Opinion ID: 151087
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Leak's Testimony

Text: Leak pled guilty to rape and robbery charges stemming from the Little People's Workshop crimes but was not yet sentenced at the time of Hall's trial. Later, Leak was sentenced to life imprisonment. Leak testified that he encountered Defendant Hall on the morning of October 15, 1999. Hall, who was an acquaintance and former classmate of Leak's, approached Leak with a proposition to get Leak into a gang. Defendant Hall told Leak that, to be admitted, Leak would need to rob the Little People's Workshop. Later that afternoon, about 4:00 p.m., Hall again approached Leak and suggested they immediately rob the day care center. Defendant Hall gave Leak a .38 revolver and instructed Leak to enter the building, give two false names, and see how the place looked on the inside. Defendant Hall had a 9mm handgun. Leak entered and returned outside, and Hall told Leak to rob the day care center while Hall went around the side of the building. Leak went inside, drew his gun, and had the victims tie one another up. Leak then let Defendant Hall into the building and spoke with Hall to get more directions. Franklin arrived, and Leak robbed her. Leak searched the day care center for money. Leak wanted to leave, but Hall told Leak to go back and rape Franklin. Leak did so and returned to Hall. Leak said Hall's name, and Hall said, don't say that name. Hall told him to use the name Joseph Grady and to go back and rape Rush. [13] Leak went back to rape Rush, but she told him she had a disease, so he did not rape her. Leak used the name Joseph Grady in front of the victims and told them that Joseph Grady lived on Troy Highway. Leak went outside with Hall, who searched Franklin's car and then gave Franklin's keys back to Leak. Leak went back inside for a while and threw Franklin's keys back on the ground. Leak estimated he was at the Little People's Workshop for about an hour and fifteen minutes. After he left, Leak gave Hall the money and guns back. Leak kept Franklin's rings. When Leak was arrested, he was taken to the police station, waived his rights, admitted his involvement, and told police that Defendant Hall was with him. On cross-examination, Leak testified that the robbery was part of the initiation into the Bloods gang. Leak admitted that although he said on direct that he was nervous inside the Little People's Workshop because it was the first time he had committed a robbery, Leak previously had burglarized a woman's home and attacked her with a hammer. Leak testified he went into the kitchen only once during the robbery, and he did not go through the cabinets or drawers. Leak said he never took the money from Rivers's wallet and that he took only about fifty dollars from the scene, although Rivers testified that Leak took eleven or twelve hundred dollars from his wallet.