State v. Williams

• Decision Date: 14 May 2014
• Docket Number: No. 2013–KA–0283.,2013–KA–0283.
• Citation: 137 So.3d 832
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Jabari WILLIAMS.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

137 So.3d 832

STATE of Louisiana

v.Jabari WILLIAMS.

No. 2013–KA–0283.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana,Fourth Circuit.

April 23, 2014.

Rehearing Denied May 14, 2014.

Leon A. Cannizzaro, Jr., District Attorney, Kyle Daly, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, LA, for Appellee/State of Louisiana.

Michael Admirand, Rachel Lindner, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant/Appellant.

(Court composed of Judge MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge ROLAND L. BELSOME, Judge ROSEMARY LEDET).

ROSEMARY LEDET, Judge.

This is a criminal appeal. The defendant, Jabari Williams, appeals his conviction and sentence for second degree murder. Finding no reversible error, we affirm. We also deny the Motion to Designate Attached Exhibits as Part of the Record on Appeal filed by Mr. Williams.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On August 11, 2011, the State indicted Mr. Williams for second degree murder of Selvin Gonzales. On August 18, 2011, Mr. Williams pled not guilty.

On January 26, 2012, the trial court denied Mr. Williams' motions to suppress the evidence and identification.

On May 22, 2012, Mr. Williams filed a motion for a competency hearing. Following the May 31, 2012 hearing, Mr. Williams was found competent to stand trial.¹ Both this court ² and the Louisiana Supreme Court ³ denied Mr. Williams' writ applications seeking review of that ruling.

On June 15, 2012, Mr. Williams filed a motion to continue trial on the ground that a material witness he intended to call was unavailable for trial. The trial court denied the motion. On June 18, 2012, Mr. Williams again moved for a continuance of trial or for permission to call his expert witness out of order and prior to the State's case. The trial court denied the motion ⁴ and began the trial. Following the three-day trial, the jury found Mr. Williams guilty as charged.

On September 27, 2012, Mr. Williams filed a motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal, new trial, or both. On September 28, 2012, he filed other post-trial motions. The trial court denied all of his post-trial motions, with the exception of the motion for appeal, and sentenced him to life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. This timely appeal followed.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

In the early morning hours of April 10, 2011, Selvin Gonzales, a Honduran national, who lived in New Orleans for about five years, was shot and killed near his home in the 600 block of South Salcedo Street.

Jorge Rodriguez, Mr. Gonzales' housemate, testified that shortly before the shooting, Mr. Gonzales and their other housemate, Carlos Sabillion, left their residence on foot to purchase soda and beer from a neighborhood gas station. About twenty minutes later, Mr. Rodriguez heard gun shots. He stepped outside and saw by Mr. Sabillion, who told him Mr. Gonzales had been shot. Mr. Rodriguez found the victim lying in the street. He called 911, mistakenly reporting the incident as a drive-by shooting. Mr. Rodriguez identified his voice on the recording of that call, and he explained that he had assumed the shooting was a drive-by because his neighborhood had many such occurrences. By the time the police arrived, the victim was dead.

Mr. Sabillion, with the assistance of an interpreter, testified that he and the victim had been friends for about two years before the victim's death. He, the victim, and Jorge Rodriguez were housemates on Baudin Street at the time of the shooting. He testified that at approximately 2:00 a.m. on the day of the shooting, he and the victim walked to the gas station on the corner of Tulane Avenue and Jefferson Davis Parkway. While he and the victim were paying for their purchases at the outside window of the gas station, Mr. Williams, who was wearing blue jeans and a white shirt, and another black male, approached the victim. Mr. Williams solicited a drug purchase by the victim. The victim handed Mr. Williams money in exchange for drugs. Mr. Sabillion cautioned the victim not to flash his money on the street. He also advised the victim to return the drugs and get his money back, which the victim did.

Mr. Sabillion and the victim then walked from the gas station in the direction of D'Hemecourt Street, and Mr. Williams and the other black male walked in the opposite direction. However, when Mr. Sabillion and the victim turned toward South Salcedo Street, the victim observed Mr. Williams and the other black male following them. When Mr. Sabillion turned to look, Mr. Williams was very close to them; and he was armed with a gun. As Mr. Williams pointed his gun at the victim's forehead, Mr. Sabillion heard the victim plead for his life and tell Mr. Williams to take his money instead. Mr. Sabillion ran to their residence, and as he did so, he heard gunshots. He told Mr. Rodriguez about the shooting, and Mr. Rodriguez called the police. Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Sabillion found the victim lying in the street, still alive. By the time the ambulance arrived, the victim was dead.

New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”) Detective Andrew Packer testified that he was the lead homicide investigator on this case. He and Detective Jeffrey Vappie responded to the scene of the homicide within about ten minutes of the 911 call. The area had already been roped off by the responding officers, and the crime lab technicians had already photographed the scene and collected evidence, including seven .380 caliber and nine millimeter bullet casings. Detective Packer noted that the victim was lying in the street suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds to his hand and chest. Pursuant to his conversation with Mr. Rodriguez on the night of the shooting, Detective Packer retrieved the surveillance video from the gas station located on the corner of Tulane Avenue and Jefferson Davis Parkway. The video, dated April 10, 2011 and timed 3:00 a.m., shows the victim speaking with Mr. Williams and then the two engaged in what appeared to be an argument.

On April 13, 2011, Detective Packer spoke to Mr. Sabillion at his residence. Mr. Rodriguez translated their conversation. Detective Packer showed Mr. Sabillion the gas station surveillance video in which he identified himself and the victim. He also pointed out Mr. Williams as the shooter. In a subsequent interview with Mr. Sabillion, which was translated by a bi-lingual NOPD officer, Detective Packer showed Mr. Sabillion a freeze frame photo of Mr. Williams in the gas station video. From that photo, Mr. Sabillion identified Mr. Williams as the shooter.⁵

On cross-examination, Mr. Sabillion testified that he had been robbed in the past and that on each occasion the perpetratorwas a black male. Although he stated he finds it “difficult to distinguish” one black person from another, he stated that he was certain of his identification of Mr. Williams as the shooter because he was so close to him at the time the shooting occurred. He admitted that he was in this country illegally. He testified that the police said they would help him if he helped catch the shooter.⁶ He told the police he was not assisting them for the purpose of immigration papers but rather to catch his friend's killer.

Detective Packer released a portion of the gas station video to the news media on April 19, 2011, for help in identifying the then-unknown perpetrator. Detective Packer testified that at approximately 1:00 a.m. on April 20, 2011, Mr. Williams voluntarily came to police headquarters. Detectives Packer and Vappie escorted Mr. Williams to an interview room and offered him food, drink and use of the bathroom, all of which he declined. Shortly thereafter, Detective Packer began videotaping the discussions he and Detective Vappie had with Mr. Williams.⁷

Initially, Mr. Williams told Detectives Packer and Vappie that he had seen himself on television, and that he wanted to set the record straight by denying that he shot the victim. Detective Packer told Mr. Williams, though untrue, that the police had a video of him shooting the victim. Mr. Williams admitted that he was carrying a .380 caliber weapon the night of the murder. ⁸ Eventually, Mr. Williams admitted that he killed the victim, but he claimed the shooting was in self-defense. At the conclusion of Mr. Williams' statement, Detective Packer secured a warrant for Mr. Williams' arrest and escorted him to Orleans Parish Prison.

Detective Packer informed the court that a search warrant executed at Mr. Williams' residence on South Scott Street did not produce any evidence. Detective Packer also noted that the police were never able to identify the second black male depicted in the gas station surveillance video. Detective Packer determined that the victim was unarmed at the time of the shooting and his money was missing.

Detective Vappie, a fifteen-year NOPD veteran, testified that he assisted Detective Packer at the homicide scene in this case. Pursuant to Detective Packer's direction, he viewed the gas station surveillance tape. He recognized the victim in the tape by his clothing. He notified Detective Packer, who relocated to the gas station and viewed the video. Detective Vappie testified that on April 20, 2011, he was at police headquarters when Mr. Williams came in to give a statement to Detective Packer. He sat in on the pre-interview and the main interview and participated in asking questions. That was his last involvement with the case.

Detective Vappie testified that he was instructed in the Reid Interrogation Technique and trained by the Department of Justice in interview and interrogation procedures. As part of that training, the detective acknowledged that it is an acceptable tactic to tell either falsehoods or half-truths to a possible perpetrator.

Dr. Richard Tracy, who was stipulated to be an expert in the field of forensic pathology, testified that he conducted the autopsy on the victim's body on April 10, 2011. He opined that the victim suffered two fatal wounds to the front torso, which severed the spine causing instant paralysis and...