State v. Thompson
| Decision Date | 02 March 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 455-KA., No. 39, No. 454-KA |
| Citation | 894 So.2d 1268 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Larry THOMPSON, Sr., Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Louisiana Appellate Project, by Karen Godail Arena, Paula Corley Marx, Lafayette, William R. Campbell, Jr., New Orleans, for Appellant.
Schuyler Marvin, District Attorney, Joe M. Lawrence, Assistant District Attorney, for Appellee.
Before PEATROSS, DREW & LOLLEY, JJ.
Larry Thompson, Sr. ("Defendant") was convicted of aggravated burglary and attempted first-degree murder. Defendant was sentenced, on separate occasions, to 30 years at hard labor for the aggravated burglary charge, and 50 years at hard labor for the attempted first-degree murder charge. The two sentences are to be served consecutively. Defendant now appeals, specifying four assignments of error. For the reasons set forth herein, Defendant's convictions and sentences are affirmed.
On the morning of March 13, 2003, Defendant, his son Larry Thompson, Jr. ("Junior"), Tung Nguyen ("Nguyen"), Nicholas B. Gentry ("Nicholas"), Anthony R. Gentry ("Anthony"), and Regan1 Gatti ("Gatti"), robbed an armored car in Shreveport of approximately $780,000. The robbers met at an apartment complex and loaded the stolen money and a large cache of guns and bullet-proof vests into a minivan and made their escape.
The gang was spotted getting into the green minivan, and a BOLO alert was issued for the vehicle. Mark Sharbono, of the Shreveport Police Department, spotted and began trailing a green van matching the alert, heading east on I-220, near the Shreveport-Blanchard Highway exit. As Officer Sharbono followed, the van sped up and slowed down in an obvious attempt to lose the officer. As they entered Bossier Parish, Officer Sharbono pulled over the van.
Inside the van, Gatti armed himself with an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle with a 60-round magazine and asked Defendant what to do. Defendant responded, "shoot the mother f* *ker." As Officer Sharbono turned on his lights, the back window of the van exploded with gunfire from a semi-automatic weapon. Several rounds hit Officer Sharbono's patrol car, including one that pierced the dash, ricocheted off the steering wheel and struck him in the arm. After being shot, the officer was unable to continue pursuit of the van.2
Officer Dwayne Cortez, who was in the patrol car behind Officer Sharbono, continued to pursue the assailants after they fired at Officer Sharbono, the chase continuing at speeds of over 90 miles per hour. The pursuit of the van continued through Bossier, on to Benton Road and ended in the Green Acres subdivision.
As law enforcement descended on the subdivision, the van pulled into the carport of a home on Wesley Circle, owned by John Stanley Palmer ("Mr. Palmer"). Mr. Palmer testified that he and his wife were in their kitchen when they heard a loud noise in the carport. Mr. Palmer stated that he opened the door to his house and saw a green minivan in his carport and men wearing ski masks getting out of it. Mr. Palmer quickly shut the door and dead bolted it. As the men began kicking at the door, Mr. Palmer testified that he called 911, armed himself with a .22 caliber pistol and began shooting at the door. The bullets did not penetrate the metal door; however, the firing did cause the intruders to retreat.3 Junior was later found hiding in a tree nearby and was arrested. Nicholas was arrested in the Palmers' backyard. Nguyen was found hiding in a neighbor's bushes and was also apprehended. Anthony was arrested in a nearby backyard, and Gatti broke into a house across the street and was later arrested.4 The police recovered the stolen money and several of the guns used in the robbery from the garage of the house next door to the Palmers' house.
Arthur Cyr lived on North Waverly Street, one block behind Wesley Circle. Mr. Cyr testified that he was sitting at his kitchen table, drinking coffee, when he saw Defendant walk from his back yard, down the driveway and towards the street. Mr. Cyr went to his front door and called to Defendant, asking him if he was looking for something. He stated that Defendant gave no reply and kept walking down the street and into another yard. Mr. Cyr then called the police and gave them the location and the description of Defendant.5
At about the same time, Officer William C. Lott, of the Bossier Parish Police Department, arrived at the scene to aid in the search of the suspects. Officer Lott noticed Defendant walking briskly down North Waverly Street. As Officer Lott passed by him, Defendant abruptly stopped and reached down as if he were pulling up weeds from a lawn. As Officer Lott continued, he noticed in his mirror that Defendant started walking again, but stopped a second time to pick up weeds in another yard, when the officer stopped his patrol car.
As Officer Lott backed his vehicle up, Defendant began walking towards him. Defendant then identified himself to the officer who ordered him to the ground and cuffed him immediately. Officer Lott placed Defendant in the custody of Officer Todd Hylbert, who read the suspect his Miranda rights and placed him in his patrol car. As he did, Officer Hylbert testified to hearing gunshots from a nearby yard.
Officer Hylbert took cover beside his car; and, as he did so, he heard a cell phone ringing in Defendant's pocket. He retrieved the phone and saw on the caller ID that a "Reagan" (Gatti) was calling. Officer Hylbert initially ignored the phone, until he heard a dispatch that one of the suspects had been shot and called 911, trying to surrender, but was disconnected. Officer Hylbert hit redial, and when the call was answered, he asked who was speaking. Gatti identified himself and asked if "Larry" (Defendant) was alive. Officer Hylbert told him that Defendant was secure and in his patrol car. Officer Hylbert was then able to negotiate Gatti's surrender to the police.
About 20 minutes later, Officer Hylbert received a radio call that the police were attempting to determine how many of the robbers had been captured. He asked Defendant to help so nobody else would get hurt. Officer Hylbert testified that Defendant responded that "there were maybe six or seven" other members and that the robbery had not gone as planned.
Officer Hylbert took Defendant to the police station where he was questioned by Detective Tom Oster, with the Violent Crimes Unit of the Shreveport Police Department.6 Detective Oster summarized a portion of Defendant's statement as follows:
My son, Neal, wouldn't be here today if I didn't ask him to be ... He's not a bad person like I am. [The police] got all the facts. You know what happened out there. There's no reason for me to bury myself and make a statement to you.
The police found weapons, bullet resistant vests, ski masks and the bags of money stolen in the robbery near the van on Wesley Circle. No fingerprints were recovered from the weapons. DNA testing was conducted on the ski masks and the results on one mask could not rule out the presence of DNA from Defendant.7
Defendant and the other co-perpetrators were originally charged in one indictment for the charges of aggravated flight from an officer, in violation of La. R.S. 14:108.1(C), and aggravated burglary, in violation of La. R.S. 14:60. The other co-defendants were also charged with various other crimes in this same indictment. All of the defendants initially pled not guilty.
Defendant's trial was set to begin on March 8, 2004.8 On February 6, 2004, the State filed a Bill of Information under a second docket number (124,940) charging Defendant with attempted first-degree murder of Officer Sharbono, under La. R.S. 14:27 and La. R.S. 14:30(A)(2), and conspiracy to commit attempted first-degree murder of Officer Sharbono, under La. R.S. 14:26-27 and La. R.S. 14:30(A)(2). At a hearing on February 27, 2004, the trial court granted the State's motion to consolidate the two cases for trial. Defendant objected, arguing that the late filing of new charges, just prior to trial, provided inadequate time to prepare for trial. The trial court denied Defendant's objection.
Defendant's jury trial began on March 8, 2004. A portion of the voir dire is at issue in this appeal. During initial questioning, prospective juror Geraldine Myers-Greer expressed some confusion in how to apply the legal burden of proof. The trial court provided Ms. Myers-Greer several hypothetical examples to clarify the legal issues and allowed the State and Defendant the opportunity to question her at length.
Afterwards, Defendant challenged Ms. Myers-Greer for cause, arguing that her answers indicated that she was unable to understand and apply the required legal burden of proof. The trial court found that, although she had some initial confusion, subsequent questioning established that she understood how to apply the legal burden of proof appropriately. Defendant then exercised a peremptory challenge on Ms. Myers-Greer. The record indicates that Defendant used all of his peremptory challenges.
During the proceedings, Defendant moved for a mistrial as to the charge of aggravated flight from an officer and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder based on defects in the language in the Indictment and Bill of Information. The trial court granted Defendant's motion, finding that the State improperly pled the offenses in those two counts.9 Nguyen testified on behalf of the State. He testified regarding the preparation and execution of the armed robbery, as well as the failed escape attempt. Nguyen indicated that Defendant was the mastermind behind the robbery. He also testified that, as they were escaping, Defendant ordered Gatti to shoot at the police car trailing them. Nguyen admitted that he did not tell the police about Defendant's statement and did not mention it in his testimony against Defendant in the federal trial of charges stemming from the armed robbery.
The jury found D...
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