State of Louisiana v. Darrione Kentrell Bell

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT

22-111
Consolidated with 22-109, 22-110, 22-112

STATE OF LOUISIANA

VERSUS

DARRIONE KENTRELL BELL

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APPEAL FROM THE
SEVENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
PARISH OF CONCORDIA, NO. 19-3539C
(consolidated with 19-3539A, 19-3539B, 19-3540)
HONORABLE JOHN C. REEVES, JUDGE

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CHARLES G. FITZGERALD
JUDGE

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Court composed of Sylvia R. Cooks, Chief Judge, and John E. Conery and Charles
G. Fitzgerald, Judges.

CONVICTION AND SENTENCE AFFIRMED.

Edward K. Bauman
Louisiana Appellate Project
P.O. Box 1641
Lake Charles, Louisiana 70602
(337) 491-0570
Counsel for Defendant/Appellant:
Darrione Kentrell Bell

Bradley R. Burget
District Attorney
Joseph A. Boothe
Assistant District Attorney
4001 Carter Street, Suite 9
Vidalia, Louisiana 71373
(318) 336-5526
Counsel for Appellee:
State of Louisiana

FITZGERALD, Judge.

Defendant, Darrione Kentrell Bell, appeals his conviction and sentence for the

first degree murder of Ellis Hooper.

SUMMARY OF FACTS

Defendant was convicted of murdering three people. First, Rosie Hooper, an

eighty-five-year-old woman, who was beaten and stabbed despite being bedridden.

Second, her sixty-five-year-old son, Ellis Hooper, who was stabbed repeatedly in the

neck while in bed. And third, Rosie’s sixty-seven-year-old son, Johnny Lee Hooper,

who was found beaten and stabbed in the kitchen of their home.

Defendant was also convicted of the aggravated burglary of the home of

Charles Lyles, a seventy-nine-year-old man who lived near the Hooper residence.

Defendant entered Charles’s home armed with a lead pipe. Defendant fled when

Charles brandished a rifle.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In February 2020, a grand jury indicted Defendant under La.R.S. 14:30 for

the first degree murder of Rosie Hooper. The trial court docket number for this

charge is 19-3539A. The grand jury simultaneously charged Defendant with two

more counts of first degree murder for the intentional killing of Rosie’s two sons,

Johnny and Ellis. The trial court docket number for Johnny’s murder is 19-3539B.

And the docket number for Ellis’s murder is 19-3539C. In addition, Defendant was

indicted under La.R.S. 14:60 for aggravated burglary. The trial court docket number

for this charge is 19-3540.

Seven months later, in September 2020, the State filed a motion to consolidate

the three murder charges. That motion was immediately granted. Five weeks after

that, Defendant filed a motion to suppress the blood evidence obtained during his

warrantless arrest. Two days later, the State filed a motion to consolidate the

aggravated burglary charge with the murder charges. And a few days after that, a

contradictory hearing was held on Defendant’s motion to suppress and the State’s

second motion to consolidate. Defendant’s motion was denied; the State’s motion

was granted.

Ultimately, on October 15, 2020, a twelve-person jury unanimously found

Defendant guilty as charged on each count. Two weeks later, on October 28, 2020,

the trial court sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment without benefit of

probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for each murder. The trial court also

imposed the maximum sentence of thirty years for the aggravated burglary. The

sentences were ordered to run consecutively.

Thereafter, on December 17, 2020, Defendant filed a motion to reconsider

sentence, which the trial court denied that same day. Defendant now appeals his

conviction and sentence for the first degree murder of Ellis Hooper.1

LAW AND ANALYSIS

I. Errors Patent

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, we review appeals for errors

patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find no errors patent.

1
Defendant has also appealed his convictions and sentences for murdering Ellis’s mother,
Rosie Hooper, and his brother, Johnny Lee Hooper, along with the conviction and sentence for
aggravated burglary. Those appeals are addressed in three separate opinions. Specifically, our
opinion in appellate docket number 22-109 reviews Defendant’s conviction and sentence for the
first degree murder of Rosie Hooper. Our opinion in appellate docket number 22-110 reviews
Defendant’s conviction and sentence for the first degree murder of Johnny Lee Hooper. And our
opinion in appellate docket number 22-112 reviews Defendant’s conviction and sentence for
aggravated burglary.

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II. Defendant’s Assignments of Error

Defendant raises the same three assignments of error in this docket number as

he raised in in State v. Bell, 22-109, specifically (1) that the trial court erred in

denying his motion to suppress evidence seized as a result of his warrantless arrest,

(2) that the trial court erred in not ordering a mental health evaluation or presentence

investigation report, and (3) that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request a

mental health evaluation or presentence investigation report and for failing to object

to the introduction of crime-scene photographs at trial.

Thus, for the reasons set forth in Bell, 22-109, Defendant’s conviction and

sentence are affirmed for the first degree murder of Ellis Hooper.

DISPOSITION

Darrione Kentrell Bell’s conviction and sentence are affirmed for the first

degree murder of Ellis Hooper.

CONVICTION AND SENTENCE AFFIRMED.

THIS OPINION IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION.
Uniform Rules, Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-16.3

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