State v. Wooten

• Decision Date: 13 February 2018
• Docket Number: No. 51,738–KA,51,738–KA
• Citation: 244 So.3d 1216
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee v. Calvin Rashad WOOTEN, Appellant
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

244 So.3d 1216

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee

v.Calvin Rashad WOOTEN, Appellant

No. 51,738–KA

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

Judgment rendered February 13, 2018

LOUISIANA APPELLATE PROJECT By: Edward K. Bauman, Lake Charles, Counsel for Appellant

BRIAN E. FRAZIER, District Attorney Counsel for Appellee

CHARLES L. COOK, Assistant District Attorney

Before WILLIAMS, GARRETT, and BLEICH (Ad Hoc ), JJ.

WILLIAMS, J.

The defendant, Calvin Rashad Wooten, was charged by bill of information with armed robbery, in violation of La. R.S. 14:64. Following a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty of the responsive verdict of attempted armed robbery. He was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

On September 14, 2014, at approximately 2:30 p.m., a young black male entered the home of Tommie Cockerham, an elderly woman, and demanded money. The intruder was wearing a knit cap and his face was covered with a red bandana, exposing only his eyes. During the defendant's trial, Ms. Cockerham testified that she was sitting in her recliner, quilting, when her front door "was jerked open by a young black man," who was brandishing a shotgun and wearing dark clothes, a hat and a bandana. Ms. Cockerham stated:

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He came straight to me, hollering, I want your money. And he got to me and he put the gun right on my forehead, and he kept screaming that at me and I told him I didn't have but four dollars [$4.00], and he was welcome to it. But he didn't accept it. And so he said, what else you got in here? And I said, I don't have anything else. And he said, where's your car keys? And I pointed to my door. I have, just had a nail, had 'em hanging on it. And I pointed to 'em, and he backed over there and got my car keys. Put 'em in his pocket and then he stood by my chair and he put that gun on my chest. And he started to uh, look toward my dining room and my kitchen area and uh, I watched him until I saw him turn his head long enough that he was you know, that I could—I had already seen my phone was right there by me. He hadn't seen it. And I started to dial nine-one-one [9–1–1] and when he heard, heard it, well he came back and that's when he grabbed my right hand and uh, that had the phone in it, and he pulled me out of my recliner chair. It was in recline position. He pulled me up out of it, and I heard the bones in my arm and that's the last of that I remember.

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Ms. Cockerham testified that she lost consciousness after being pulled out of her recliner. She stated that when she awoke, she noticed that her arm was "broke[n] so bad that it was just hanging." She also stated that, after a struggle, she managed to get up and she eventually reached the telephone to call for help.¹

When describing the intruder, Ms. Cockerham stated, "All I could see was the barrel of that gun and, and his eyes." During Ms. Cockerham's testimony, the prosecutor held up a red bandana and asked Ms. Cockerham if she recognized it. She replied, "He had a red bandana on his head, on his mouth." The prosecutor asked, "Does this look similar to the bandana wor[n] by the person that broke in[to] your home, and did those horrific acts that you previously described to the jury?" Ms. Cockerham replied, "Yes, sir." However, Ms. Cockerham did not identify the defendant as the intruder during her direct examination.

On cross-examination, Ms. Cockerham testified that she had lived at her residence for at least 17 years and that the defendant and his brother had lived down the street from her since they were "young boys." She stated that she had never had a problem with either of the Wooten brothers. Counsel for the defendant then questioned whether Ms. Cockerham had identified the defendant as the intruder to law enforcement. In response, Ms. Cockerham testified that she believed the defendant was the intruder. The colloquy was as follows:

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Q. Is it true that, that you were unable to identify Calvin Wooten or his brother as the individual that attacked you?

A. I could tell his, by his eyes. He has eyes like his daddy and his grandma.

Q. So, so you're saying now that you know it was Calvin Wooten.

A. I don't, I did not know but it, when I thought of that, those eyes, well that was, that was all I needed.

Q. Do you recall talking to [Detective] Tony Childress after the incident?

A. I remember him being there, yes.

Q. Do you recall the conversation that you had?

A. I don't.

Q. Do you recall telling Detective Childress that you didn't think it was the Wooten Boys?

A. I don't remember, remember telling him that.

Q. Is it possible that you did tell him that?

A. Not that I know of. I did tell my sister I hoped to God it wasn't Calvin's boy.²

Q. Do you recall at any time telling Detective Childress that the—your attacker was too short to be one of the [Wooten] boys?

A. I might [have] said that but it's because he was bent over with a gun on me.

Q. And up until today, you, you've never positively identified Calvin Wooten as the suspect, have you?

A. I know it was him.

Q. You know it was him? How do you know it was him?

A. His eyes.

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Defense counsel further questioned Ms. Cockerham with regard to whether she identified the defendant as the intruder to Det. Childress when he visited her home the second time. The following exchange took place:

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Q. Do you remember talking to [Det.] Childress then?

A. Yes, I do.

Q. Okay, and at that point, during the conversation, you didn't identify Calvin Wooten, did you?

A. I told you what I told you.

Q. Okay, but you never identified him as a suspect.

A. I never identified him but I knew that's who it was.

Q. But you never told Detective Childress that's who you thought it was.

A. Yes, I did.

* * *

Thereafter, Ms. Cockerham admitted that she did not identify the defendant as the intruder from a photographic lineup presented by Det. Childress. She explained that the photographs were "too grainy" to "tell a whole lot about 'em." Defense counsel presented Ms. Cockerham with closeup photographs of the eyes of the persons depicted in the photographic lineup and asked her if she recalled looking at the pictures. She responded that she did not view photographs of only eyes; she saw pictures of "full faces" of the individuals.

Further, Ms. Cockerham testified that she could not conclusively identify the jeans and shirt that had been shown to her by the police officers as the clothing worn by the intruder. She stated that she only knew that the clothing was dark, like the clothing the intruder had worn. She also stated that the police officers had shown her a red bandana that "looked like" the same red bandana worn by the intruder.

Robert Pearson, a Deputy State Fire Marshall, was working as the Assistant Chief of Police for the Town of Columbia on the day of the incident. Deputy Pearson testified as follows: he received a call from dispatch about a possible home invasion or armed robbery by a black male; he proceeded to Ms. Cockerham's house; upon arrival, he met up with Deputy Keith Wilkins, Deputy John Cummings and his K–9, who were canvassing the area looking for suspects matching the description of the intruder; while canvassing the area, he and Deputy Wilkins approached the Wooten home, which was located approximately 200–300 yards from Ms. Cockerham's home; as he approached the home, he saw the defendant, Calvin Rashad Wooten, looking out of a window; shortly thereafter, the defendant and his brother, Denzel Wooten,³ exited the house and met the deputies on the front porch; he and Deputy Wilkins decided to detain the Wooten brothers because they matched the description of the intruder: "young, black male," and he wanted to detain them until the detective in charge, Tony Childress, arrived to question them; he decided that "safety" required him to secure the Wooten brothers with handcuffs and have them wait in the patrol car; he advised the brothers of their Miranda rights, placed them in handcuffs, patted them down and placed them in the backseat of the patrol car to wait for Det. Childress; approximately three days later, he assisted the Caldwell Parish Sheriff's Office with the execution of a search warrant at the Wooten residence and surrounding property; while searching the property, he found a garbage bag sitting behind a tree next to a pond; the garbage bag "looked out of place"; and he opened the bag to find various items, including a pair of black Levi's jeans, a red bandana, a knit cap and a Crown Royal bag containing .410 shotgun shells.

Det. Tony Childress testified as follows: he went to Ms. Cockerham's home as soon as he was notified of the home intrusion; when he arrived at the home, he observed that Ms. Cockerham was badly injured, with possibly two broken arms and various cuts and bruises; he stayed with Ms. Cockerham for approximately 15–20 minutes until an ambulance transported her to the hospital; Ms. Cockerham described the incident to him; she informed him that she had lost consciousness and did not know when the intruder had exited her house; Ms. Cockerham told him that the keys to her house and car were missing; the keys were never recovered; while investigating the scene, he observed fresh footprints next to Ms. Cockerham's front door, in the carport near her car and in the dirt road in front of her house; one of the footprints found in the road matched the footprints found by the front door and carport; the footprint did not match the shoes worn by the defendant or his brother on the day of the home intrusion; a second footprint was found in the dirt road but it did not match the footprints found on Ms. Cockerham's property; the second footprint matched the shoes the defendant was wearing that day; it was possible to use the dirt road to get from the Wooten house to Ms. Cockerham's house; it was also possible to get from the Wooten house to the Cockerham house through the wooded area between the homes; it would...