Opinion ID: 1699278
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The trial court erred when it denied defendant's motions for a continuance.

Text: Defendant claims the trial court committed reversible error when it denied his motions for a continuance. The record reveals the defense filed an initial motion on April 3, 2002, and a supplemental motion on April 8, 2002, seeking a continuance because it had only recently been provided with a copy of Mark Rogers's report concerning the blood spatter evidence and had not received all the autopsy photographs. Following a hearing held on the latter date, the trial court denied the motion, stating: .... [T]hese photographs were available a year ago. When I made that order of May 21, 2001, they were available. So you can't say you were prejudiced. The blood spatter evidence that the expert is going to testify to, assuming that the [c]ourt allows him to testify as an expert  I'm not  you know, you're assuming something that may or may not even come to fruition. Assuming I allow him to testify as an expert in the field of accident reconstruction and blood spatter analysis, you have sufficient time to hire an expert of your own choosing to contradict whatever evidence he may give, again assuming the court were to allow that. So I don't believe you can show any prejudice.... Absent that showing, you're not entitled to a continuance. (R., vol.V, p. 1144). We have consistently held that the decision whether to grant or refuse a motion for a continuance rests within the sound discretion of the trial judge, and a reviewing court will not disturb such a determination absent a clear abuse of discretion. Bourque, 622 So.2d at 225; see LA.CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 712. In addition, this Court generally declines to reverse convictions even on a showing of an improper denial of a motion for a continuance absent a showing of specific prejudice. Bourque, 622 So.2d at 225; State v. Champion, 412 So.2d 1048, 1051 (La.1982). As an initial matter, we observe the defense filed a motion to preserve evidence for independent testing on May 23, 2001, seeking access to defendant's clothing because it may contain blood spatter [sic] from the victim in this homicide and defendant is entitled to prepare a defense which may involve further forensic testing or analysis. (R., vol.II, pp. 338-39). Accordingly, the defense had nearly a year to counter Rogers's testimony about the blood spatter. Defendant makes no showing the three or four weeks remaining before trial did not provide him with ample opportunity to obtain his own expert. As the State argued when opposing the motion: What we're talking about ... is viewing photographs and determining if the blood pattern on the defendant's clothing was an active stain, in other words, had some sort of velocity to it or if it was a passive stain, such as transferred by simply brushing up against the body or something of that nature. This can be determined by an expert in a matter of minutes by looking at those photographs. There's no scientific testing, no experiment, no nothing of that nature that needs to take place. (R., vol.V, p. 1139). Moreover, the autopsy report had been provided to defendant during discovery and the trial court admitted only those photographs during the guilt phase it deemed necessary for the jury to understand the victim's cause and manner of death. In these circumstances, defendant fails to show he suffered prejudice resulting from the trial court's ruling denying his motions for a continuance. Accordingly, this argument lacks merit.