State v. Bradstreet

• Decision Date: 30 June 2016
• Docket Number: No. 16–KA–80.,16–KA–80.
• Citation: 196 So.3d 876
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Daylan BRADSTREET.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

196 So.3d 876

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Daylan BRADSTREET.

No. 16–KA–80.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

June 30, 2016.

196 So.3d 880

Paul D. Connick, Jr., Terry M. Boudreaux, Andrea F. Long, Seth W. Shute, Angad Ghai, for Plaintiff/Appellee, State of Louisiana.

Margaret S. Sollars, for Defendant/Appellant, Daylan Bradstreet.

Panel composed of FREDERICKA HOMBERG WICKER, JUDE G. GRAVOIS, and ROBERT A. CHAISSON.

WICKER, J.

Defendant, Daylan Bradstreet, appeals his convictions and sentences for attempted second-degree murder and aggravated criminal damage to property. For the following reasons, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On April 3, 2014, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant with two counts of attempted second-degree murder in violation of La. R.S. 14:27 and 14:30.1 (counts one and two) and one count of aggravated criminal damage to property in violation of La. R.S. 14:55 (count three).

The matter proceeded to a bench trial on May 11, 2015.¹ Following the bench trial, the trial judge found defendant guilty as charged.² On May 28, 2015, the trial court sentenced defendant to forty years imprisonment at hard labor on counts one and two, and fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor on count three. The trial judge ordered the sentences to run concurrent to each other but consecutive to any other sentence defendant was serving.³ Defendant urged a motion to reconsider sentences, which the trial judge denied.

Following defendant's convictions, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a multiple offender bill of information, alleging defendant to be a second felony offender. On August 17, 2015, following a hearing on the multiple bill, the trial court found defendant to be a second felony offender. The trial court vacated defendant's original sentence on count one and resentenced defendant pursuant to La. R.S. 15:529.1 to sixty-five years imprisonment

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at hard labor without the benefit of probation or suspension of sentence, to be served concurrent to his sentences on counts two and three but consecutive to any other sentence he was serving.⁴ At the conclusion of the multiple offender hearing, the trial judge considered and denied defendant's motion to reconsider sentence. This timely appeal follows.

FACTS

Joseph Washington testified that on the evening of January 20, 2014, he drove to visit his friend, Troylynn Smith, at her home on Hooter Road.⁵ He testified that he was speaking with Troylynn outside when two black males, wearing all black, approached them and asked, “What's up, T?” Immediately thereafter, he heard gunfire. Mr. Washington ran to the backyard, jumping over a fence to escape. He testified that the two men were chasing him through the backyard and that he jumped over two more fences to hide in bushes until the two men left. He testified that he was shot in the ankle but eventually crawled back to the front of the house. When questioned concerning the identity of the shooters, he stated that he could not identify either of the men but that Troylynn told him at some point that one of the shooters lived on Hooter Road.

Troylynn⁶ testified that she suffered from memory problems and was unable to remember anything from the night of the shootings.⁷ She testified that she was talking with Mr. Washington in front of her house on January 20, 2014, when she was approached by two men and shot in the arm, legs, and abdomen. She testified at trial that she could not see the men's faces. She testified that she knows defendant from the neighborhood but testified that she could not identify defendant at trial as involved in the shootings. Troylynn further testified that she did not remember identifying defendant at the hospital after the shootings as the person who shot her but did acknowledge that her initials were placed on a photographic lineup next to defendant's picture.

Deputy Umakantbhai of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office testified that he was the first responding officer on the scene. He stated that he was unable to speak with Troylynn but that he spoke with Mr. Washington, who informed him that two black males approached him and Troylynn. He further testified that Mr. Washington related to him that one of the individuals said, “What's up, T?” and then “shots rang out.”

Detective Brandon Veal of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office testified that he went to the hospital after the shooting to meet with Troylynn, but that she was heavily medicated and could not give a statement. He spoke with Troylynn's mother, Lynn Smith, who informed him that Troylynn had earlier told her that one of the shooters lived on Hooter Road. She further informed Deputy Veal that Troylynn gave her a description of the shooter's house on Hooter Road, “two houses down from Ms. Rita's house,” and further provided the first few letters of the shooter's

196 So.3d 882

name. Detective Veal returned to the hospital a few days later, when Troylynn was coherent, and presented her with a photographic lineup. He testified that Troylynn identified defendant as the individual who shot her on the night of January 20, 2014. Detective Veal stated that Troylynn's identification was immediate and certain and that Troylynn immediately cried when she saw defendant's photograph.

Sergeant Robert Pellegrin of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office testified that he took photographs and processed the crime scene. He testified that he recovered 29 casings. Jene Rauch, accepted as an expert in firearms and tool mark identification, testified that she examined the casings recovered from the scene and determined that three separate weapons were used to fire the casings recovered on the scene.

Troylynn's mother, Lynn, testified that she was washing dishes inside of her home when she heard gunshots. She testified that she went outside to find Troylynn lying on the ground near her vehicle in the driveway and, a few minutes later, she saw Mr. Washington crawling from the backyard with gunshot wounds to his ankle. She called 9–1–1 multiple times. She testified that she identified three bullet holes in her car parked in the driveway and that those bullet holes were not present prior to the January 20, 2014 shootings.

Detective Harley Smith of the U.S. Marshal's Task Force testified that he, along with nine other marshals, arrived to 180 Fourth Street in Bridge City on February 20, 2014, to arrest defendant. He testified that he discovered defendant in the backyard of the residence and placed him under arrest. He testified that he handcuffed defendant and read him his Miranda⁸ rights. Defendant subsequently told Detective Smith that he had heard from people in the neighborhood that the police were looking for him because of a shooting in the area.

Deputy Jason Pryer with the “shoot squad” of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office testified that he met with defendant at the Detective Bureau on February 20, 2014, and that defendant completed a waiver of rights form and agreed to make a statement. Defendant told him that he had been at the Daiquiri Shoppe at 6240 Lapalco Blvd. on the night of the shootings with his girlfriend, Perreill Chest, and her cousins watching a NFL football game. Deputy Pryor testified that after he discovered that no NFL football game was televised the night of the shootings, he asked defendant again as to his whereabouts on the night of the shootings. He testified that defendant recanted and wavered in his story, but then again stated clearly that he was inside of the Daiquiri Shoppe on Lapalco that night watching a football game.

Deputy Pryor contacted the manager of the Daiquiri Shoppe, who did not recognize defendant as a regular patron. He further acquired surveillance video from the Daiquiri Shoppe and testified that he did not observe defendant on the video surveillance from the night of the shooting. Deputy Pryor testified that he only viewed surveillance video from inside of the Daiquiri Shoppe and that the business did not have outdoor surveillance. During defendant's interview, another detective telephoned defendant's girlfriend, Perreill, who provided a statement inconsistent with defendant's statement concerning defendant's whereabouts on the night of the shootings. Deputy Pryor interviewed Perreill's cousins, Nikki Chest and Ireal Chest, who both informed him they had

196 So.3d 883

been at the Daiquiri Shoppe that evening with Perreill, but that defendant was not with them that night.

Perreill Chest, defendant's former girlfriend, testified at trial. Perreill testified that she was with her cousins at the Daiquiri Shoppe on the night of the shootings. She testified that defendant contacted her to pick him up at “eleven-something” that night and that she picked him up from Bridge City and brought him to her apartment in Boutte. When questioned regarding recorded phone conversations with defendant from prison, wherein Perreill expressed frustration with defendant, she explained that she was frustrated with defendant because he had...