State v. Reel

126 So. 3d 506, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 1737, 2012 WL 4711881, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1247
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 3, 2012
DocketNo. 2010-KA-1737
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 126 So. 3d 506 (State v. Reel) 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. Reel, 126 So. 3d 506, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 1737, 2012 WL 4711881, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1247 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

JOY COSSICH LOBRANO, Judge.

hOn January 22, 2009, the State of Louisiana charged the defendant, Ronald Reel, by bill of indictment, with one count of aggravated rape (count one), a violation of La. R.S. 14:42, and one count of unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling (count two), a violation of La. R.S. 14:62.3. The defendant pled not guilty to all charges at his arraignment. Following a jury trial, the defendant was convicted of the lesser offense of forcible rape on count one and guilty as charged on count two.

On April 23, 2010, defense counsel filed a motion for new trial (supplemented by the defendant pro se on May 7, .2010,) which the trial court denied on June 10, 2010. Also on June 10, 2010, the trial court sentenced the defendant on his conviction on count one to forty years at hard labor, with the first two years to be served without benefit of parole and with credit for time served. On count two, the defendant was sentenced to six years at hard labor with credit for time served. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently with each other and concurrently with any other sentence the defendant may be serving.

Following sentencing, the State filed a multiple bill of information and the defense filed a motion for appeal, which was granted. Following a hearing on the |2multiple bill, the trial court adjudged the defendant a triple felony offender. On September 3, 2010, the trial court vacated the defendant’s original sentence on count one and resentenced him pursuant to La. R.S. 15:529.1 to serve eighty years at hard labor, to run concurrently with any other sentences the defendant may be serving.

Testimony at trial revealed that on April 9, 2006, the victim, T.P.1, lived with her brother, W.P., at his home in the 6600 block of Brunswick Court in New Orleans. On the night of April 9, 2006, W.P. received several cell phone calls from the defendant, asking to speak with the victim and wanting to know where she was. The following morning, W.P. left for work at 6:30 a.m., leaving the victim home alone. W.P. did not give the defendant permission to enter his house.

The victim testified that she and the defendant met in 2004, and had an off and on romantic relationship for one and one-half years. The defendant was a violent person and began abusing the victim shortly after they met. Although the defendant stayed with her at her brother’s Brunswick Court house on occasion, he did not live there. The victim asked the defendant to leave on many occasions, but he refused, telling her that because she did not own the house, her brother would have to put him out. He also warned her that if her brother put him out, he would kill her and her family. The victim made several domestic abuse complaints against the defendant. On one occasion, he was jailed for five months, but as soon as he was released, he returned to the Brunswick Court house. The defendant continued to abuse her.

laWhen Hurricane Katrina hit the city, T.P. evacuated to New Iberia for about [511]*511two weeks. She did not tell the defendant where she was relocating, but he tracked her down.

The day before the rape, the defendant called the victim to tell her that he was going to leave her alone and move on with his life. When the victim agreed that was a good idea, the defendant became enraged, cursing and calling her names. Every time she hung up the phone, he would call again and rant and rave. His persistent calls were upsetting to the point that she took her phone off the hook. When he could not speak to the victim, the defendant began calling her brother.

When she awoke the next morning, the defendant was in her bedroom. He was wearing hospital gloves and brandishing a gun. According to T.P., the defendant gained entrance to the house by breaking the back door and using a knife to pick the lock. The defendant told her that he came to kill her by shooting her four times in the head. He told her that after he killed her, he intended to set the house on fire. The victim begged for her life, but the defendant explained that if he did not kill her, she would call the police and have him put in jail. He also told her that he spent the previous night in the back yard. Next, the defendant told her to follow him to the back yard so “[he could] show [her] what else [he] had for [her].” The defendant told the victim: “That’s what I have for you right there, the gas can.”

When the two went back in the house, the defendant admitted that he had cut the wires on the surveillance cameras. He then raped her at gunpoint as she begged him not to kill her. The defendant taunted her about killing her because if the police arrested him, he would go to jail for the rest of his life. Then he told her, |4“You ain’t going to feel it. I’m going to shoot you in your head four times, and I’m going to set the house on fire because I can’t leave no evidence ... without evidence, there’s no case.” After offering the defendant financial help and assuring him she would not call the police, the defendant allowed the victim to go to work. He continued to threaten her, telling her that if she said anything to her neighbors, he would kill them.

The defendant rode the bus with the victim to work. As she was getting off the bus, the defendant told her, “... don’t forget” as he patted the gun in his pocket. The defendant remained on the bus, and when the victim was certain the defendant was gone, she ran to her sister’s house two blocks away. She told her sister what happened. Her sister called her brother, W.P., and he and the victim returned to their home. The victim did not tell her brother she was raped because she was ashamed; instead, she told him that the defendant broke into the house and threatened to kill her. W.P. stated that when he and the victim returned to their Brunswick Court home, he noticed that the wires to the security cameras mounted on the back of his house had been cut. Prior to that morning, the security cameras were operational. T.P. told the investigating female officer that the defendant “forced her to have sex with him.” She was transported to the hospital for medical testing.

Detective Mike McCleery conducted the investigation of the unauthorized entry and rape at the Brunswick Court residence. Detective McCleery spoke with officers who had arrived at the scene before him and ordered the crime lab to examine and photograph the scene. Detective McCleery also spoke to the victim and her brother. The victim was very nervous, fearing the suspect would return to the residence. According to the detective, he found no evidence of forced entry.

IsAs a result of his conversations with the victim and W.P., Detective McCleery [512]*512developed the defendant as a suspect in the crimes. Detective McCleery identified the defendant in court and also identified several photographs taken at the scene, including among others, photos of gas cans located in the backyard of the residence and the victim’s bedroom, an aluminum can located in the victim’s bedroom, a photo of the disabled surveillance camera, a picture of a pair of wire cutters found in the backyard as well as a photo of a hat and hospital gloves, which were sitting next to the victim’s bed.

Detective McCleery transported the victim to Charity Hospital for a sexual assault test. The test proved positive for the presence of seminal fluid. While at the hospital, the victim identified the defendant as her attacker from a picture presented by -the detective.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
126 So. 3d 506, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 1737, 2012 WL 4711881, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-reel-lactapp-2012.