State of Louisiana v. Noel Deon Garner

── State of Louisiana v. Noel Deon Garner ── Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal Date: May 20, 2026 Author: PITMAN Category: General Judgment rendered May 20, 2026. Application for rehearing may be filed within the delay allowed by Art. 922, La. C. Cr. P. No. 56,829-KA COURT OF APPEAL SECOND CIRCUIT STATE OF LOUISIANA ***** STATE OF LOUISIANA Appellee versus NOEL DEON GARNER Appellant ***** Appealed from the First Judicial District Court for the Parish of Caddo, Louisiana Trial Court No. 387,323 Honorable Donald E. Hathaway, Jr., Judge ***** LOUISIANA APPEALS AND WRIT Counsel for Appellant SERVICE By: Remy V. Starns Justin Caine Harrell JAMES E. STEWART, SR. Counsel for Appellee District Attorney CRISTOPHER BOWMAN JASON W. WALTMAN ERIC M. WHITEHEAD Assistant District Attorneys ***** Before PITMAN, THOMPSON, and MARCOTTE, JJ. PITMAN, C. J. The jury convicted Defendant Noel Deon Garner of second degree murder. The trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Defendant appeals his conviction. For the following reasons, we affirm his conviction and sentence. FACTS On May 26, 2022, the grand jury filed an indictment charging Defendant with one count of second degree murder. It alleged that on or about January 20, 2022, Defendant committed the second degree murder of Jermond Lamar Houston. Defendant entered a plea of not guilty. A jury trial began on April 22, 2025. Jacqueline Lee testified that on the night of January 19, 2022, and into the early morning of January 20, 2022, she was working as a cashier at the Shell station on West 70th Street in Shreveport. The store was equipped with security cameras; Lee identified video recordings taken from those cameras on January 19 and 20, 2022, and the jury viewed that footage.1 Lee testified that Houston was armed when he 1 The security camera footage from the exterior of the Shell station shows Houston walk inside at 11:50 p.m. on January 19, 2022; the magazine of the firearm in his right pants pocket is visible. A white Grand Marquis arrived outside the store at 11:51, and Defendant exited from the front passenger seat at 11:52 and entered the store. At 11:53, Houston exited the store while speaking on his cellphone and also spoke to other customers outside the store. He reentered the store at 11:55. At 11:58, both Defendant and Houston exited the store—Defendant walked to the vehicle and sat in the front passenger seat while Houston walked in the opposite direction. Houston reentered the store at 11:59, and Defendant exited the vehicle at 11:59 and reentered the store at 12:00 a.m. Seconds later the glass door to the store shattered and Houston fell with his upper body outside and his lower body inside. Defendant exited the store and stood over Houston while shooting him. Houston kicked his legs in the air and moved his body inside. Defendant then walked to the vehicle, and it drove away. These events all happened before 12:01 a.m. on January 20, 2022. A first responder arrived at 12:06 a.m. The security camera footage from the cash register area of the Shell station shows Defendant and Houston entering and exiting the store at the same times shown in the footage from the exterior camera. At 11:55 p.m., Defendant was holding an ICEE cup. entered the store. Sh