Case Name: STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Corbie L. WILLIAMS and Helen Bernice Williams, Defendants-Appellants
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1984-02-01
Citations: 447 So. 2d 495
Docket Number: No. CR83-389
Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Corbie L. WILLIAMS and Helen Bernice Williams, Defendants-Appellants.
Judges: Before DOMENGEAUX, DOUCET and LABORDE, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 447
Pages: 495–504

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Corbie L. WILLIAMS and Helen Bernice Williams, Defendants-Appellants.
No. CR83-389.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.
Feb. 1, 1984.
Rehearing Granted March 7, 1984.
On Rehearing April 9, 1984.
Writ Denied June 1, 1984.
Daryl Gold, F. Clay Tillman, Jr., Lees-ville, for defendants-appellants.
William E. Tilley, Dist. Atty., and Edwin L. Cabra, Asst. Dist. Atty., Leesville, for plaintiff-appellee.
Before DOMENGEAUX, DOUCET and LABORDE, JJ.

Opinion:
LABORDE, Judge.
Defendants, Corbie L. Williams, Sr., and Helen Bernice Williams, were charged by bill of information with production, manufacture, and/or cultivation of marijuana, a violation of LSA-R.S. 40:966(A) and (B). Defendants pleaded not guilty and received a joint trial by jury. Helen Bernice Williams was found guilty of possession of marijuana, LSA-R.S. 40:966(D) and was sentenced to serve six months in the parish prison, and to pay a fine of $500.00 plus court costs. Corbie L. Williams, Sr., was found guilty of cultivation of marijuana and was sentenced to serve seven years. Defendants appeal their respective convictions and sentences by raising sixteen assignments of error. We affirm.
FACTS
On July 15, 1982, Sheriff Frank Howard received confidential information that marijuana was being cultivated near the defendants' residence in the Burr Ferry Community, west of Leesville. He ordered the area surrounding the defendants' home placed under surveillance by sheriff's deputies. The deputies observed several patches of marijuana growing in the thick brush behind the defendants' house. The plants were approximately twelve feet tall. Obvious trials led from the marijuana patches back to the defendants' house some 100-300 yards away. These marijuana patches were actually located on land owned by Mr. John Ford. Mr. Ford gave his consent for the land to be searched.
On July 23, Deputy Archie Martin observed Mr. Williams walk to the middle of one of the patches, bend over for a moment, and walk away. The deputies then found fertilizer on the spot where the defendant had been standing.
On July 24, the officers obtained a search warrant for the area surrounding the defendants' residence. At eight o'clock a.m. on July 25, the officers conducted a search of the area around the residence, which revealed the cultivated marijuana plants. The marijuana was then cut from the patches, bundled and inventoried. The officers also found two bags of dry marijuana near a greenhouse on the defendants' property. Subsequent to his arrest, Mr. Williams stated to Deputy Martin (whom he had known for 18 years), "Yes, you old gray-headed devil, you got me this time, but it was good while it lasted." Samples from each bundle of plants were taken by Mr. Francis Touchet of the Southwest Louisiana Crime Lab and were found to be marijuana.
ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 1-6
The defendants assert that the trial court erred in denying the defendants' challenges for cause of jurors Harold Lackey, Harry Anthony Taylor, Margaret Martin Funder-burk, Donald Lynn Karamales, and Eugene P. Trahan.
It appears that at the time the defendants objected to denial of these challenges for cause they had not yet exhausted their peremptory challenges. Clearly, a defendant cannot complain of a ruling refusing to sustain a challenge for cause made by him, unless his peremptory challenges have been exhausted before the completion of the panel. LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 800; State v. Sugar, 408 So.2d 1329 (La.1982). This assignment is therefore without merit.
Defendant further asserts that the trial court erred in refusing challenges for cause of prospective jurors Pat Bordelon and Eugene P. Trahan since they demonstrated a prejudice against drug offenses and drug related offenses.
It is well settled that the trial court is vested with broad discretion in ruling on challenges for cause and that this ruling will not be disturbed absent a showing of abuse of that discretion. State v. Smith, 430 So.2d 31 (La.1983); State v. Sugar, supra; State v. Heard, 408 So.2d 1247 (La.1982). Moreover, a challenge for cause is not warranted where a prospective juror has volunteered an opinion seemingly prejudicial to the defense, but subsequently upon further inquiry has demonstrated the ability and willingness to decide the case impartially according to the law and evidence. State v. Eastin, 419 So.2d 933 (La.1982); State v. Heard, supra; State v. Bates, 397 So.2d 1331 (La.1981).
Despite Mrs. Bordelon's and Mr. Trahan's apprehension that their prejudice against drug offenders might not yield to the law and evidence, they appeared to demonstrate upon further inquiry the ability and willingness to decide the case impartially based upon the law and the evidence. Therefore, these assignments are without merit.
ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 7, 8, 11 AND 15
Defendants argue that the trial court erred in failing to grant a mistrial in the following instances:
On direct examination by the state, Deputy Willard Horton testified:
Q. All right. Let's talk first of all about Mr. Corbie Williams himself, what involvement, if any, did you have that day in the arrest of Mr. Corbie Williams?
A. I advised him he was under arrest for cultivation with the intent to distribute and also I read him his rights at that time.
(Emphasis Added)
On direct examination by the state, Deputy Larry Smith testified:
Q. Now, do you recall from your personal knowledge today, how many actual bundles of plants that you secured in garden number one? Bundles as such?
A. There was twenty-three bundles of twenty-five and seven bundles of fifties from garden one.
Defendants contend that these comments constituted prejudicial reference to other crimes alleged to have been committed by the defendants, and thus that the trial court should have granted a mistrial under LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 770(2). With regard to Smith's comment, the defendants contend that, since the state set forth a lengthy foundation for the seventeen bundles of plants earlier admitted into evidence, reference by the officer to an additional thirteen bundles created in the mind of the jury a clear, if indirect, reference to another crime as to which evidence was inadmissable.
The Supreme Court has recognized that a police officer's unsolicited, unresponsive reference to another crime by the defendant is not the comment of a "court official" under LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 770. Absent a showing of a pattern of unresponsive answers or improper intent by the police or prosecution, such comments would not fall within the purview of LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 771. State v. Green, 409 So.2d 563 (La.1982); State v. Goods, 403 So.2d 1205 (La.1981). Moreover, art. 771 leaves the decision as to whether to grant a mistrial or admonition to the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Allen, 431 So.2d 808 (La.App. 4th Cir.1983).
In the instant case, these answers do not appear to be solicited by or in response to improper questioning by the prosecutor, nor do they appear to be part of a pattern of unresponsive answers or improper intent by the police or the prosecutor. Thus, the responses do not seem to fall within the purview of LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 770-771. Nevertheless, out of an abundance of caution, the trial court admonished the jury to disregard these responses. There does not appear to be an abuse of discretion in this ruling.
Defendant further contends that a mistrial should have been granted when Deputy Willard Horton testified that Mr. Williams chose to remain silent and not give any statements at the time of arrest.
Defendant cites the case of State v. Montoya, 340 So.2d 557 (La.1976) for the proposition that it is reversible error for the prosecution, during direct examination of a police officer, to elicit testimony regarding the defendant's silence at the time of arrest, since the defendant did not take the stand and may not be impeached by evidence of his silence at the time of his arrest.
In this instance, it does not appear that the prosecutor intended to draw an improper reference to Mr. Williams' silence; instead, the reference appeared to be an inadvertent, unresponsive reference during a description of how the arrest was conducted. Mistrial is a drastic remedy and, absent a showing of substantial prejudice depriving the defendant of a fair trial, it is unwarranted. State v. Allen, supra. There appears to be no abuse of discretion in the trial court's ruling.
During closing arguments the prosecutor stated:
"I'm going to conclude by simply saying this, I'd like to know how many times you have heard someone say or you have said yourself, why don't the police do something about the drug problem in Vernon Parish. I'm going to submit to you that the Sheriff's Office has done their work. They have done it professionally, and they have done it properly. And, I submit to you now, it's your turn. The evidence is there, it's as clear as it can be, and, ."
Defendant asserts that these comments were beyond the scope of closing argument and constitute reversible error.
It is well settled that LSA-C. Cr.P. art. 774 restricts closing arguments in criminal cases to the evidence, conclusions that may be drawn therefrom, and to applicable law. State v. Messer, 408 So.2d 1354 (La.1982). The prosecutor may not turn closing arguments into a plebiscite on crime. State v. Sugar, supra.
Nonetheless, in order for an improper argument by a prosecutor to constitute reversible error, it must be shown that the remarks influenced the jury and contributed to the verdict. State v. Barrow, 410 So.2d 1070, cert. denied, — U.S. -, 103 S.Ct. 115, 74 L.Ed.2d 101 (1982).
It does not appear that the remarks were so prejudicial as to influence the jury and contribute to the verdict so as to warrant the drastic remedy of a mistrial. Thus, there is no abuse of discretion in the trial court's ruling.
For these reasons, these assignments of error lack merit.
ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 9 AND 10
The defendants assert that the trial court erred in admitting state's exhibit 8-B (one of seventeen bundles of marijuana) in that the exhibit was not properly identified and no foundation for its introduction was ever laid, and in admitting state's exhibits 9 (1 lb. bag of marijuana), 10 (7 lb. bag of marijuana), and 11 (samples from each bundle including exhibit S-8), in that the chain of custody was not sufficiently established.
Further, that exhibit S-8(B) should not have been admitted into evidence since the identification tag was missing, and that exhibits S-9, S-10, and S-ll should not have been admitted since Deputy Martin did not testify as to the chain of custody between the time he received the evidence at the Crime Lab until it was introduced at the trial. However, in view of the plethora of evidence adduced by the state regarding the chain of evidence as to these items, it does not appear that the trial court was unjustified in finding that the evidence produced at trial was, more probably than not, the same as that originally seized by the law enforcement officers. Moreover, any such defect must go to the weight of the evidence rather than to admissibility of the evidence. State v. Sam, 412 So.2d 1082 (La.1982).
These assignments of error lack merit.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 12
The defendant asserts that the trial court erred in admitting two brown bags containing vegetable substances as state's exhibits 9 and 10 respectively into evidence since they are outside the scope of the opening argument.
The state's evidence need not be detailed in the opening statement. State v. Chapman, 410 So.2d 689 (La.1981). Under LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 766, it is sufficient for the state to give a general description of the evidence it plans to introduce. State v. Edwards, 406 So.2d 1331 (La.1981), cert. denied 456 U.S. 945, 102 S.Ct. 2011, 72 L.Ed.2d 467 (1982); State v. Berain, 360 So.2d 822 (La.1978).
In the instant case, there is no indication that the evidence in question was omitted in bad faith from the prosecutor's opening statement, or that the defendant was taken by surprise in the preparation of his defense.
This assignment of error lacks merit.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 14
The defendants called Gary Spurgeon to the stand for the apparent purpose of showing that he had a motive to "set up" the defendants, since one of the defendants' sons had cooperated in an investigation which had resulted in his conviction of a felony-. They called Willard Horton to the stand for the apparent purpose of inquiring whether Dewayne Williams (a prisoner in the Sheriff's custody at the time of the trial) had "set up" the defendants in exchange for a lenient plea bargain.
Defendants contend that the trial court erred in failing to accept the evidence of witnesses Willard Horton and Gary Spur-geon, thereby denying the defendants the ability to show a reasonable hypothesis of innocence in a purely circumstantial case.
Horton testified that Dewayne Williams had nothing to do with the case. As for Spurgeon's testimony, while he admitted that he had a motive to "set up" the defendants, since he himself had been convicted of a felony due to the cooperation of the defendants' son, no showing was made during the defendants' proffer that any such scheme existed. Mr. Spurgeon did state, however, that he had nothing to do with growing the marijuana seized from near the defendants' residence.
The trial judge is vested with wide discretion in determining the relevancy of evidence, and this ruling will not be disturbed on appeal absent a showing of a clear abuse of discretion. State v. West, 419 So.2d 868 (La.1982), State v. Kimble, 407 So.2d 693 (La.1981). There appears to be no abuse of the trial court's wide discretion in ruling that the testimony was irrelevant.
This assignment of error lacks merit.
ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 13 AND 16
The defendants finally contend that the trial court erred in admitting state's exhibit number 12 into evidence, a staged photograph whose prejudicial effect outweighed any probative value. They further contend that the trial court erred in failing to fully hear and grant their motion for a change of venue.
It is well established that assignments of error neither briefed nor argued are considered abandoned. State v. Smith, supra; State v. Dewey, 408 So.2d 1255 (La.1982).
Although the defendant listed assignments of error Nos. 13 and 16, they were neither briefed nor argued and are considered abandoned.
Based on the above and foregoing reasons, the defendants' convictions and sentences are affirmed.
AFFIRMED.