State v. Littleton

• Decision Date: 04 December 2019
• Docket Number: NO. 18-KA-354,18-KA-354
• Citation: 285 So.3d 1181
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Adam LITTLETON
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

285 So.3d 1181

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Adam LITTLETON

NO. 18-KA-354

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

December 04, 2019
Rehearing Denied January 2, 2020

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF/APPELLEE, STATE OF LOUISIANA, Paul D. Connick, Jr., Terry M. Boudreaux, Andrea F. Long, Kellie M. Rish, Megan L. Gorman, Gretna

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT, ADAM LITTLETON, Paul J. Barker, New Orleans, Kristen Legendre

Panel composed of Judges Fredericka Homberg Wicker, Marc E. Johnson, and John J. Molaison, Jr.

WICKER, J.

285 So.3d 1188

This is an appeal of the conviction of defendant, Adam Littleton, for second-degree murder after a jury trial on July 28, 2017. On November 9, 2017, defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. Defendant also appeals the trial court's admission of expert testimony in the field of human trafficking and evidence of other acts of the defendant's involvement in human trafficking under Louisiana Code of Evidence art. 404(b). As the trial court previously denied defendant's motions for new trial based on alleged sequestration violations by a State witness and Brady violations by the State, he appeals the denial of those motions.

For the reasons set forth below, we find no merit to the allegations and affirm the decisions of the trial court.

FACTS

On June 10, 2015, at 4:57 a.m., emergency operators were alerted to an object, possibly a human body, lying in the center lane of westbound Interstate 10. Louisiana State Police and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office (JPSO) found a trail of blood, body parts, sandals, a cellular phone, clothing, a hair piece, and a watch from the Veterans on-ramp to the Power exit. After analyzing the victim's fingerprints and cellular phone, the police identified the body as nineteen-year-old Jasilas Wright. After speaking to the victim's friends and family members and searching the home of the victim's mother, Nedra Wright, defendant, Adam Littleton, was identified as a suspect.

Testimony at trial revealed that the victim had known defendant for less than a month. Defendant had traveled to New Orleans from Texas on May 14, 2015, with Quinicsha Johnson, a prostitute. While staying at the Monteleone Hotel, defendant met the victim through her work as a dancer at Stiletto's, a Bourbon Street strip club.¹ Within a few days, the victim left New Orleans with defendant, telling family members that she was going to dance in Texas with some girls from her work. Defendant and the victim thereafter stayed in hotels in Ft. Worth, Dallas, Austin, and Grand Prairie, Texas. In the beginning of June, the victim and defendant drove back to New Orleans in a gray Camry belonging to defendant's brother, Michael Adams.

Upon their return to New Orleans, the victim and defendant stayed with the victim's mother, Ms. Wright, at her home located at 3009 Live Oak Street. The victim's family believed defendant was the victim's boyfriend. According to her family, when she returned home, the victim appeared to have lost weight; she told her grandmother, Carole Bernard, that she was not going to leave New Orleans or her nine-month-old son again. After returning to New Orleans, the victim resumed working at Stiletto's. Defendant drove the victim to and from work, and spent time with Ms. Wright while the victim worked.

On the night of June 6, 2015, the victim went out with her friend from high school, Demonyan Cooper, and spent the night with another man. Two days later on June 8, 2015, the victim and defendant went to Walmart's Woodforest bank where defendant opened a bank account and deposited ten dollars.² On the evening of June 9,

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2015, the victim went to work. While she worked, defendant met Journae King, a former dancer, on Bourbon Street, and they exchanged text messages until 2:40 a.m. the following morning of June 10, 2015. Defendant's cell phone records revealed that he was in downtown New Orleans at 4:20 a.m., thereafter near Loyola Drive in Kenner from 5:00 a.m. to 5:05 a.m.

On June 10, 2015, Ms. Wright realized that her daughter had not come home from work, although both her and defendant's bags were still in the house. At approximately 11:00 a.m., Journae King called Ms. Wright asking if she had seen her daughter. After speaking with Ms. King, Ms. Wright called Ms. Bernard, her mother and the victim's grandmother. Meanwhile, defendant made phone calls to Ms. Johnson, Ms. Cooper, Ms. King, as well as his brother and sister, crying and telling them that the victim had jumped out of his car on the highway. Ms. Cooper went to Ms. Bernard's house and put all phone calls from defendant on speakerphone in the presence of Ms. Bernard and officers from New Orleans Police Department (NOPD).³

Cell phone records show defendant continued to drive west to Dallas, Texas arriving there between 9:45 and 10:15 p.m. at the apartment of Stephanie Walker, his brother, Michael Adams' girlfriend. After hearing defendant's story, Ms. Walker confirmed the details on the internet and called the Louisiana State Police from her workplace. On June 12, 2015, Ms. Walker spoke with Trooper First Class Gus Bethea at which point she reported to the trooper that she had overheard defendant telling Mr. Adams that he could not call the police because he was scared that he was responsible. According to Ms. Walker, defendant said he had forced the victim into the car and told her the only way she was going to get out was if she jumped. Ms. Walker also overheard defendant say that he saw, in his rearview mirror, two cars run over the victim and that he stopped at the next exit to throw her belongings out of the car. Louisiana State Police and JPSO deputies arrived in Dallas, searched the Camry, and interviewed Mr. Adams and Ms. Walker. The search of the vehicle revealed defendant's bank statements from Bank of America and paperwork from victim's visit to Texas Health Resources center on May 23, 2015 at 2:00 a.m. for a cervical sprain.

The coroner, Dr. Marianne Eserman, determined that the cause of the victim's death was multiple blunt force injuries, and based on law enforcement reports, the manner of death was homicide.⁴ Louisiana State Police obtained two arrest warrants for defendant: one for second degree kidnapping in Orleans Parish and another for second degree murder in Jefferson Parish. Defendant turned himself in to the police in Shreveport, and he was escorted to Orleans Parish.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY/STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On May 12, 2016, defendant was charged with second degree murder in violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. On November 21, 2016, the State filed a Notice of Intent to Introduce Evidence of Other Acts under La. Code of Evidence art. 404(b). The State

285 So.3d 1190

sought to introduce evidence of nine other acts proving that defendant was engaging in a prostitution enterprise to provide insight into the victim's relationship with defendant. These acts were discovered by law enforcement after speaking to the victim's family and friends and searching the victim and defendant's phone records, Instagram accounts, email accounts, and bank records. The State argued that the evidence was relevant to the essential element that the victim was not a willing occupant of the defendant's vehicle. After a hearing of the contested motion on January 11, 2017, the trial court granted the introduction of evidence over defense objection.

On May 30, 2017, the State filed a Notice of Intent to offer Lieutenant William Hare, the Commander of JPSO vice unit, as an expert in the field of human trafficking. On July 18, 2017, the State filed a motion for a pre-trial hearing to qualify Lieutenant (Lt.) Hare as an expert, which defense counsel opposed. At the July 24, 2017 hearing was held on, and the trial court found that based on his training, education, and experience in the field, Lt. Hare was qualified testify as an expert, specifically in the culture, language, advertising, and arranging of prostitution; transportation and locale of prostitution; and recruiting and control methods of pimps.

The case thereafter proceeded to trial before a twelve-person jury on July 24, 2017. At the trial, as a result of the admission of Other Acts evidence, the jury heard testimony from Trooper Bethea that provocative photographs of the victim, as well as the phone numbers of the victim and defendant, were posted on a classified website called "Backpage.com" with a section for advertisements for sexual services. The account associated with the postings was registered to defendant's email address, "rolathegreat@gmail.com." During the same dates as the postings, email confirmations from travel websites were sent to defendant's email account for hotel reservations in corresponding cities.⁵ Defendant's Instagram account "Chulonamesip" and "Dakota3457" included posts boasting about being a pimp.⁶

Detective Lincoln testified that records from Backpage.com contained postings of the victim and Ms. Johnson, using their own and generic photographs. After reviewing the victim's phone records, investigators discovered text messages between the victim and defendant relating to fees, locations, hotel rooms, and...