon, which led him to the conclusion that there was orily one shooter. The casings were all 9 mm caliber, but the bullets were from multiple manufacturers. One of the casings, the CCI 9 mm casing, found on the scene was “fairly unique” in that it was an aluminum casing that cannot be reloaded. He said that the casing was marked “NR” to indicate that it was not meant to be reloaded. Colonel Scanlan stated that type of ammunition was still common, just not as common as the other types of casings found at the scene. Scan-lan also testified..that, given the gun used to commit the crime, the shooter would have had to have pulled the trigger six times in order to fire the six shots.

In addition, Colonel Scanlan analyzed the crime scene photographs, including photographs of the interior and exterior of Healey’s car. He found that the evidence at the crime scene was consistent with a shooter standing at the driver’s door, shooting into the vehicle.

Sergeant ¡ Bradley Walsh worked as a detective in the Griminal Investigations Division at the St. Charles Parish Sheriffs Office and arrived at the scene ..of the | (¡murder on May 29, 2012.- There were about 200 onlookers on the scene that night. As a result of speaking with Mea-ley’s family and Ms. Bell, Bradford’s mother, Sergeant Walsh went to speak to defendant. Sergeant Walsh testified that he arrived at defendant’s home after midnight. Defendant came out to meet him and said, “I heard /all were looking for me.” Defendant .said he had just found out about the murder and had no information other than what he had heard from around the neighborhood.

Sergeant Walsh obtained a second statement from déféndant on June 3, 2012. ' On that day, defendant was attending a can-dlelightvigil for Mealey'when someone opened fire ón defendant with an “AK 47,” so defendant went to the police.

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

Related

State v. Weiland
556 So. 2d 175 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1990)
State v. Jackson
450 So. 2d 621 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1984)
State v. Keys
694 So. 2d 1107 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)
State v. Oliveaux
312 So. 2d 337 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1975)
State v. Richoux
101 So. 3d 483 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
State v. Sanders
101 So. 3d 994 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
State v. Lyons
134 So. 3d 36 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State v. Simmons
136 So. 3d 358 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State v. Griffin
167 So. 3d 31 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State v. Alvarez
71 So. 3d 1079 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
Associated Motors, Inc. v. Burk
119 So. 451 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1929)
Mathes v. Schwing
123 So. 156 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1929)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
185 So. 3d 206, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 550, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 133, 2016 WL 360836, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-reed-lactapp-2016.