State v. Shaw

939 So. 2d 519, 2006 WL 2422923
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 23, 2006
Docket41,233-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 939 So. 2d 519 (State v. Shaw) 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. Shaw, 939 So. 2d 519, 2006 WL 2422923 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

939 So.2d 519 (2006)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee
v.
Shon P. SHAW, Appellant.

No. 41,233-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 23, 2006.

*520 Shon P. Shaw, Pro Se.

Indigent Defender Board by Mary L. Harried, Shreveport, Louisiana Appellate Project by Edward K. Bauman, Lake Charles, for Appellant.

Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, Lea R. Hall, Catherine M. Estopinal, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.

*521 Before CARAWAY, DREW and MOORE, JJ.

MOORE, J.

Shon Shaw was charged by bill of information with one count of attempted second degree murder and two counts each of second degree kidnapping and aggravated criminal damage to property arising from an incident in which he used his mother's car to ram his former girlfriend off the road. A jury convicted him of attempted manslaughter, and found him guilty as charged on all other counts. Adjudicated a third felony offender, Shaw was sentenced to 40 years at hard labor for attempted manslaughter, 80 years at hard labor without benefits for the second degree kidnappings, and 30 years at hard labor on the aggravated criminal damage to property charges, with all sentences to run concurrently. He now appeals: through counsel he urges insufficient evidence to convict and an illegal sentence, and by pro se brief he urges ineffective assistance of counsel and other sentencing errors. We affirm.

Factual Background

The kidnappings and car chase occurred shortly before midnight on June 26, 2004, on Red Fox Trail in west Shreveport. The incident began, however, earlier in the evening at the IHOP on Pines Road, where Karen Harris and some girlfriends were having a birthday dinner for one of the women. Karen had just called off a yearlong relationship with Shaw some two weeks earlier, but on June 26 she allowed Shaw to drive her home from her job at Church's Fried Chicken and they talked about getting back together. Karen was also good friends with Shaw's sister, Sheryl Jeter, who was present at the birthday dinner at IHOP.

Karen and Sheryl, as well as two of the other women present, Marvette Jones and Danielle Adams, testified that during the course of the evening, Shaw kept calling on his sister Sheryl's cell phone and asking to speak to Karen. Karen refused to meet with him that night, and he got mad; the other women confirmed that he sounded angry and that Karen quit taking his calls. At one point Shaw actually drove to IHOP looking for her, but she hid in the restroom until the police were called and Shaw left the parking lot.

Shaw went straight to his mother Jessica Jeter's house and told her that she needed to phone Karen on Sheryl's cell. Mrs. Jeter complied, telling Sheryl they needed to bring Karen home (to Mrs. Jeter's house). Shaw suddenly snatched the phone from his mother, screamed at Sheryl and Karen, and started hitting his mother in the head with the phone. Hearing this, Sheryl asked the women to come home with her; perhaps imprudently, they agreed. Sheryl let Shana Taylor drive her (Sheryl's) Lexus, while Karen and Marvette followed in Danielle's Nissan Altima. Shana pulled in the driveway behind Mrs. Jeter's Lincoln Town Car; Danielle parked the Altima in the street, at the end of the driveway.

When the women arrived, they saw Mrs. Jeter come out of the house to speak to Karen. However, Shaw came out and began shouting at his mother to get into the car; there were also words between Shaw and Karen, who remained in the back seat of the Altima. When Mrs. Jeter refused to get into the Town Car, he physically pushed her in and then jumped into the driver's seat. Danielle suspected he was going to back out, so she started to drive off, going down Red Fox Trail. With his mother still in the front seat, Shaw backed the Town Car around the Lexus, pulled onto Red Fox Trail and started to follow the Altima.

*522 At the wheel of the Altima, Danielle could see that Shaw was following them; Karen even called 911 on one of the women's cell phones. Suddenly they felt a bump as the Town Car rammed them from behind, knocking them off the road and into a pine tree. Detective Tom Oster, who investigated the incident, testified that the Altima was "accordioned" with the rear end pushed up to the back seat area; the women testified that the doors would not open, so they had to climb out through a broken window. Karen sustained two broken bones in her neck and a bruised thigh and calf; she testified that she could hardly stand on her own. However, she saw Shaw get out of the Town Car and start walking toward her. Because of her injuries, she was unable to run away. She testified that Shaw started "swinging on" her and struck her in the back with a tree branch. Afraid he would hurt her worse, Karen agreed to go with him.

He took her on foot between some houses and into a wooded area, intermittently dragging her by the arm and hitting her. He led her behind the fire station on West 70th Street and Turner Elementary School, until they could hear police sirens drawing near. At this point she convinced him to let her go, and she ran to the Diamond Shamrock gas station near the Inner Loop to call the police.

As noted, Karen sustained two broken bones in her neck and multiple leg injuries; she testified that she took 1½ months to recover. Mrs. Jeter sustained a broken pelvis and head injuries; she testified she could not walk for several months. Both Mrs. Jeter and Danielle testified that their cars were totaled in the collision.

Over the next few days, Detective Oster interviewed the three women in the Altima and Mrs. Jeter and, on June 29, obtained an arrest warrant charging Shaw with four counts of attempted first degree murder. Shaw turned himself in to police on July 14 and waived his Miranda rights. In a recorded statement, he insisted he was not mad at Karen and denied calling her multiple times at IHOP. He said the women had all been at his mother's house and they were leaving to eat at the Whataburger on Bert Kouns when he lost control of his mother's car and accidentally rear-ended the Altima. He denied dragging Karen into the woods or harming her in any way, and said he left the scene because he "panicked" and did not know she was hurt. He also denied forcing his mother into the Town Car; insisting she was unconscious "the whole time," he had no idea why she would say he had dragged Karen into the woods and hit her with a tree branch.

Shaw was initially charged with four counts of attempted first degree murder. In July 2005, the state amended the bill of information to charge him with the attempted second degree murder of Karen; the second degree kidnapping of Karen and of Mrs. Jeter; and the aggravated criminal property damage of Mrs. Jeter's Town Car and of Danielle's Altima. After a two-day trial, the jury returned the responsive verdict of attempted manslaughter of Karen, and convicted him as charged on the remaining counts.

The state then charged Shaw as a third felony offender. After an adjudication hearing, the court found him guilty as charged and sentenced him to 40 years at hard labor for the attempted manslaughter. The court also sentenced him to 80 years at hard labor, without benefits, for each count of second degree kidnapping, and 30 years at hard labor for each count of aggravated criminal damage to property. All sentences were to be served concurrently. After the court denied Shaw's motions for post verdict judgment of acquittal, new trial and reconsideration of sentence, Shaw took this appeal.

*523 Discussion: Sufficiency of the Evidence

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Related

State v. Heins
245 So. 3d 1165 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State v. Warren
2 So. 3d 523 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
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986 So. 2d 828 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
State v. Shaw
969 So. 2d 1233 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
939 So. 2d 519, 2006 WL 2422923, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-shaw-lactapp-2006.