State v. Bridges

628 A.2d 270 (1993)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D attended a birthday party with some fifty to sixty young people for sixteen-year-old Cheryl Smith. D had an argument with another guest, Andy Strickland. D left the party, yelling angrily into the basement that he would soon return with his 'boys.' As he drove past the house on his way to Trenton, D again shouted, 'I'm going back to Trenton to get my niggers.' D got Bing and Rolle to return to the party with him because he expected a confrontation. The two co-defendants agreed to accompany Bridges to the party in Roebling. The trio briefly stopped at Bing's house. Ds remained in the car while the co-defendants entered the house. They told D that they had 'some stuff for the guys' at the party. D understood that to mean that Bing and Rolle had retrieved either guns or knives. A few seconds later, they told D that they were carrying guns, 'so they'll stay back.' According to D, the guns were necessary 'to intimidate the majority of the boys at the party.' The trio entered the basement, and D began to argue again with Strickland. D said he would not leave the house until he 'fuck(ed) somebody up.' John Raspberry, a friend of Strickland, interceded and agreed to fight. A crowd then gathered to watch D and Raspberry begin their fight in the street in front of Smith's house. Bing shouted to the crowd, 'Nobody jump in,' and Rolle warned, 'Nobody here is Superman.' A witness testified that the statement by Rolle was meant to imply that nobody in the crowd was bullet-proof. D was able to get on top of Raspberry, at which point either Strickland or another member of the crowd pulled D off and struck him in the head. At the same time, a member of the crowd struck Bing in the face. Bing immediately drew a .22 caliber revolver, and Rolle pulled out a .32 caliber revolver. Rolle pointed the gun at the crowd and then fired it into the air. Numerous shots were then fired into the crowd as the onlookers tried to flee. Shawn Lockley was shot in the chest and died at the scene; Paul Suszynski was injured by a bullet in the shoulder. D hid the guns and then hid them again. All three fled the state. Eventually, they were arrested, and the guns were recovered. D was charged with conspiracy to commit the crimes of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, conspiracy to possess a weapon without a permit, and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault along with murder, the lesser crime of aggravated manslaughter, and possession of a defaced firearm 'by being legally accountable for the conduct of a co-conspirator whose acts are the natural and probable consequences of the conspiracy. D was convicted of second-degree conspiracy for the three counts charged, murder, third-degree aggravated assault, fourth-degree aggravated assault, two counts of possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, and two counts of possession of a handgun without a permit. D appealed. The Appellate Division affirmed the second-degree conspiracy conviction but reversed D's other convictions and remanded the matter for retrial. P appealed.