Opinion ID: 445463
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Basis for the Murder Conviction and Death Sentence

Text: 3 Some time between five-thirty and seven o'clock in the morning of September 13, 1981, appellant raped and killed Mrs. Marcelianne Richard, an 81 year-old woman, at her home in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. Appellant had ingested alcohol and amphetamines during the previous night and earlier morning of September 13. A friend dropped him off near his house, and he walked toward it until he saw a light shining in Mrs. Richard's residence. Appellant did not know Mrs. Richard. He entered the house through a bathroom window, leaving a latent handprint on the lavatory. He found Mrs. Richard, who had risen early to take a trip to visit her sisters in Texas. 4 Appellant raped Mrs. Richard and strangled her, fracturing a bone in her neck in the process. The nature of the break indicated that appellant applied tremendous force in choking the victim. Appellant also severely disfigured her face and fractured seven ribs on both sides of her body. Mrs. Richard suffered internal injuries as a consequence of the beating. She died before seven o'clock, when friends arrived to take her on the Texas visit. Appellant's mother opened the door to the Celestine house for appellant when he arrived home at seven o'clock. 5 In the late afternoon of the same day, appellant was arrested at his home. After receiving Miranda warnings at the police station, appellant voluntarily confessed to raping two other women as well as Mrs. Richard. All three women lived in appellant's neighborhood, and the three attacks occurred within a relatively short period. The police recorded the confession on a cassette tape. A Lafayette Parish jury subsequently convicted appellant of two counts of aggravated rape. Those trials preceded the conviction that he now challenges. 6