State v. Wiltz
| Decision Date | 30 December 2019 |
| Docket Number | 19-480 |
| Parties | STATE OF LOUISIANA v. RAVEN LAMAR WILTZ |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
Court composed of Sylvia R. Cooks, Elizabeth A. Pickett, and Jonathan W. Perry, Judges.
CONVICTION AFFIRMED. SENTENCE AFFIRMED AS AMENDED. REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.
Raven Lamar Wiltz
Daniel M. Landry, III
P. O. Box 3306
State of Louisiana
On July 6, 2016, two males shot and killed the victim, Desmond Boutte. The males fled the scene on foot. An eyewitness told police that the defendant, Raven Lamar Wiltz, was one of the shooters. Within thirty minutes of the shooting, both the the defendant and Jamal Lacon were apprehended in a nearby area and arrested for murder. Clothing that matched the description of one of the shooters as well as the guns used in the shooting were found in the area within which the defendant and Lacon were apprehended.
On August 17, 2016, the defendant and co-defendant, Jamal Christopher Lacon, were charged by grand jury indictment with one count of second degree murder, a violation of La.R.S. 14:30.1. A jury trial of both men began on February 25, 2019, and ended on February 28, 2019, with both the defendant and Lacon being convicted of second degree murder. On March 14, 2019, the defendant, was sentenced to life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
On April 12, 2019, the defendant filed a motion for appeal, which was granted on April 17, 2019. The defendant alleges three assignments of error - one involving the sufficiency of the evidence, one involving the trial court's failure to dismiss two jury panels, and one involving the late disclosure of evidence.
In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed by this court for errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find there is one error patent regarding the sentence imposed.
The trial court failed to impose the sentence at hard labor even though a sentence for second degree murder must be imposed at hard labor. La.R.S. 14:30.1. Thus, the sentence is illegally lenient. State v. Williams, 16-579 (La.App. 3 Cir. 4/15/17), 216 S0.3d 107. We hereby amend the sentence to order that it be served at hard labor and order the trial court make a minute entry reflecting the amendment.
The defendant contends the evidence was insufficient to prove he committed the murder of the victim in this case.
The standard of review in a case of identification is well-established:
State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676, 678 (La.1984). Furthermore, when the key issue is the defendant's identity as the perpetrator, rather than whether the crime was committed, the State is required to negate any reasonable probability of misidentification. State v. Weary, 03-3067 (La. 4/24/06), 931 So.2d 297; State v. Neal, 00-0674 (La. 6/29/01), 796 So.2d 649. Positive identification by only one witness is sufficient to support a conviction. Weary, 03-3067 at p. 18, 931 So.2d at 311; Neal, 00-0674 at p. 11, 796 So.2d at 658; State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305, 1311 (La.1988). It is the factfinder who weighs the respective credibilities of the witnesses, and this court will generally not second-guess those determinations. State v. Bright, 98-0398, p. 22 (La. 4/11/00), 776 So.2d 1134, 1147.
State v. Hughes, 05-992, pp. 5-6 (La. 11/29/06), 943 So.2d 1047, 1051 (alteration in original).
The first witness to testify at trial was Chelsey Anderson. Around 6:00 p.m. on the day at issue, Ms. Anderson drove her friend, Kelsea Bonner, to the Martin Luther King Center (Center) so that Ms. Bonner could get her car. According to Ms. Anderson, Ms. Bonner's boyfriend, Keelan, was at the Center playing basketball with his friend, Desmond. When Ms. Anderson pulled up, Desmond and Keelan walked up to her vehicle. According to Ms. Anderson, Desmond sat in the back of the car, and Keelan leaned over on the passenger-side window. While Desmond and Keelan were talking with Ms. Anderson and Ms. Bonner, two "boys" walked up from the side of the building and started shooting. Ms. Anderson described the "boys" as black and as being regular height. One of the boys, Ms. Anderson testified, had "dreads." Ms. Anderson testified that one of the individuals started shooting first and then the other individual started shooting. Ms. Anderson stated that she never looked into the faces of the shooters. When asked if she remembered what the shooters were wearing, Ms. Anderson replied,
The call Ms. Anderson made to 911 was played for the jury and introduced as State's Exhibit 3. The caller reported a shooting at the Center. The caller also stated that the shooters had taken off running. In the recording, the caller described one of the shooters as having a black rag around his head and as wearing black shorts. When asked if there were one or two shooters, the caller stated there were two shooters, and both of them shot. The caller also mentioned one of the shooters was wearing a white shirt. Although something was described as "red," it is difficult to decipher what the caller said was "red."
At trial, Ms. Anderson agreed that when she was talking to the 911 operator, she identified one of the shooters as wearing a red cap and one as having "dreads." The following colloquy took place regarding a photograph marked by the state for identification purposes:
Ms. Anderson agreed that she told police she did not want to identify the two individuals and did not want to testify. When asked why she did not want to testify, Ms. Anderson replied:
On cross-examination, Ms. Anderson agreed that she was arrested by the United States Marshals in Texas and extradited to Louisiana to testify. Whenasked if she felt pressure from the state to put "Raven's" name into this case, Ms. Anderson replied:
Ms. Anderson agreed that after the shooting, she was asked to look at a photo lineup but failed to identify either the defendant or Lacon. On re-direct, the following colloquy took place regarding the photo lineup:
Kelsea Bonner testified that Ms. Anderson drove her to the Center on the night in question. Ms. Bonner's boyfriend, Keelan, was playing basketball at the Center with Desmond Boutte. When Ms. Bonner and Ms. Anderson drove up,both Desmond and Keelan walked up to the car and talked to the women. Ms. Bonner testified that she saw "some guys come out a alley." Ms. Bonner described the guys as "black," but did not offer any description as to the clothes they were wearing. Ms. Bonner saw both individuals with guns in their possession as they were approaching. Although Desmond tried to get away, shots were fired, and Desmond fell. Ms. Bonner did not remember if the shots were fired at the same time or separately. After the shots were fired, the two people ran through the...
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