Opinion ID: 1154678
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: testimony and other evidence

Text: At the trial, Marcus Garner, Robert Collier and Keith Collier testified to many of the facts stated above. Marcus also testified that after leaving the defendant on Highway 171, he did not see him again until May 24, 1992, as he was riding through Florien. The defendant got into the car with him, and told Marcus that he had raped the victim and killed her. He also told Marcus that the victim struggled, and had to be snatched from a fence which she was grasping. Marcus testified that the defendant threatened to kill him if he told anyone. Robert Collier testified that after the group left the defendant on Highway 171, Marcus dropped him and Keith off at their home. As he was leaving home approximately one hour later, Robert noticed the defendant walking towards his house from the direction of a set of railroad tracks that run directly behind the victim's mobile home. He recalled that the defendant looked sweaty. Robert testified that the defendant told him that he had raped the girl and killed her, and that he had stolen money from her. The defendant asked him for a change of clothes, which Robert retrieved from inside the house. Thereafter, the defendant, and both Collier brothers rode with Chris Holden to Many. Robert recalled that he and Chris rode in the front seat, while the defendant and Keith rode in the backseat. According to Robert, the defendant changed clothes in the backseat of the car. Keith Collier testified that after the group left the defendant on Highway 171, Marcus dropped him and Robert off at their home between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. Keith recalled that he was watching television when Robert came into the house to get the defendant a change of clothes. While Robert was getting the clothes, Keith went outside and talked to the defendant, who told him that he had vaginal and anal intercourse with the victim, and that he choked her while he was having sex with her. Keith also testified that the defendant told him that he came from the back of the house and she was in the front by the fence and he said she turned around and seen him and she asked him what he wanted and he grabbed her and she grabbed hold to the fence and he pulled her from the fence and dragged her to the back. Keith stated that he, Robert and the defendant rode to Many with Chris Holden. Keith recalled riding in the backseat with the defendant, where he changed into the clothes that Robert had given him. According to Keith, the clothes that the defendant was wearing before he changed were kind of wet. Upon returning from Many, Chris Holden dropped the defendant and the Collier brothers off near the railroad tracks close to their home. Keith recalled walking to a nearby picnic table where the defendant gave him a watch which the defendant said he had taken from the victim. At that time, the defendant also informed Keith that he had gone into the mobile home and taken money out of the victim's purse. Mia Skinner, a friend of the victim, also testified on behalf of the state. Earlier that day, she and the victim had agreed to meet at the mobile home at 7:00 p.m. to frost Mrs. Skinner's hair. Mrs. Skinner testified that she arrived on time. However, the victim was not home and Mrs. Skinner let herself into the unlocked residence. Upon entering, she noticed the victim's purse and keys on a chair near the door. After waiting for about 30 to 40 minutes for the victim to return, she left to check on her children. Mrs. Skinner returned to the mobile home approximately 20 minutes later. Upon her arrival she observed that the front fence gate was open, even though she recalled closing it to keep the dog inside of the yard. She entered the residence, and noticed that the victim's purse had been moved from the chair to a recliner. She also noticed a dirty pair of black and green Newport sunglasses lying on the right side of the purse. Mrs. Skinner waited another 35 to 40 minutes, and then left to find Kenneth Eugene Behan, the Florien Police Officer on duty that night, to inquire whether he had seen the victim. After locating him, Mrs. Skinner and Officer Behan proceeded back to the mobile home, searched the premises, inside and out, and discovered nothing unusual. Upon his departure, Mrs. Skinner remained for an additional 15 minutes, and then decided to return home. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Skinner revisited the mobile home a third time, and waited in her car until about 10:00 p.m. When the victim did not appear, she left for the evening. Officer Behan testified that he was patrolling Highway 171 at about 6:15 p.m., and he saw the victim working in her front yard. He confirmed Mrs. Skinner's testimony that they searched the premises at about 9:00 p.m., and found nothing. He returned to the victim's mobile home at 10:00 p.m. to search the premises again, but did not find anything unusual. Duane Calhoun, the Chief of the Florien Police Department, testified that he received a telephone call from Mrs. Skinner at about 7:30 a.m., on May 22, 1992. She asked whether the victim had reported to work that day. [4] Chief Calhoun stated that she had not, whereupon Mrs. Skinner informed him of the events from the preceding evening. At about 8:00 a.m., Chief Calhoun and Deputies Ben DuBose and Dennis Weldon went to the victim's residence to investigate. Chief Calhoun searched the trailer and the surrounding property. As he was inspecting the backyard he noticed what appeared to be a body lying in dense woods about 30 yards behind the mobile home. Upon closer examination he found that it was the victim's body. Local law enforcement then turned over the investigation to Sabine Parish authorities for the collection of physical evidence. Teddy G. DeLarcerda, an investigator for the Sabine Parish District Attorney's Office, testified that he found evidence of a struggle in the yard near a gate and along the fence. Several flower pots had been broken, and a white five gallon bucket near the gate had been turned on its side, allowing accumulated water and garbage to spill over. Also, dirt areas near the bucket showed signs of being scuffed or kicked. Additionally, top portions of the chain link fence running near the scuffed or kicked areas were bent outward away from the yard. Investigator DeLarcerda also inspected the inside of the mobile home. He found the victim's purse in the recliner, and found a pair of black and green Newport sunglasses lying near the purse. At trial, Keith Collier identified these sunglasses as being the same type worn by the defendant. Detective James McComic of the Sabine Parish Sheriff's Department assisted with the investigation. He agreed with Investigator DeLarcerda's conclusion that there was evidence of a struggle inside of the yard near the gate and along the fence. He also observed signs of a struggle outside of the fence, stating that the 10 to 12 inch grass outside of the yard was mashed down as if something or someone had been dragged away from the mobile home into the woods. When questioned by police officers prior to the defendant's arrest, Keith informed them about the wrist watch that the defendant had given to him on the evening of the murder. At trial, the watch was identified by both Keith and the victim's mother, who testified that she had given the watch to her daughter about a week and a half before her death. Rebecca Collins, an expert in serology with the North Louisiana Criminalistic Laboratory, examined vaginal washings and swabs taken from the victim. She testified that spermatozoa was present in these samples. She also testified that samples taken from the victim's right breast indicated that human saliva was present. However, she was unable to perform any typing or grouping tests on either the spermatozoa or the saliva samples because they were not concentrated enough. Ms. Collins also examined scrapings taken from the sunglasses that were found inside of the victim's home. She determined that they were covered with human blood, but the scrapings were unsuitable for blood typing because the glasses had been previously fumed and dusted for fingerprinting purposes. Garry Bass, a Caddo Parish Sheriff's Deputy and fingerprint analyst for the North Louisiana Criminalistic Laboratory, was qualified as an expert in fingerprint identification. He removed a partial latent palm print from the sunglasses that positively matched comparison prints taken from the defendant. Dr. J. Parker Mashburn, deputy coroner for Caddo and Bossier Parishes, autopsied the victim's body. He determined that the cause of death was manual strangulation by use of hands. He testified that the victim had been seriously beaten prior to death. His examination revealed injuries over her entire face and neck, with severe swelling and contusions mainly on the right side of her upper lip, cheek, jaw and neck. She had bruises between her chin and collar bone which were consistent with manual strangulation. She also had bruises and contusions on the inside of her right thigh and knee, and the lower portion of her left leg. Dr. Mashburn also found a bloody or muddy palm print on the inner right thigh. In his opinion, these leg injuries and the palm print were consistent with having one's legs pried apart for forced intercourse. Vaginal and rectal samplings taken by Dr. Mashburn each revealed the presence of spermatozoa, indicating intercourse within 8 to 12 hours of death. After the state rested, defense witness Chris Holden testified that when he picked up the defendant and the Collier brothers on the evening of May 21, 1992, he noticed that the defendant was buttoning his shirt as he was walking to the car. However, he did not recall the defendant changing clothes in the backseat of the car. George Maxie, Sr., the defendant's father, testified that he visited his son in jail on May 26, 1992, and examined his body for scratches or bruises, but found none. Mr. Maxie's visit to the jail was confirmed by James A. Brumley, Jr., the Sabine Parish Sheriff's Deputy who escorted Mr. Maxie through the jail. Deputy Brumley testified that he remained in the jail quarters during the visit, and did not specifically remember seeing unusual scratches or bruises on the defendant's body. The defendant also called Sergeant Mark Rogers, of the Shreveport Police Department, an expert in fingerprint identification for the Forensic Unit Identification Section. He did not examine the sunglasses, but analyzed the latent palm print obtained therefrom, and confirmed Mr. Bass' conclusion that it positively matched the defendant's. Sergeant Rogers testified that the print could have been made either by placing a bloody palm on the sunglasses or by placing a clean hand on the sunglasses which may have already had blood on them, but he was unable to determine which had occurred in this case. On rebuttal, the state qualified Ray Herd, director of the North Louisiana Crime Lab, as an expert in retrieving and preserving fingerprints and in the characteristics of blood evidence. He examined the sunglasses and determined that there was a bloody transfer print on the outer lens. According to Herd, the print was left by someone who touched the lens with hands that were already wet with blood. After the completion of the evidence in the guilt phase of the trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty as charged.