State v. Stamps

960 So. 2d 237, 2007 WL 1427012
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 15, 2007
Docket06-KA-971
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 960 So. 2d 237 (State v. Stamps) 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. Stamps, 960 So. 2d 237, 2007 WL 1427012 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

960 So.2d 237 (2007)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Damond J. STAMPS.

No. 06-KA-971.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

May 15, 2007.

Paul D. Connick, Jr. District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Thomas J. Butler, Laura S. Schneidau, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, Bruce G. Whittaker, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant/Appellant.

*238 Panel composed of Judges THOMAS F. DALEY, MARION F. EDWARDS, and SUSAN M. CHEHARDY.

MARION F. EDWARDS, Judge.

Defendant/appellant, Damond J. Stamps ("Stamps"), was charged and convicted of committing public intimidation upon Deputy Douglas H. Graffeo ("Deputy Graffeo") of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:122. The bill was amended to add an additional victim, Sergeant Joe Ragas ("Sergeant Ragas"). Stamps filed a motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal, arguing that the jury misapplied the law and facts and that the State failed to prove specific intent. Stamps also filed a motion for new trial. The motions were denied and, thereafter, Stamps was sentenced to two years of imprisonment at hard labor. Stamps appeals, alleging the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict. We affirm.

At trial, Deputy Graffeo of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office testified that, on July 6, 2005 at approximately 9:50 p.m., he responded to a call at 1256 Aberdeen in Harvey involving an altercation. Defendant's brother, Dalton Stamps ("Dalton"), had been accused of domestic battery by the victim, Syreeta Leslie ("Ms.Leslie"). According to Deputy Graffeo, Dalton was not at the scene, although several parties were yelling at one another. Stamps kept interjecting himself into the investigation while the deputy was attempting to interview Ms. Leslie. Deputy Graffeo testified that Stamps was using profanity and yelling, telling Ms. Leslie that she was making a mistake; that she was making things worse for herself; that she was going to pay; and that she should not cooperate with the investigation. Deputy Graffeo stated he told Stamps to leave or he would be arrested for interfering with the investigation. As Stamps left, he put up his hand in a motion imitating a firearm and said, "[Y]ou screwing up, we gonna get you" and imitated a hammer falling.

Deputy Graffeo testified he then told Stamps he was under arrest and to go to the patrol car. He stated that Stamps responded, "[Y]ou don't tell me what to do bitch, you don't know who I am." According to Deputy Graffeo, Stamps started to puff out his chest and held his arms out as if he was preparing to fight but became compliant after Deputy Graffeo pulled out his Taser. Deputy Graffeo testified Stamps yelled, "[Y]a'll [sic] f* * *ing up, you don't know who I am. My uncle's a representative. Ya'll [sic] fired. I'm going to have your jobs for this. Ya'll [sic] fired." Deputy Graffeo testified he then placed Stamps in the rear of his patrol car and began to advise him of his rights but was interrupted with Stamps stating, "[Y]ou don't tell me my rights. I know my rights. I've been arrested like a thousand times. I'm a bad mother f* * *er." Thereafter, Stamps repeated his rights to Deputy Graffeo.

According to Deputy Graffeo, while Stamps was in the car and they began to drive away, Stamps then made several threats against Sergeant Ragas, indicating he had allowed Sergeant Ragas to live on three separate occasions previously and that would no longer be the case. Although Sergeant Ragas was by the car at this time, he did not know if Sergeant Ragas heard these threats against him because he was engaged in a discussion with someone on the scene.

Deputy Graffeo testified that had he not drawn his Taser, he would have had to physically fight Stamps. He further stated that he felt Stamps would most likely file a complaint with internal affairs, that he believed Stamps could conceivably carry out his threat, and that he thought his *239 job could be in danger. Deputy Graffeo testified he believed Stamps' statements were made to influence him to "un-arrest" him or go with a lower charge. Deputy Graffeo believed Stamps meant he was going to have their jobs because they were arresting him. On cross-examination, Deputy Graffeo testified that Stamps did not specifically state that "I am going to have your job if you don't release me from arrest," although it was implied.

During the course of the interview with Ms. Leslie, Sergeant Ragas of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office had positioned himself between Stamps and Ms. Leslie. Sergeant Ragas testified that he arrived shortly before Deputy Graffeo and, while talking to the victim, Stamps was interfering by threatening the victim and so Stamps was asked to step away from Ms. Leslie. After asking him to leave several times, Sergeant Ragas and Deputy Graffeo directed Stamps to the police vehicle, to get him away from the victim. When Stamps didn't comply, Deputy Graffeo drew his Taser to diffuse the aggression. Sergeant Ragas testified that, while he was trying to get Stamps to keep his hands on the patrol car and pat him down, Stamps made threats against the officers' jobs because someone in his family was a representative. Sergeant Ragas had personal knowledge this might be true and was intimidated, believing he might be in internal affairs the next day. He believed that Stamps made these statements to get out of going to jail and that he was trying to influence them to release him or not arrest him. At one point, Sergeant Ragas testified that he believed that the threats toward him were made after the arrest but then stated that Stamps did intimidate him prior to the arrest until the time they "affected the arrest."

Ms. Leslie testified she called the police because of an altercation with Dalton. Stamps had asked Dalton to leave the house before the police arrived. Stamps did not yell at her, threaten her, or make a gun-like motion to her. According to Ms. Leslie, it sounded like the police did not like Stamps from the comments she heard the officers saying, indicating that they knew who he was. She testified Stamps only asked the officers to move their cars because he was blocked in and that he did not intimidate the officers. She never heard Stamps make any threatening or belligerent remarks to the police. No one in Stamps' family has intimidated her with regard to her testimony at trial, and Ms. Leslie had even phoned the District Attorney's Office to see if the charges against Stamps could be dropped.

Theo Stamps ("Theo"), Stamps' brother, testified that Stamps was parked in the driveway and was blocked in by the police. Stamps asked them to let him go. Theo testified that he did not hear Stamps yell at Ms. Leslie. He also stated he heard one officer say, "[H]ey, wasn't that the guy we sprayed with the mace and we kicked in the door?" Then, he heard the officers say, "[L]et's get him." Theo denied hearing Stamps say anything about being related to a representative or the officers being fired. He also denied hearing threats against Sergeant Ragas.

Stamps' mother, Sharon Edmonson, testified that she was on the phone with Stamps at the time, and he told her his car was blocked in by the police. She heard when the police said to her son, "[S]tep over here and get on the car." Then Stamps told her "they got the guns on me." She testified she did not hear threats or cursing at the police officers. She also testified, as did her son, Theo, that no relative is a representative.

Leshanone Burrle ("Burrle") testified that Stamps, her children's father, did not threaten or curse at Ms. Leslie. At the *240 time of the incident, Burrle lived next door to Ms. Leslie.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
960 So. 2d 237, 2007 WL 1427012, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stamps-lactapp-2007.