Court: Jury may hear tape
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Jurors should be allowed to hear all of the videotaped confession in which a Baton Rouge man admitted to firing a gun during a fatal 2007 shooting, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The court reversed a ruling by state District Judge Lou Daniel, who had noted that Richard Prosper twice tried to invoke his right to remain silent during questioning, but was ignored by an East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office detective.
Daniel ruled in December that detective Leonardo Moore should have stopped the interrogation when Prosper told him, “I don’t have anything else to say. I’m telling you the truth. I’ve got nothing else to say.”
According to court documents, Prosper continued talking to Moore after he made those statements, telling Moore that he did not know where the guns used in the shooting were located.
In Friday’s decision, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that by continuing his conversation with the detective, Prosper did not demonstrate a reasonable “desire to end all questioning.”
Prosper’s attorney, Francis “Bo” Rougeou said he was disappointed but not surprised by the Louisiana Supreme Court ruling.
“I don’t know what else it would take for the court to decide a man doesn’t want to talk anymore,” he said.
Prosper, 24, and Darrien Neal, 22, both of 10521 Avenue F, are expected to stand trial on second-degree murder in Daniel’s courtroom on July 21. They have been charged with being principals to second-degree murder in the death of Edward Simmons.
Prosecutor Darwin Miller has alleged that the men kidnapped Simmons from his residence at 217 Hillcrest Ave., beat him and then shot him repeatedly on a remote stretch of Mount Pleasant Road in Zachary.
Miller said Simmons’ bullet-riddled body was found face down with an electrical cord tied around his neck. An iron was still attached to the cord Miller said.
A third man, David Jones, 28, 3002 E. Mason Ave., No. 37, was acquitted in Simmons’ death on April 4.
