Lorenzo Conner was arrested in the 2600 block of First Street Oct. 27, 2011, a block away from the spot where 25-year-old Nelson Smith was gunned down at Magnolia and Philip streets in Central City. Police spotted him running, and took him down after a brief foot chase in the middle of the block.
At the start of Conner’s second-degree murder trial Tuesday (April 16), defense attorney Danny Engelberg said Conner wasn’t running to evade police. He was simply trying to get away from the gunfire, which he heard as he was walking to his house on Josephine Street three blocks away, Engelberg said.
Assistant District Attorney Sarah Dawkins said two New Orleans police officers were on patrol at Clara and Philip Streets the night of Oct. 27 when they heard gunshots around 6:30 p.m. They drove toward the gunfire, Dawkins said, and saw Conner running.
Before he was apprehended, Dawkins said the officers saw Conner throw a revolver toward a fence. The gun hit the fence and fell to the ground, she said. Ballistics tests show that weapon was the gun used to kill Smith, she said.
Engelberg denied Conner had a gun. And physical evidence, he said, would show Conner did not kill Smith.
He said Conner’s DNA and fingerprints weren’t found on the gun.
Conner’s DNA also was not present on a bicycle police found near the shooting scene, which witnesses said Smith’s killer rode up on before he fired the fatal shots, Engelberg said. Conner’s DNA also wasn’t on a shirt found at the shooting scene, which Engelberg said was left there by the gunman.
A gunshot residue test came back negative, he added.
NOPD Det. Timothy Bender, who was the lead homicide detective on the case in 2011, testified Tuesday the officer who performed the gunshot residue test on Conner at NOPD headquarters shook her head “no” after she did the test, indicating the results were negative.
However, Bender said when he looked at the test results about 10 minutes later, he noticed blue particles indicating gunshot residue was present. Bender said he didn’t document that in his report, and he wasn’t able to secure funding to perform additional gunshot residue tests.
Conner was indicted in Smith’s slaying in March 2012, and he was charged with obstruction of justice and with being a felon in possession of a firearm in addition to second-degree murder. He has previous felony drug convictions, which prevent his from possessing a firearm.
Conner, 28, was 21 at the time of his arrest. Court records show that since his indictment, he has had several defense attorneys, and several assistant district attorneys on his case. He was in a state mental hospital for more than a year between 2013 and 2015, according to court records.
Criminal District Judge Daryl Derbigny found Conner incompetent in September 2013, and ordered he be sent to the state mental hospital for treatment based on the recommendation of court-appointed sanity commission doctors. Derbigny found him competent in April 2015.
While in custody of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals in 2015, authorities said Conner escaped from a transport van taking him to court for a hearing. He was arrested in Marrero three days later.
Conner’s reported escape and other crimes he’s been charged with since his 2011 arrest are not expected to come up at trial this week.
via nola.comhttps://www.nola.com
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