State v. Williams

308 So.3d 791

STATE of Louisiana

v.Jakorey WILLIAMS

NO. 20-KA-46

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

December 30, 2020

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF/APPELLEE, STATE OF LOUISIANA Joel T. Chaisson, II Louis G. Authement

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT, JAKOREY WILLIAMS Jane L. Beebe

DEFENDANT/APPELLANT, Jakorey Williams In Proper Person

Panel composed of Judges Susan M. Chehardy, Fredericka Homberg Wicker, and John J. Molaison, Jr.

WICKER, J.

This case comes before us on appeal after Defendant Jakorey Williams (hereinafter "Defendant") was convicted of second-degree murder.

On November 19, 2017, the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office responded to a shooting in the 200 block of Meadows Drive in Destrehan, Louisiana. Officers located the deceased victim, Anthony Fletcher, in the driveway of 217 Meadows Drive. Defendant was on scene when officers arrived. Through the course of the investigation, detectives developed information that the victim had spent the night and morning leading up to the shooting socializing with Tyler Hill, Kentrell Smith, and Defendant before arriving at 217 Meadows Dr., where brothers Elijah and Jayedon Powell were present; furthermore, it was discovered that Defendant was with the victim immediately prior to the shooting. Pursuant to a search warrant, a .45 caliber firearm, the murder weapon, was found inside the residence at 217 Meadows. Defendant was seen exiting that residence after the homicide and could not be excluded as a major contributor to the DNA found on the gun. Moreover, blood spatter found on Defendant's jeans and shoes contained DNA profiles consistent with the DNA profile of the victim. Defendant was convicted of second-degree murder in violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1 in the 29th Judicial District Court of St. Charles Parish on April 24, 2019.

For the reasons fully discussed below, we affirm Defendant's conviction and sentence. However, because there are errors patent, we remand this matter to the district court, with instructions, to correct the uniform commitment order (UCO) to properly reflect that Defendant's sentence is to be served without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On July 18, 2018, a grand jury for St. Charles Parish returned a true bill, indicting Defendant with the second-degree murder of Anthony Fletcher in violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. Less than a week later, on July 24, 2018, Defendant was arraigned and pled not guilty.

Also on July 24, 2018, Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence. On August 27, 2018, the State filed a motion to quash Defendant's subpoenas issued to lay witnesses, namely Ms. Erica Powell and Ms. Kawana Jones, for their appearance to testify at the suppression hearing. On September 6, 2018, the trial court granted the State's motion to quash Defendant's subpoenas after a hearing. The trial court held a three-day hearing on Defendant's motion to suppress evidence over the course of September 7, 2018; September 10, 2018; and October 19, 2018. On November 5, 2018, Defendant filed a motion to require a unanimous jury verdict. On December 4, 2018, the trial court denied Defendant's motion to suppress evidence and denied Defendant's motion to require a unanimous jury verdict.

On April 3, 2019, the State filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude Defendant from referencing, questioning, or mentioning prior arrests or other bad acts/character traits pertaining to witnesses testifying at trial. After a hearing on this same date, the trial court granted the State's motion in limine . On April 4, 2019, Defendant filed a "Notice of Intention to Apply for Writ of Certiorari." Defendant's writ was denied by this Court on the same day. See State v. Williams, 19-K-162 (La. App. 5 Cir. 4/4/19) (unpublished writ disposition).

On April 8, 2019, prior to jury selection, Defendant made an oral motion seeking to limit the expert testimony of Chief Timothy Scanlan, which the trial court denied after hearing arguments. Jury selection then began on this same date. Trial lasted for nine (9) days over which the State called twenty (20) witnesses, including three (3) experts; Defense called five (5) witnesses. Thereafter, on April 24, 2019, a twelve-person jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty as charged.

On May 2, 2019, Defendant filed a motion for a post-verdict judgment of acquittal. In the motion, Defendant argued that the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the State, did not reasonably permit a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Defendant argued the State did not exclude the reasonable possibility of another shooter nor did the State present evidence that satisfied the elements necessary to establish that Defendant was a principal to the murder. The motion was denied after a hearing on June 17, 2019.

On July 23, 2019, Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. On that same day, after sentencing, Defendant timely filed a motion for appeal, which was granted.

FACTUAL HISTORY

Shortly before 8:00 a.m. on November 19, 2017, St. Charles Parish dispatch received two 9-1-1 calls reporting that a young man had been shot in the head and was lying in front of 217 Meadows Drive, Destrehan, Louisiana.¹ Upon arrival, Deputy Greg Cosse² saw Ms. Kawana Jones³ and Defendant standing next to the victim. Deputy Cosse contacted Ms. Jones and established that she was one of the 9-1-1 callers⁴ ; he then asked a small group of people gathered across the street if anyone had seen anything. An unidentified woman allegedly stated that she had seen a man in an orange skull cap walking away.⁵ Deputy Cosse relayed this information to dispatch, and the description was broadcast over the radio while other officers were in route to the scene.

Deputy Cosse and Deputy Murray,⁶ spoke with Defendant on the scene. Defendant informed the officers that the victim, his friend, went by the name "TC."⁷ At trial, the jury saw MVR footage from that morning, wherein Defendant explained to the officers that he and TC were "chillin" on the sidewalk in front of 217 Meadows when Defendant went inside to get himself a beer and heard "pow, pow, pow," after which he came outside and saw TC lying there.⁸ In the footage, Defendant indicated that the street was clear both before he went inside and once he came out again. Defendant also told officers that, the night before the murder, he and TC had been hanging around downtown New Orleans with some other individuals. When Deputy Cosse asked for specifics, questioning Defendant about whether he had been to Bourbon Street, Defendant confirmed that they had been "everywhere," including Bourbon Street.

Officers let Defendant know that detectives would want to speak to him. From that moment, MVR footage showed that Defendant requested to give a statement several times, questioning detectives as to when they would talk to him, even going so far as to stop Detective Jenni Barrette while she was walking past him in order to clarify whether she was a detective and could take his statement. While expressing a willingness to talk to detectives on the scene, Defendant simultaneously remained adamant that he did not want to sit and wait inside of a police car or be taken to headquarters to give a statement. Further, according to Deputy Cosse's testimony and MVR footage, there were also times when Defendant expressed that he wanted "nothing to do with this." When asked to describe Defendant's demeanor on the scene, Deputy Murray testified that Defendant was emotionless and "nonchalant." Meanwhile Deputy Cosse testified that Defendant was upset and he did not want to be there; nevertheless, he also stated that Defendant was not crying or visibly upset about the victim's death. However, on cross-examination, Detective Cosse later admitted to having previously described Defendant as "distraught" in a prior hearing.

Per his testimony at trial, Detective Joseph Dewhirst, the lead detective assigned to the case, arrived on the scene shortly after 8:30 a.m. Upon arrival, Detective Dewhirst saw that the crime scene technician, Jason Troxler, was already in the process of marking and photographing the scene, including three .45 caliber shell casings that were visible near the body. Detective Dewhirst also spoke to several officers about what the investigation had revealed thus far.⁹ Detective Dewhirst testified that Sergeant Walsh informed him that Defendant knew the victim and that Defendant told officers that he and the victim, as well as some others, had been hanging out downtown the night before and that they went to a Shell station shortly before the murder. Based on this information, Detective Dewhirst sent Sergeant Walsh to the Shell station to view the surveillance footage; Sergeant Walsh returned with screen shots of the Shell station surveillance video showing the victim, Defendant, and two unidentified individuals at the store approximately 45 minutes prior to the 9-1-1 calls.

MVR footage showed that, during the periods between (any two of) Defendant's conversations with various officers, Defendant wandered around the crime scene area wearing a wool beanie¹⁰ and drinking a beer. Deputy Murray testified that Defendant smelled of alcohol and was slurring his speech, but Detective Dewhirst testified that Defendant was neither falling nor stumbling.¹¹ Approximately 15 minutes after officers arrived on the scene, Deputy Murray's MVR captured Defendant entering 217 Meadows and exiting less than a minute later. Shortly thereafter, when police had been on the scene for about 23 minutes, Defendant wandered beyond the police tape; Deputy Murray and Sergeant Brad Walsh went after Defendant and found him talking with a group of people who had gathered a couple of houses past the roped-off area.¹² The officers asked Defendant to return to the scene, and he immediately walked back with them. Thereafter, Defendant was ordered not to leave the...