Opinion ID: 1771702
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 20

Heading: Denial of Audio Expert

Text: Defendant claims that the court erred when it did not provide him with funds to send a videotape of his confession to experts who could have examined it to determine whether the cocking of pistols could be heard while he gave his statement. Defendant unsuccessfully sought review of the court's pre-trial ruling in the court of appeal and in this court. State v. Brumfield, 93-0805 (La.App. 1st Cir.1993), cert. denied, 94-0279 (La.3/25/94); 635 So.2d 245. The denial of a pre-trial application for supervisory writs does not bar consideration on direct appeal. State v. Fontenot, 550 So.2d 179 (La.1989). Defendant sent the expert $300 to do a preliminary examination of the tape, and the trial court denied additional funds until defendant produced the findings of the expert's initial evaluation. Ultimately, the court did not provide further funds for the expert. Appellate counsel claims that additional prejudice resulted from the court's ruling when the prosecutor referred to the lack of evidenceincluding expert testimony corroborating defendant's claim that police coerced his confession by cocking their weapons. This court has held that: [F]or an indigent defendant to be granted the services of an expert at the expense of the state, he must establish that there exists a reasonable probability both that an expert would be of assistance to the defense and that the denial of expert assistance would result in a fundamentally unfair trial. To meet this standard, a defendant must ordinarily establish, with a reasonable degree of specificity, that the assistance is required to answer a substantial issue or question that is raised by the prosecution's case or to support a critical element of the defense. State v. Touchet, 93-2839, p. 16 (La.9/6/94); 642 So.2d 1213, 1216. As the court of appeal noted, the interrogation was conducted in a busy environment which allowed the unobstructed transmission of sounds from other areas. At the suppression hearing, an officer described the interrogation room, There's a door, you know, partitions, walls. There's no ceiling so consequently you can hear a lot of things.... There was business going on. There were telephones ringing. There were secretaries typing. Other detectives were there. In this situation, the defense never established with a reasonable degree of specificity that a videotape expert was required to answer a substantial issue or question to support a critical element of the defense. Moreover, defendant fails to demonstrate the existence of prejudice resulting from the trial court's denial of funds. See Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 325 n. 1, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985) (refusing to require state to fund ballistics expert when defendant offered little more than undeveloped assertions that the requested assistance would be beneficial). Finally, defendant failed to object to the prosecutor's closing argument that exploited the absence of expert testimony corroborating defendant's claim about the cocking of weapons during his confession. Any claim of error based on prosecutorial misconduct was therefore waived. La.Code Crim. Proc. art. 841; State v. Taylor, 93-2201, p. 7 (La.2/28/96); 669 So.2d 364, 369 (contemporaneous objection rule applies to errors committed at guilt stage of a capital case), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 860, 117 S.Ct. 162, 136 L.Ed.2d 106(1996).