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State v. Desilva12/9/1998
ted she "hung out" in the area, but she claimed she did not know the shooter's identity. After some questioning, she admitted she recognized the shooter as a juvenile nicknamed "Cocoa". The detective advised her she was under investigation for the shooting, advised her of her rights, and transported her to the homicide office.
Once there, the officers ran the nickname through the police computer and identified "Cocoa" as Michele Benjamin. The defendant further volunteered "Cocoa's" address, which coincided with Ms. Benjamin's address. The detectives compiled a photographic lineup containing Ms. Benjamin's picture, which the defendant subsequently chose as portraying the female who shot Hecker. While at the homicide office, the defendant told the officers that she and Ms. Benjamin had met Hecker in the French Quarter the night before, and Hecker had asked Ms. Benjamin for a "date". She stated Hecker was walking them home when Ms. Benjamin pulled a gun and tried to rob Hecker. She stated Ms. Benjamin fired the gun, and Hecker grabbed the gun. The gun then fired a second time, striking Hecker in the side. The defendant insisted she did not know Ms. Benjamin was carrying a gun or that she was going to try to rob Hecker. The defendant refused, however, to make a formal statement.
Ms. Benjamin surrendered to the police later that day and gave a formal statement that was introduced at trial. In her statement, Ms. Benjamin insisted the shooting was accidental. She testified she met with the defendant at a gameroom in the French Quarter at approximately 11:30 the evening before the shooting. She and the defendant joined a group of friends in the Quarter, but the others left around 1:30 a.m., and the two girls continued to roam the Quarter, sharing a beer. They eventually met the victim, who told them he would walk them home. Ms. Benjamin stated that as they were walking, the victim told them his wife was in Germany, that he had no companion in New Orleans, and that he was looking for a "date." Ms. Benjamin insisted she refused to be his date, and she dropped back behind the victim and the defendant. As they neared the corner of Marais and St. Philip, the victim produced a gun, and it discharged. She stated she was afraid he would shoot her, and she grabbed the gun. She stated she and the victim struggled over the gun, and she kicked him in the groin. She stated she was able to turn the gun toward the victim, and the gun discharged again. She stated the victim "bodyslammed" her to the ground. She stated she got up and ran from the scene. She denied taking anything from the victim, and she insisted no one discussed money. She also insisted neither she nor the defendant had a gun. When asked about the defendant's purported statement where she indicated Ms. Benjamin produced a gun and tried to rob the victim, Ms. Benjamin insisted the defendant's statements were lies. She stated she decided to surrender to the police when a friend told her she had seen a story on television about the defendant's arrest and the officers' search for a sixteen-year-old who had been in the defendant's company.
The detectives also took a statement at the scene from Mary Miller, a woman who lived near the scene of the shooting. Ms. Miller stated that she heard a man speaking loudly to a woman, and then she heard two gunshots. She stated she looked out her window and saw a man lying in the middle of the street, a woman fleeing toward Rampart Street, and another woman standing by Armstrong Park whose participation in the shooting was unclear.
The gun used in the shooting could only be traced to September of 1973, when it arrived in New Orleans in a store on Howard Avenue. No records of its whereabouts after t
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