Background
While riding in a pedicab in New Orleans on October 30, 2020, Donnell L. Hassell drew a gun and fired at a marked police vehicle occupied by Officers Trevor Abney and Brooke Duncan. A bullet struck Abney in the head. Hassell fled, and police later found his gun concealed behind a dumpster several blocks away. Abney died in April 2023 from complications associated with the gunshot wound.
A jury convicted Hassell of the second-degree murder of Abney, the attempted second-degree murders of Abney and Duncan, illegal use of a weapon during a crime of violence, and obstruction of justice. Hassell, who pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, argued that interactions between his prescribed medication and marijuana placed him in a state of delirium. The district court imposed a life sentence for murder and additional terms of imprisonment on the remaining counts.
The Court’s Holding
The Fourth Circuit held that the evidence was sufficient to support Hassell’s convictions apart from the attempted-murder conviction involving Abney. Surveillance footage and witness testimony showed Hassell aiming directly at the police vehicle and firing, permitting the jury to find specific intent to kill. The jury also reasonably rejected his insanity and intoxication defenses based on evidence that he behaved purposefully before and after the shooting, including fleeing and concealing the gun.
The court further held that the evidence supported causation for Abney’s murder because the forensic pathologist testified that the lodged bullet contributed to his death. It also upheld the illegal-use and obstruction convictions and rejected Hassell’s challenges to the trial court’s evidentiary rulings and the omission of contemporaneous bench-conference transcripts.
The court vacated Hassell’s conviction and sentence for attempting to murder Abney because punishment for both that offense and Abney’s completed murder violated double-jeopardy protections. It affirmed the remaining convictions and remanded for the district court to rule on Hassell’s motion to reconsider sentence.
Key Takeaways
- A defendant cannot be separately punished for attempting to murder a victim and for the completed murder arising from the same conduct.
- A jury may reject expert testimony supporting insanity or intoxication when surveillance footage and lay testimony show deliberate, goal-directed behavior.
- The State established homicide causation through testimony that the gunshot wound was a contributing cause or substantial factor in the victim’s later death.
- Missing bench-conference transcripts did not require reversal where counsel later preserved material objections on the record and the defendant showed no specific prejudice.
Why It Matters
The decision illustrates the deference Louisiana appellate courts give juries when competing expert and lay evidence bears on insanity, intoxication, intent, and causation. It also confirms that a substantial delay between a shooting and the victim’s death does not defeat a murder conviction when competent medical evidence connects the wound to the death.
At the same time, the ruling enforces double-jeopardy limits when prosecutors obtain convictions for both an attempted homicide and the completed homicide of the same victim based on the same attack.