State v. West

669 So. 2d 545, 95 La.App. 4 Cir. 0411, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 128, 1996 WL 39477
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 31, 1996
DocketNo. 95-KA-0411
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 669 So. 2d 545 (State v. West) 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. West, 669 So. 2d 545, 95 La.App. 4 Cir. 0411, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 128, 1996 WL 39477 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinions

JiSCHOTT, Chief Judge.

Defendant was charged along with two co-defendants, Evans and Bell, with first degree murder. A motion to suppress the identification was denied, and a motion was granted severing defendant’s case for trial. At a previous trial Bell was acquitted and Evans was convicted of second degree murder. At his trial defendant was convicted of second degree murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

A review of the record for errors patent reveals none.

Officer Peggy Martin testified that on August 5, 1993 at 3:00 a.m., she and her partner, Officer Marcel Foxworth, answered a call of an aggravated battery by shooting at Julien’s Food Store, which is near the Fischer Housing Project. A crowd of thirty people stood outside the store, and ten officers were already on the ^scene. They found the victim, Ike Wilson, face up in a pool of blood. Two other victims had also been shot: Darlene Thompson and Mark Hendrix, both of whom had been shot in the leg. She said that Julien’s was located around the corner from Michelle’s Bar. No one on the scene identified the perpetrators. She later went to JoEllen Smith Hospital where she learned that Wilson had been shot thirty-two times, and that he had died. She then went to Louisiana Medical Center where she learned that Thompson had suffered four gunshots to her legs, and Hendrix had suffered one gunshot to his leg. She spoke to Hendrix but he did not provide her with any information.

Burmegene Wilson, mother of the victim, admitted that her son had drug problems which interfered with potential college football scholarships. He had been taking classes to satisfy college entrance requirements, and had been staying at her father’s [547]*547house which was near to the school. Hendrix, who is Burmegene Wilson’s stepbrother, and thus the victim’s “uncle”, also stayed at that house. She said that Hendrix was killed seven days after her son. She did not know the defendant, Bell, or Evans. On cross, defense counsel asked her whether she thought that the victim’s involvement in drugs had precipitated the killings, but she said she did not know.

Officer Carl Palmer, of the crime lab, said that he photographed the scene, and that he found nine 9 mm. casings and ten rifle casings on the scene.

Detective Michael Mims testified he interviewed Thompson at the hospital. He also said Tywanda Major was interviewed that night, but that he did not speak to her at that time. He knew that Major had viewed some photographs. As a result of the information, he obtained arrests warrants for the defendant, Bell, and Evans. He said that he later met with Thompson at a hotel on St. Charles Avenue. The officers moved her to the hotel because her life had been threatened. He ^showed her photographic lineups of Bell and Evans, and she identified the two men. He showed her a photographic lineup containing a two year old picture of the defendant but she was not able to identify him. He said he also spoke with Hendrix. He then sent Thompson and Major to California to live under assumed names. He was subsequently unable to contact Major.

Officer Clarene Gillard testified that some time after the murder, he and his partner Mark Mumme received a call that the defendant may have been at 1304 Bartholomew Street. They proceeded to the residence and spoke to the defendant’s mother and brother. His mother told them that the defendant was there, and she invited them in. As they entered the house, the mother screamed excitedly, “Troy, where are you going?” and “Don’t shoot my son.” He and his partner chased a man, whom they assumed was the defendant, through the back door and over several fences, but they were unable to catch him.

FBI Agent Victor Vasys, said that he apprehended the defendant September 16,1993 after a raid on an apartment in the Fischer Housing project. The defendant once again tried to escape, but he was captured after an elaborate chase.

Paul MeGarry, forensic pathologist with the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office, testified the victim suffered twenty gunshot wounds. There were two types of wounds: some typical of handgun wounds and some typical of rifle wounds. The trajectories of the bullets indicated that some of the wounds were suffered while the victim was standing and others were suffered when he was falling or had already fallen. He said alcohol, cocaine and morphine were found in the victim’s system.

Officer John Treadaway, a NOPD firearms expert, testified that at least two guns were fired in this case.

LMargaret Bridgewater, wife of Ike Wilson’s grandfather and mother of Hendrix, said Wilson and Hendrix were both staying at her house. When she returned home from work at 5:00 p.m. on the afternoon before Wilson was killed, Wilson, Hendrix, Patrick Jackson and the defendant were at the house. She said the defendant’s nickname was “Nokie.” Wilson left the house first, driving a maroon Monte Carlo. Then, Hendrix, Jackson and the defendant left in Jackson’s white pickup truck. Wilson returned to the house with a girl to pick something up. They were on their way to a party. Hendrix and Jackson then returned after dropping off the defendant. She said that Hendrix told her who had shot him and that she was surprised. She said that Hendrix did not return to her house after he was released from the hospital because he was afraid that someone would kill him.

Thompson testified that she had moved to California because she felt her life was threatened. She said she knew Evans, known as “Combread”, Steven Bell known as “Weebe”, and Major for some time prior to the crime. Major picked her up on that night and they arrived at Michelle’s at 12:10 a.m. They saw Joyce Johnson at Michelle’s and the three of them left together. Outside, they saw Evans, Bell, and the defendant leaning against a red car she believed was a Sentra. Wilson was in his car in the parking lot. The three girls and a fourth girl named [548]*548Saundra got into their ear and left for Ju-lien’s. Major went to use the phone. Darlene Thompson was waiting to use the phone to call Hendrix, but Hendrix drove up at that point in a white station wagon with Patrick Jackson. As she was talking to Hendrix, two people rounded the corner. She immediately saw “Cornbread” and her attention was drawn to the very large gun he was carrying: a gun that was “longer than his arm.” She heard gunfire from two guns: one made a loud “boom”, the other a “pop.” She ran to some bushes where she was struck four times in the leg. She saw a red car pull up and two perpetrators get in and | .gdrive away. She could not identify the second perpetrator. She admitted on cross examination that while she was staying in the hotel, she identified Steven Bell as the second perpetrator.

Joyce Johnson said she saw the defendant and “Cornbread” fire the guns. The defendant had a smaller gun than “Cornbread.” She said the two of them robbed her brother on a previous occasion.

The defense called Spencer Dawson, a friend of the defendant, who testified he was on the scene and witnessed the shootings. He said he did not know the perpetrators but that the defendant was not one of them.

Herbert Fleming testified he knew the defendant, Wilson, Thompson, and Johnson. He said that he was at Michelle’s and that he did not see any of them there. He said he did not see Johnson outside of Julien’s. He witnessed the shooting, and said that the defendant was not one of the perpetrators.

Talia Anderson testified that the defendant came to her house at 2:15 a.m. on the morning of the crime.

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Related

State v. Allen
800 So. 2d 378 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
669 So. 2d 545, 95 La.App. 4 Cir. 0411, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 128, 1996 WL 39477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-west-lactapp-1996.