State v. Billoups
| Decision Date | 24 April 2020 |
| Docket Number | 120,040 |
| Court | Kansas Court of Appeals |
| Parties | State of Kansas, Appellee, v. Derrick L. Billoups, Appellant. |
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; Benjamin L. Burgess, judge.
Sam Schirer, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.
Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, Marc Bennett district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee.
Before Powell, P.J., Hill and Standridge, JJ.
Derrick Billoups was convicted by a jury of four counts of aggravated robbery, one count of reckless aggravated battery, and one count of felony theft from events stemming from the robberies of a Subway, two Presto gas stations, and a bank in the Wichita, Kansas, area over the course of four days. He also pled guilty to numerous other charges. Billoups now appeals his jury trial convictions and his prison sentence.
On March 13, 2015, Billoups was charged with numerous crimes relating to a spree of acts occurring earlier that month. Eventually, the State amended the charges to allege the following: four counts of aggravated robbery; eight counts of felony theft; and one count each of reckless aggravated battery, aggravated assault, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, criminal possession of a weapon, possession of cocaine, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The following conduct prompted the State's charges.
On the morning of March 7, 2015, Chase Guzman was working alone at a Subway restaurant in Wichita, Kansas. Shortly after Guzman opened the store for the day, a man entered the Subway with his face covered wearing a red coat, a brown hat, and a grey backpack with white stripes; and he was armed with what appeared to be a gun. Guzman noticed a spring on the alleged firearm. Billoups asserted at trial while questioning Guzman that the firearm was actually a BB gun. When Billoups asked Guzman at trial if he knew the gun was a BB gun, Guzman responded, Nevertheless Guzman complied when the man walked behind the counter, threw the backpack at him, and ordered him to fill the backpack with cash. The man fled the store with the $79 Guzman put inside of the backpack. Guzman called the police to report the crime. He told the responding officer that the robber was a black male approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing approximately 150 pounds. Surveillance video captured the robbery.
At trial, Guzman could not identify Billoups as the man who had robbed the Subway because the robber's face was covered. However, the State presented evidence that Billoups had, days prior to the Subway robbery, stolen a car from a car dealership while wearing a red jacket like that worn by the Subway robber. The State also presented evidence that when Billoups was arrested he was in possession of a grey backpack and a brown beanie hat.
On March 10, 2015, three days after the Subway robbery, Nick Griblin was working an overnight shift at a Presto gas station in Park City, Kansas. Around 3 a.m., a man with dark skin entered Presto wearing a brown beanie and Carhartt-type work clothing. The man told Griblin he wanted to purchase two cartons of Newport cigarettes. Griblin told the man he only had one carton and 10 single packs, and the man said that was fine. Griblin bagged the cigarettes and processed the transaction, but the man's card was declined. Suddenly, the man pulled out a pink can of mace and sprayed Griblin in the eyes. Griblin attempted to push the emergency button to alert the police, but he could not see because of the effects of the mace. He was able to reach for his phone and call his boss, who then called the police. Surveillance cameras captured the robbery.
A few days after the Park City Presto robbery, police asked Griblin if he could pick out his assailant from a photo lineup. Yet, at some point before showing Griblin the photo lineup, Griblin was allegedly shown a single photograph of Billoups. The record is not clear how much time passed between Griblin being shown a single photo of Billoups and later being shown a photo lineup. After looking at the single photograph, Griblin picked out an identical photograph of Billoups from a six-person photo lineup. At trial, Griblin stood by his photo lineup identification of Billoups.
About three hours after the Park City Presto robbery, on March 10, 2015, Karen Roguski was opening a Presto gas station in Wichita. Around 6 a.m., a black male wearing tan Carhartt-type work clothing and a brown beanie entered the Presto store. The man asked for cigarettes but then quickly pulled out an object that appeared to be a gun and told Roguski to empty her cash register. The robber made off with approximately $50 and a carton of Newport cigarettes. The robbery was captured by the store's video surveillance system.
A few hours later police circulated a photo on social media of a suspect in another crime (that will be addressed in turn). Roguski saw the photo of the suspect in that crime, and she recognized him to be the man who had robbed the store earlier that same day. She notified the police, and two days later the police showed her a six-person photo lineup that included Billoups. Roguski pointed to Billoups' photo and commented, "I'm thinking it is this one." At trial, Roguski identified Billoups, in person, as the robber.
Following Billoups' arrest, police searched his motel room and found a pink can of mace, brown Dickie's pants, a brown beanie hat, and empty packs of Newport cigarettes.
Another three-and-a-half hours after the Wichita Presto robbery, Elizabeth Sprecker was working as a teller at Emprise Bank in Wichita. At approximately 9:40 a.m., a man wearing a yellow hoodie with the hood up, grey athletic leggings underneath yellow gym shorts, and a brown beanie hat walked into the bank lobby. The man approached Sprecker and asked if the bank still cashed McDonald's checks, and Sprecker turned her head toward her computer to begin the transaction. When she turned back to face the man, he was holding a black gun. The man then threw a bag at Sprecker and ordered her to fill the bag with big bills.
Sprecker filled the bag with approximately $10, 000 to $12, 000, and the man fled toward a getaway car parked at a nearby Jiffy Lube. However, as the robber fled some of the bills fell on the bank floor and in the parking lot; the robber made off with approximately $4, 400. Once the man was gone, the police were called. Surveillance cameras also captured this robbery. Sprecker later identified Billoups as the man who robbed the bank from a six-person photo lineup. She again identified Billoups as the robber in court.
Kevin Scranton worked at the nearby Jiffy Lube where the getaway car was parked. Just prior to the bank robbery, the vehicle pulled into the Jiffy Lube, and Scranton approached the vehicle to see if he could be of any assistance. A man wearing a yellow tank top, yellow hoodie, and yellow shorts exited the car and asked to use the restroom. Scranton said yes, and the man walked toward the Jiffy Lube, dropping a cigarette butt as he walked in. After using Jiffy Lube's restroom, the man returned to the car, said something to the passenger, and then walked to the bank. Scranton subsequently saw the man running from the bank back to the vehicle and noticed that he dropped something in transit. When the police arrived at the scene, Scranton pointed them to the cigarette butt the man had previously dropped, which was still smoking. Scranton was sure it was the man's cigarette butt because he had just cleaned up the parking lot, which included cleaning up all the cigarette butts, and because he watched him drop it there. The recovered cigarette butt was a Newport cigarette. DNA testing indicated that Billoups was the one who had smoked the cigarette.
As part of its investigation, the Wichita Police Department released a color photo of the bank robbery suspect to be distributed through local and social media. Two individuals saw the photo and notified police that it was Billoups-his previous postrelease supervision officer (her relation to Billoups was unknown to the jury) and a Cricket Wireless employee who had sold Billoups a cell phone on March 10, 2015. By the end of the day on March 10, the police had Billoups' name and a description of the stolen vehicle he was thought to be driving.
On March 11, 2015, two Wichita police officers were on patrol when they spotted the suspect vehicle. As the officers attempted to determine if Billoups was in the car, the vehicle sped off at a high rate of speed. The officers activated their emergency lights and began pursuit of the vehicle. As the officers gained on the vehicle, they noticed there was a female in the front passenger seat. As the car slowed briefly while taking a turn, the passenger, Jamaica Johnson, jumped out of the vehicle. As Johnson rolled on the street, the car ran over her legs, breaking her left tibia. The driver, who was later confirmed to be Billoups, continued driving until one of the officers rammed his patrol car into the stolen car in a parking lot outside of Saint Francis Hospital, which caused Billoups to hit other vehicles. Billoups then fled the car on foot but was ultimately caught and taken into custody by police. Police found a motel key that had fallen out of Billoups' pocket during the foot pursuit. While being attended to, Johnson informed the officers that Billoups was, in fact, the man who robbed Emprise Bank.
Billoups was ultimately charged...
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