State v. Gilliam

• Decision Date: 30 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. 36,118-KA.,36,118-KA.
• Citation: 827 So.2d 508
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee v. Demetric GILLIAM, Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

827 So.2d 508

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee v. Demetric GILLIAM, Appellant.

No. 36,118-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 30, 2002.

Rehearing Denied October 17, 2002.

Louisiana Appellate Project, by Carey J. Ellis, III, Abita Springs, for Appellant.

Demetric Gilliam, Pro se.

Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Paul J. Carmouche, District Attorney, J. Thomas Butler, Dale G. Cox, Traci A. Moore, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.

Before BROWN, STEWART and PEATROSS, JJ.

STEWART, J.

Demetric Gilliam was convicted of first degree murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, from which he now appeals. Based on the following, we affirm the defendant's conviction and sentence.

FACTS

This case involves the murder of a three-year-old child and the injury of his month-old sister. Pursuant to La. R.S. 46:1844(W), the murder victim's initials, K.B., and his sister's initials, J.B., will be used.

On August 18, 1998, Eric Calhoun and Tyrell Odell went to visit Odell's three-year-old son, K.B. at the home of the child's mother, Teresa Bryant. Bryant also had an eight-month-old daughter, J.B., who was not related to Odell. Odell was driving his girlfriend's car, a burgundy Mitsubishi Galant. Odell planned to take K.B. to get a haircut. Bryant and the children got into the car with Odell. J.B., was in her mother's lap in the front seat. K.B. was in a child seat in the back seat along with Calhoun.

Odell made several stops, to either McDonald's or Burger King, then to the barber. After the barbershop, Odell began riding around the Queensboro neighborhood, looking for marijuana. Bryant testified that Odell smoked a "blunt," a cigar laced with marijuana. Odell's car was spotted by the defendant, Larry White, and the defendant's brother, Terrance Gilliam. There was apparently an ongoing feud between Odell and the defendant. In his August 19, 1998, statement to the police Gilliam said that the week before, Odell had stolen $10,000.00 from him and Larry White during a dice game. Gilliam later told the police that he and White had called Odell and demanded he return the money, but that he only laughed at them.

Gilliam and his friends apparently swapped cars and began following the car driven by Odell. At the corner of Hollywood Avenue and Union Street, Odell pulled into the Hollywood Liquor Bank to get drinks for the children, and a cigar for himself. There is some conflict as to whether Calhoun got out with Odell. Bryant testified Calhoun did get out. Calhoun testified he did not. Nonetheless, while Bryant waited with the children, K.B. got out from his car seat to retrieve the toy car he had gotten with his hamburger.

When Odell got back into the car and was pulling out of the parking lot, his car was hit from behind by the car containing the defendant, Larry White, and Terrance Gilliam. The defendant had armed himself with a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, Larry White had a 12-gauge pump shotgun, and Terrance Gilliam used a AK-47. Odell testified that as his car was hit, he looked back and saw the defendant getting out and firing into Odell's car with the pistol. Odell did not know the defendant's name, but recognized him as someone he knew in the neighborhood by the street name of "Red."

The defendant was quickly joined by White and Terrance Gilliam, who also began firing into the Odell car. The defendant later provided a statement to police that after he emptied his pistol, he took the AK-47, and began firing it into the Odell car.

All of the adults in the Odell car were struck by a combination of rifle and pistol bullets, and shotgun pellets. As the shooting started, K.B. apparently tried to stand up to see what all the noise was about. Bryant tried to cover up J.B., and Calhoun tried to cover up K.B. Odell testified that as the shooting continued, he realized that he was the target of the shooting, and decided to leave the car to protect his son. Odell had already been shot several times, including in his right arm. At about the time Odell was exiting the car, K.B. was struck in the back of the head by a bullet. Forensic testimony indicated that it was most likely a bullet from the AK-47 that had lost energy passing through the windshield and a car seat. As a result, the bullet entered into back of the child's head, disintegrated on impact, and did not exit. The child died almost instantly.

Odell had difficulty running because his disabled arm caused him to stumble and fall. As Odell ran, the defendant shot him twice more in the legs and hip. Odell crawled to a porch of a house on Hollywood Avenue and passed out. By the time the defendant, White, and Terrance Gilliam finished shooting, they had fired at least 30 rifle, pistol, and shotgun rounds into the Odell car. Odell was hit at least eight times, in the arms, legs, chest, head and hips. Calhoun was shot multiple times. Bryant was shot twice in the chest and in the mouth. J.B. was shot in the left arm. As the shooting ceased, and the gunmen fled, Bryant fled the car, and gave J.B. to a bystander while she attempted to find a phone.

The shooting was witnessed by several eyewitnesses. Kevin Joseph was a security officer with the Caddo Parish School Board who was driving by when the shooting started. Joseph was a veteran of Desert Storm, and recognized the various types of firearms being used in the shooting. He did not know any of the men shooting, but testified that the defendant was not the man he saw firing the AK-47. After the shooters fled, Joseph went and got two Shreveport Police Officers who arrived within minutes of the shooting.

Ryan Perkins was 13 years old at the time of the shooting. He was in a car riding down Hollywood when he saw two or three men shooting into the Odell car. Perkins testified he watched as the men shot into the car, and Odell ran in front of the car in his attempt to flee the shooting. After the shooters left, Perkins was one of the first ones to arrive at the Odell car. He saw that K.B. was dead. He also testified that he saw Calhoun inside the car, injured.

Frankie McLemore Hunter worked at the Shreve Memorial Library at the corner of Hollywood and Union. She testified she was getting out of her car and watched as the two cars collided, and a man immediately got out of the rear car and began firing a long gun at the burgundy Galant. The Galant began spinning around. Next, a gunman got out of the driver's side of the rear car and began firing a shorter gun at the Galant. As he ran out of bullets, he ran across the street, and out of sight. As Odell ran from his car, Hunter watched the gunman with the long gun start shooting at Odell. As he was doing so, Hunter saw Bryant run from the car, holding J.B. In a subsequent photo lineup, Hunter did not identify the defendant as one of the gunmen.

Eric Calhoun testified that he was in the back seat with K.B. when the shooting started. He looked back and saw the defendant standing beside the driver's side door of the rear car, firing a pistol towards them. Calhoun testified that as he attempted to cover K.B. on the floorboard, he was shot in the left elbow, causing him to lose control of the child. At that point, the child jumped up, holding onto the back of the headrest, and was hit with a bullet, and fell back onto the rear seat.

Calhoun also testified that he jumped out of the car to run, but fell onto the ground. He testified that after he fell, the defendant stood over him and demanded that he turn over. Calhoun could not turn over because of his injuries. The defendant then shot Calhoun twice, once in the side and once in the rear end. That bullet lodged an inch from his spine.

Officer Allen Crump, of the Shreveport Police Department, testified that he was at a seminar at the nearby Caddo Parish School Board office, when he was notified of the shooting. He quickly arrived at the scene and found the injured Calhoun sitting in the burgundy Galant, with his feet on the ground, and K.B. sitting in the car, dead. A young lady was holding an infant female near the car. Officer Crump secured the scene and located evidence.

Sharika Harvey lived with Terrence Gilliam on August 18, 1998. She testified that the defendant came to her home on Alma Street on August 19, 1998, stating he needed to change and wash clothes. While the defendant was in her home, the Shreveport Police came to her home looking for him. She told the officers that the defendant was in her home. She allowed the police into her home, where they found the defendant hidden in her attic. The car used in the August 18, 1998, shooting was found in her backyard, covered with a tarp. At trial, Harvey denied telling Detective Monet of the Shreveport Police Department that the defendant had also told her that he was leaving town. She also testified that a "Donald," a friend of the defendant, drove the defendant's car to her house.

Sergeant Mile Kellum, with the Shreveport Police Department testified that on August 19, 1998, he received an anonymous phone call stating that the "Red" involved in the August 18, 1998, shooting was inside a green house in the 1600 block of Alma Street. When Kellum arrived at that house, he saw a black male with a large garbage bag of items, near the trunk of a Ford Thunderbird. At trial, Kellum identified that male as the defendant. The defendant walked briskly back into the green house. Kellum testified that the lady who lived at the house (Harvey), let them into the house, where they found the defendant.

Detective Donna Lott, with the Shreveport Police Department, testified that she was the lead detective in the investigation of the August 18, 1998, shooting. She testified that she had developed leads that the defendant was a suspect in the case. She also testified that after the defendant was arrested on August 19, 1998, she read the defendant his Miranda rights from a card that the...