Donald Aaron was charged by grand jury indictment with manslaughter in violation of La. R.S. 14:31. By a 10-2 vote, a jury convicted him of negligent homicide. Prior to trial, the state moved to impose Aaron's sentence under La.C.Cr.P. art. 893.3, a firearm enhancement statute. Specifically, the state alleged that Aaron actually discharged a firearm during the commission of manslaughter. The trial court imposed a five-year hard labor sentence for the negligent homicide conviction with enhancement under La.C.Cr.P. art. 893.3. Aaron appeals, raising five assignments of error. We affirm the conviction, vacate the sentence, and remand for resentencing.
Facts
At 1:30 p.m. on April 23, 2005, Aaron called Caddo Parish 911 and reported that he had shot a man near his Shreveport home. Shreveport Police Department (SPD) Corporal Diana Coleman, the first officer to respond to the scene, saw two cars parked, nose to tail, off of the road. The cars were stopped about 200 feet from the home where Aaron resides with his father and approximately 100 feet down the road from the driveway of the home. The cars were slightly off the road, partly on Aaron's property. The home is the last residence located on a narrow dead end residential street, some distance from the neighboring residences.
The lead car was a Nissan Maxima in which Ronald Jamison was still seated when police arrived. Jamison had been fatally shot seven times. The windows of both front doors in the Maxima had been shattered. Jamison's right hand was resting in his lap, holding a beer bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag; he had nothing in his left hand. His car, although running, was in neutral; his right foot was on the accelerator. No weapons were found in Jamison's car, although he had two screwdrivers between his seat and the console.
The other car at the scene had been driven by Aaron. After the shooting, Aaron left his handgun on the front passenger seat of his vehicle, a Honda Accord. Photos show that the shift knob on the gear shift lever of Aaron's vehicle was missing.
