State v. Tucker

• Citation: 170 So.3d 394
• Decision Date: 08 July 2015
• Docket Number: 49,822–KA.,49,950–KA
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Lamondre Markes TUCKER, Appellant. State of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Alicia Ann Tucker, Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana (US)

170 So.3d 394

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee

v.Lamondre Markes TUCKER, Appellant.

State of Louisiana, Appellee

v.Alicia Ann Tucker, Appellant.

49,950–KA

49,822–KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

July 8, 2015.

Louisiana Appellate Project, by Douglas L. Harville, for Appellant Alicia Ann Tucker.

The Capital Appeals Project, by Cecelia Trenticosta, Elizabeth B. Jordan, for Appellant Lamondre Markes Tucker.

Dale G. Cox, District Attorney, William J. Edwards, Jordan B. Bird, Jessica D. Cassidy, Tommy J. Johnson, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.

Before DREW, MOORE and PITMAN, JJ.

Opinion

MOORE, J.

In these two consolidated appeals, the defendants, Lamondre Tucker and Alicia Tucker, appeal their convictions for conspiracy to commit jury tampering, a violation of La. R.S. 14:26 and La. R.S. 14:129. Alicia Tucker appeals her sentence of 15 years. For the following reasons, we affirm the convictions and sentences.

Facts

Lamondre Markes Tucker and his mother, Alicia Ann Tucker, were indicted on the charge of conspiracy to commit jury tampering during jury selection in the first degree murder trial of Lamondre. The defendants contacted a member of the jury venire, Latisha Griffin, in order to influence her testimony regarding the death penalty.

Lamondre Tucker was charged with first degree murder. Jury selection began on March 14, 2011. On March 17, 2011, Latisha Griffin was questioned as a potential juror during the death penalty qualification phase of jury selection. Griffin, age 22, testified that she knew Lamondre and his mother, Alicia Tucker, from school. She testified that she was opposed to the death penalty. “I don't feel like anyone should take anyone's life with the death penalty,” she said. The only circumstance in which she would consider the death penalty, she said, was if the defendant could be released on parole and pose a danger to the public.

Lamondre recognized Griffin during her voir dire testimony. That night, on March 17, 2011, he telephoned his mother, Alicia Tucker, from the Caddo Correctional Center. To prevent the call being traced to him, Lamondre used the PIN number of another inmate to make the call.¹ Nevertheless, Lamondre was observed on video surveillance placing the phone call and the call was recorded and admitted at trial as Exhibit S–1.

During the phone call, Lamondre told Alicia that he knew one of the potential jurors from school. He identified her as Latisha. As he proceeded to tell his mother what he wanted her to do, he asked her if she knew “Sha-sha's” (Sh'Taraus Hall) number.

Alicia connected Sh'Taraus to the call so that Lamondre could speak directly to her via a three-way call. Sh'Taraus Hall was Lamondre's cousin and also a friend of Latisha Griffin. When Sh'Taraus was on the line, Lamondre asked her if she still spoke to Latisha. He explained that Latisha was a potential juror in his case, and he wanted to inform her about the jury selection process. Both he and Alicia explained that if one juror voted “not guilty,” then the death penalty cannot be imposed. Lamondre asked Sh'Taraus to add Griffin to the three-way call so that he could explain the jury selection process and “see what's up” with Griffin. He said, “I'm really trying to see where she at.”

Hall testified at trial that she connected Griffin to the conversation, but that she could not understand everything that Lamondre had said. Prior to adding Griffin to the call, Lamondre confirmed that his mother was still present on the line.

Griffin testified that she received a phone call from Hall, Lamondre, and Alicia on the night of March 17, 2011. Griffin was aware that she was not supposed to speak with anyone about the case. Lamondre told Griffin that the prosecution was attempting to “trick” the jurors. He told her that the state would try to exclude her from the jury if she said no to the death penalty, as she had during voir dire on March 17, 2011. Lamondre suggested that Griffin should change her testimony on the following day. He told her to testify that, although she knew him from a “football game or just something simple,” her knowledge of him would not affect her making a decision in his case. During the conversation, he told Griffin that he had access to the jury questionnaire forms and that the potential jurors were not aware that he had access to their personal information, saying “like the one that be talking all crazy, they don't know I got the papers.” According to Sh'Taraus Hall, Lamondre stated that he knew where all of the potential jurors lived. She heard him tell Griffin that he did not want her to do something that she did not want to do. Griffin and Hall were then disconnected from the call.

Alicia told Lamondre to let Griffin decide what to do, and Lamondre agreed that he did not want Griffin to get into trouble. At the end of the phone call, Alicia indicated that she was coming to visit him that night.

Hall testified that Alicia Tucker called her approximately five minutes after the call above ended on the night of March 17, 2011. Griffin was still on the phone with Hall and included in this second conversation. Alicia told Griffin that she did not want Griffin to do anything that she did not want to do. Hall testified that, on March 18, 2011, she received text messages from Alicia Tucker. Alicia instructed Hall to remove Griffin's number from her phone.

During voir dire on March 18, 2011, Griffin testified that, “under certain circumstances,” she could be “for” the death penalty. She stated that she could consider imposing a life sentence in a case of first degree murder where the victim was pregnant. Eventually Griffin informed the court that she had been contacted by Lamondre on the night of March 17, 2011. She was not seated as a juror in the first degree murder trial of Lamondre Tucker. At the jury tampering trial, she testified that she did not really feel that way and only changed her testimony because of the phone call from the defendant.

Griffin testified that she was afraid after the phone call because she had not heard from Lamondre in a long time and because he indicated that he had access to the potential jurors' personal information. She feared Alicia Tucker, who was not incarcerated. Due to her fear, Griffin was escorted by police officers when she returned to school following this incident.

Griffin testified that she attempted to speak with the jury coordinator about the phone call before her voir dire testimony continued on March 18, 2011. Stacy Winston, the jury coordinator, testified that Griffin asked to speak with her privately, and that she appeared upset. Griffin was directed to speak with the bailiff, Deputy Darrell Smith, about any concerns. Deputy Smith testified that he was approached by Griffin on March 18, 2011, outside of the courtroom. Griffin told him that she lied and needed to tell the truth to the court and attorneys. Deputy Smith informed Judge Ramona Emanuel that Griffin needed to speak with her regarding individual voir dire and possible false statements.

On April 20, 2011, Lamondre Tucker and Alicia Tucker were indicted on the charge of conspiracy to commit jury tampering. Lamondre and Alicia pled not guilty. Several indictments were filed on January 24, 2014 charging each defendant with conspiracy to commit jury tampering on or about March 17, 2011.

Lamondre's trial began on February 3, 2014, with the selection of a 12–member jury. Latisha Griffin, Sh'Taraus Hall, Stacy Winston, Deputy Darrell Smith, and Deputy Gloria Evans testified on behalf of the state, providing the basis of the facts recited above. Kowanna French was the only witness to testify on behalf of the defense. French was a member of the jury venire in the first degree murder trial of Lamondre Tucker, but was not selected as a juror. French testified that she knew Alexis Tucker, Lamondre Tucker's sister, but that she was not contacted by any member of the Tucker family regarding the trial. On February 4, 2014, Lamondre was found guilty of conspiracy to commit jury tampering by a unanimous jury verdict.

On February 27, 2014, Lamondre filed a motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal and a motion for new trial. Lamondre argued that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain a conviction for conspiracy to commit jury tampering. Specifically, Lamondre argued that Griffin was not a “juror” in the first degree murder trial. Lamondre also argued that the jury venire in this case did not represent a fair cross-section of the community because African–Americans and African–American males were an underrepresented group. He asserted that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a subpoena of the jury venire records of Caddo Parish and in failing to quash the jury venire. Lamondre also argued that the trial court erred in admitting the alleged hearsay statements of Alicia Tucker, in failing to allow the introduction of the complete voir dire testimony of Latisha Griffin, and in excluding relevant expert and witness testimony. The motions were denied by the trial court, after a hearing on February 27, 2014, on March 26, 2014. On March 31, 2014, Lamondre was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment at hard labor.

Alicia Tucker was tried by jury on August 4–6, 2014. She was convicted as charged by a vote of 11 to 1. She filed motions for post-verdict judgment of acquittal, a presentence investigation, and for a new trial. The district court denied the motions at the sentencing hearing, and after delays were waived, sentenced Alicia to 15 years at hard labor with credit for time served. A motion to reconsider sentence was denied. This appeal followed.

Because the facts and issues raised are intertwined, we consolidated the two appeals for appellate review.

Discussion

Lamondre urges 26 assignments of error, including sufficiency of evidence claims, errors related to a motion to subpoena prosecutors, a defense expert disclosure, a subpoena for capital trial defense attorneys, a motion for a...