Opinion ID: 1105577
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Failure of Sequestration

Text: The defendant argues the state witnesses violated the sequestration order imposed on them by the trial judge while awaiting their turn to testify. The defendant bases this claim on a portion of the Capital Sentence Investigation Report in which the victim's mother describes sitting with Atkins, McCormic and Dempsey. The statement does not say where the victim's mother was when she sat with the other women. Even assuming the witnesses were all together somewhere unsupervised while they waited to testify, the defendant does not show any violation of the sequestration rule. La.C.Cr.P. art. 764 provides that exclusion of witnesses is governed by La.C.E. art. 615. La.C.E. art. 615 states that on a party's request, a judge must order witnesses excluded from the courtroom and must order them to refrain from discussing the facts of the case with anyone other than counsel in the case. The trial judge entered such an order. The defendant does not suggest that the witnesses either heard each other testify or violated the order by discussing the facts of the case. The conversations which the victim's mother overheard did not have anything to do with the case. The mere fact that a state witness speaks to other witnesses does not establish a violation of the order of sequestration and does not show possible prejudice. State v. Armstead, 432 So.2d 837, 842 (La.1983).