State v. Thomas

892 So. 2d 161, 2005 WL 156741
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 26, 2005
Docket39,194-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 892 So. 2d 161 (State v. Thomas) 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. Thomas, 892 So. 2d 161, 2005 WL 156741 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

892 So.2d 161 (2005)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee
v.
Chris THOMAS a/k/a Chris Banks, Appellant.

No. 39,194-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

January 26, 2005.

*162 James Edward Beal, Jonesboro, for Appellant.

Terry R. Reeves, District Attorney, James E. Lewis, Assistant District Attorney, for Appellee.

Before STEWART, GASKINS and LOLLEY, JJ.

LOLLEY, J.

This criminal appeal arises from the Eighth Judicial District Court, Parish of Winn, State of Louisiana. The defendant, Chris Thomas, a/k/a Chris Banks ("Thomas") was found guilty in a jury trial of second-degree murder pursuant to La. R.S. 14:30.1 and attempted second-degree murder pursuant to La. R.S. 14:27. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the second-degree murder conviction and to a 40-year hard labor term for the attempted *163 second-degree murder conviction. We affirm Thomas' sentences and convictions and order the sentences to run concurrently.

FACTS

On the afternoon of April 16, 2002, Tenika Boyd ("Boyd") was braiding Thomas' hair in the doorway of her apartment in Winnfield, Louisiana. Timothy Bonner ("Bonner") was sitting with them. Dondi Collins ("Collins"), one of the victims, was sitting on the steps of an apartment nearby with two of his cousins. When Collins' girlfriend, Demetrice Williams[1] ("Williams"), also a victim, walked by, Bonner said something to her and Thomas made a hand gesture. Collins saw the incident, became angry, and came toward Thomas using profanity. Boyd told Collins to go away because her children were in the apartment.

Collins and his two friends, Brandon King ("King") and Darrius Gilbert ("Gilbert"), left the area and walked to a store. However, they returned and Collins confronted Thomas again when Thomas was attempting to get into his vehicle. Collins jerked a cigarette out of Thomas' mouth. Witnesses testified there still was no physical fight between Collins and Thomas, only intense arguing. King testified that Thomas was saying "Ya'll better get ya'll cousin before a n____go to jail for life."

At this point King shoved Bonner, but according to testimony at trial, Gilbert's "Aunt Lynn" (Ms. Leanne King) intervened by pulling Collins away from Thomas and broke up the altercation. Collins, King and Gilbert left the area.

Soon after Collins left the area, he saw Thomas' girlfriend, LaTonya Smith ("LaTonya"), and told her that she needed to check up on her boyfriend. LaTonya's brother, Charles Smith ("Smith"), came down the stairs and saw Collins talking to his sister. He told Collins not to bother his sister or he would "whip hisa — ." Collins walked off and Smith told Collins he would kill him. At around 8:00 p.m. Thomas told Boyd, "Watch this. I'm going to jail tonight."

Later that evening Collins came back to the apartment complex. He walked past Smith and Thomas. Smith threw a beer can at Collins. Collins returned and fought with Smith. Collins had Smith on the ground when bystanders stopped the fight. Collins went into Williams' apartment.

Soon after the fight, Thomas and Smith went to a car and returned to the area. Kendrick Morgan, a bystander, saw that Thomas had a gun and he yelled out, "Hey, this boy got the baby," in an attempt to stop Thomas.

Smith kicked open the door of Williams' apartment and Collins was attempting to close it when Thomas shot through the door. Collins was hit in the head and collapsed behind the door. Thomas then looked at Williams and shot her in the chest.

Smith, Thomas and Bonner went to the car and left with the headlights off. According to Bonner, as they drove off, Thomas stated, "I f____up."

When officials arrived, Collins was dead, and Williams was taken to the emergency room. She survived the shooting, but the bullet remains lodged two inches from her heart.

A jury convicted Thomas of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life for the first count and 40 years for the second count. He appeals both the convictions and sentences.

*164 DISCUSSION

On appeal, Thomas raises three assignments of error. In the first assignment of error, Thomas contends the trial court erred in overruling his objections to several inculpatory statements attributed to him, of which he was not provided notice prior to trial. Thomas argues that the state failed to give notice that it planned to use four oral inculpatory statements and that the trial court erred in allowing the admission of these statements. Thomas contends he was prejudiced by not knowing the state had this evidence, because he rejected a plea offer of manslaughter which would have resulted in a less than lifetime sentence.

Louisiana C. Cr. P. art. 716(B) in pertinent part states that:

Upon motion of the defendant, the court shall order the district attorney to inform the defendant of the existence, but not the contents, of any oral confession or statement of any nature, made by the defendant, which the district attorney intends to offer in evidence at the trial, with the information as to when, where and to whom such oral confession or statement was made.

As stated, Thomas objects to the trial court's admission of four oral statements he allegedly made to witnesses on the day of the shooting. The record shows that Thomas filed a motion and the trial court ordered that the state "inform the defendant of the existence, but not the contents, of any oral statements, or confessions of any nature made by the defendant which the District Attorney intends to offer into evidence at the trial of this prosecution, with the information as to when, where and to whom such oral statements were made." (Emphasis added).

During trial, Thomas' defense counsel objected after testimony from one of the victim's cousins revealed that Thomas had made statements that the state had not provided to the defense prior to the trial. The following colloquy took place before the objection was made:

Q. Why'd you think that was Dondi that was shot?
A. Cause what was said.
Q. What was said that made you think that? By who?
A. By Chris and Charles.
Q. Okay, Charles said "I'm gonna kill you" and then the argument...
A. He said "I kill you."[2]
Q. Okay. Was Chris Thomas or Timothy Bonner still at the apartment complex when you got there after the shoot?
A. I don't know.
BY MR. LEWIS:
Okay. Please answer any question that uh Mr. Hunter has for you.
BY MR. HUNTER:
Sidebar Your Honor
* * *
... the state has called Mr. Brandon King and obviously has uh statements that uh ... uh we think are discoverable and that uh would have allowed us to prepare an adequate defense uh to some of the statements that he made regarding Dondi Collins....

The state replied to the objection that it had no obligation to tell Thomas who its witnesses were, and "I don't have to tell `em what my witnesses are going to say." The state also informed the court that it had granted open discovery, there were no *165 written statements, and it had learned of the statements through interviewing the witnesses. The trial court simply ruled that it was not taking any action at the time. Thomas' trial counsel asked that the objection be noted for the record.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
892 So. 2d 161, 2005 WL 156741, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thomas-lactapp-2005.