Opinion ID: 1691189
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Prospective Jurors Wanda Sykes and Wilmer Bell

Text: With respect to prospective juror Sykes, defendant argues that the trial court, by asking the prosecutor if he was aware Sykes had been living with or dating a convicted felon, essentially preempted the state from having to tender a race-neutral explanation and precluded the defense from establishing the validity of the trial court's information. The prosecutor answered the court, saying that he knew of Sykes but did not know specifically of her background. Though the trial court's personal knowledge of Sykes may have prompted its query, the fact remains that the trial court accepted the state's explanation that Sykes seemed more attentive to the defense than to the prosecution. As noted above, defendant does not direct our attention to any evidence in the record that discredits that finding. As with prospective jurors Brown and Jewett, the trial judge was in the best position to know if the reason tendered had merit. Because the trial record cannot reflect the attentiveness of the venire members during voir dire, we defer to the trial court's determination that the explanation given was reasonable, not a pretext, and legitimately related to the particular case. Thus, defendant has failed to carry his burden of proving purposeful discrimination with regard to prospective juror Sykes. [8] With regard to Bell, defendant argues the trial court erred in accepting the state's challenge based on information not elucidated during voir dire. Defendant relies primarily upon State v. Knighten, 609 So.2d 950 (La.App. 4th Cir.1992). In that case, two jurors were peremptorily challenged on the prosecutor's stated basis that they each had prior arrests. This information was not brought out during voir dire examination. Defense counsel opposed the challenges, noting that he did not have the rap sheets for these venire members and that he did not know of any prior arrests. Before finding that the trial court had erred in accepting the prior arrests as legitimate race-neutral reasons for the state's challenges, the Fourth Circuit held that the state must provide the defense with evidence of the prior arrest records if the defense requests further proof. 609 So.2d at 957. That case is inapposite to the facts in the case before us. First, defense counsel neither disputed the prosecutor's explanation that prospective juror Bell had testified in the earlier trial of his brother for murder nor requested proof that Bell had done so. Second, the trial court confirmed the prosecutor's information, noting that the trial had been conducted in that same court two months earlier. Third, defense counsel did not object to the trial court's taking judicial notice of the facts asserted by the prosecutor. Because defendant has not shown that the prosecutor's tendered reason was unreasonable, pretextual, or not legitimately related to the case, he has failed to prove purposeful discrimination with respect to prospective juror Bell. [9] This claim lacks merit. Exculpatory Evidence and Brady v. Maryland (Assignments 2, 13, 14, and 15) In these assignments, defendant first contends the court erred when it did not order the state to turn over psychiatric evidence in its possession that would have demonstrated he lacked the mental capacity to proceed or that would have supported mitigating factors in the penalty phase. Alternatively, he alleges the state suppressed such evidence, because the state was in a better position than defense counsel to know about defendant's treatment at the Natchitoches Mental Health Clinic. The prosecutor may not suppress evidence which is favorable to the accused and material to either guilt or punishment. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); State v. Sullivan, 596 So.2d 177 (La.1992). Here, defendant alleges the state had in its possession his mental health records or, at the least, was aware that he was receiving treatment at the Natchitoches Mental Health Clinic. However, even though Natchitoches Parish Jail and Detention Center personnel may have been aware of defendant's visits to the mental health clinic, no evidence in the record suggests the district attorney's office had access to or possession of defendant's mental health records from the clinicrecords that were generated while defendant was awaiting trial. Because defendant would have had knowledge of the treatment he received at the mental health clinic, this information cannot be said to have been suppressed by the state. Brady proscribes only the withholding of favorable and material evidence from the defense. See Coe v. Bell, 161 F.3d 320 (6th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 120 S.Ct. 110, 145 L.Ed.2d 93 (1999). [10] Defendant's arguments, instead, go to his competency to assist counsel or to his claim that counsel provided ineffective assistance, rather than the state's alleged breach of its duty to disclose favorable evidence to the defense. Accordingly, this portion of defendant's suppression claim lacks merit. Defendant next asserts the state failed to disclose a statement made by another inmate suggesting defendant had indicated that he intended only to kidnap Mr. Traylor, as opposed to killing him. Notwithstanding the open-file discovery afforded to him, defendant complains specifically about the state's failure to label as exculpatory the information contained in the state's answer to his motion for a bill of particulars, in which the state alleged defendant made a statement to another inmate in the jail indicating that he intended to hold Mr. Traylor hostage. Defendant argues such evidence could be used to disprove the state's argument that he possessed the intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon Mr. Traylor, a necessary element for a jury to return a conviction of first degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, defendant claims that, by failing to produce the statement in its entirety or to label the evidence as exculpatory, the state violated Brady. This argument lacks merit. That the state did not introduce at trial evidence of defendant's alleged admission of intent to hold Mr. Traylor hostage in no way suggests that it was in possession of any exculpatory evidence. The intent to hold a victim hostage is not mutually exclusive of a simultaneous or subsequent intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon the same victim. Moreover, given that the prospective witness also stated that defendant told him he executed the victim and left him to die, we cannot say that this evidence would have been favorable to the defense. These assignments lack merit. Defendant's Capacity to Proceed (Assignments 16 and 42) In these assigned errors, defendant first claims the court erred when it did not assess his competency before or during trial. La.Code Crim. Proc. art. 642 provides that a defendant's mental incapacity to proceed may be raised at any time by the defense, the state, or the trial court, though it is ordinarily urged by the defense. Furthermore, La.Code Crim. Proc. art. 643 requires the trial court to order a mental examination when it has reasonable ground to doubt the defendant's mental capacity to proceed. The ordering of a mental examination, however, falls within the sound discretion of the court. State v. Clark, 367 So.2d 311, 313 (La.1979). The trial court's ruling will not be disturbed on appeal absent a clear showing of an abuse of that discretion. State v. Wilkerson, 403 So.2d 652, 658 (La.1981). Even if the defendant urges insanity as a defense, there must be sufficient evidence to raise a reasonable doubt as to such capacity before the article's mandate is activated. Clark, 367 So.2d at 313. Moreover, there must be substantial doubt as to mental capacity before refusal to order an examination constitutes an abuse of the trial court's discretion. Id. The question of whether the defendant was deprived of his due process right to a determination of his competency contemporaneous to trial turns on whether the trial judge received information that, if objectively considered, should reasonably have raised a doubt about defendant's competency and alerted the judge to the possibility that the defendant could neither understand the proceedings nor appreciate their significance, nor rationally aid his attorney in his defense. State v. Snyder, 98-1078, pp. 17-18 (La.4/14/99), 750 So.2d 832, 846 (citing Lokos v. Capps, 625 F.2d 1258, 1261 (5th Cir.1980)). After considering the record presented for our review, we can find no reasonable ground to doubt the defendant's mental capacity to proceed that existed prior to sentencing. Therefore, we discern no abuse of the trial court's sound discretion in not ordering a competency hearing. First, five different attorneys represented defendant throughout the proceedings and none moved for a competency hearing. In addition, defendant tendered only a plea of not guilty to the charge, rather than a dual plea including not guilty by reason of insanity. Though defendant apparently received psychiatric treatment while awaiting trial, a fact learned by defense counsel after sentencing, nothing in the record suggests the district court was or should have been on notice of any mental or cognitive shortcomings. Defendant alleges the court should have ordered a competency hearing when it received a letter addressing defendant's mental impairments from Dr. Oscar Bienvenu, his treating physician, after the jury had returned verdicts in both the guilt and penalty phases but before formal sentencing. [11] The court responded to the letter with a handwritten note stating that, in accordance with the jury's verdict, it had no discretion but to sentence defendant to death. [12] In his brief letter to the court, Dr. Bienvenu spoke only as a concerned citizen and provided none of the medical information he later outlined in the affidavit attached to appellate counsel's brief. That information, including a diagnosis of defendant as psychotic and a medical history documenting auditory and visual hallucinations, was not presented to the court before sentencing. Defendant thus fails to show any abuse of discretion by the district court in proceeding with sentencing. As a result, defendant's claims that the court erred by failing to ascertain his capacity to proceed lacks merit. Motion to Suppress Confession. (Assignments 1, 12, 20, 22, 23, 25, and 33)(Assignment 11, unargued). In these assignments, defendant alleges the trial court erred when it did not suppress his recorded inculpatory statement concerning the murder of Mr. Traylor. Before introducing a confession into evidence, the state must establish that the accused was advised of his constitutional rights under Article 1, Section 13 of the Louisiana Constitution and the Supreme Court's decision in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). State v. Simmons, 443 So.2d 512 (La.1983). In Miranda, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the coercive atmosphere created by police custody and established a procedural mechanism to safeguard the exercise of a defendant's Fifth Amendment rights. Before interrogating a suspect in custody, law enforcement officials must inform the suspect that he has the right to remain silent, that his statements may be used against him at trial, that he has a right to an attorney, and that if he cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for him. In addition, once a suspect in custody expresses a desire, at any stage in the process, to deal with the police only through counsel, all questioning must cease, and the accused may not be subject to further interrogation until counsel has been made available to him, unless he initiates further communication, exchanges or conversation with the police and validly waives his earlier request for counsel. Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 1885, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981); Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444-45, 86 S.Ct. at 1612. Miranda and Edwards are prophylactic rules designed to protect an accused against the inherently compelling pressures of custodial interrogation, whether by police badgering, overreaching or subtle but repeated efforts to wear down an accused's resistance and make him change his mind. Oregon v. Bradshaw, 462 U.S. 1039, 1044, 103 S.Ct. 2830, 2834, 77 L.Ed.2d 405 (1983). Minnick v. Mississippi, 498 U.S. 146, 111 S.Ct. 486, 112 L.Ed.2d 489 (1990), reaffirmed Edwards, stating that when counsel is requested, interrogation must cease; and officials may not reinitiate interrogation without counsel present, whether or not the accused has consulted with his attorney. Id. at 153, 111 S.Ct. at 491. Louisiana adheres to these same principles. When an accused invokes his right to counsel, the admissibility of a subsequent confession or incriminating statement is determined by a two-step inquiry: 1) did the accused initiate further conversation or communication; and 2) was the purported waiver of counsel knowing and intelligent under the totality of the circumstances. State v. Abadie, 612 So.2d 1, 5 (La.1993). Thus, the questions presented in this case are whether defendant invoked his right to counsel, and, if so, did he initiate further contact with the police and did he knowingly and intelligently waive his right to counsel. Defendant was arrested in Shreveport on August 11, 1995, and was initially questioned by Larry Vaughn, an officer with the Natchitoches Police Department. Vaughn administered Miranda warnings at the Shreveport Police Department, and defendant signed a waiver in his presence. According to Vaughn, defendant did not invoke his right to counsel; instead, he denied knowledge of, and involvement in, Mr. Traylor's murder. Travis Trammel, an investigator with the Natchitoches Parish Sheriffs Office, had assisted in arresting defendant in Shreveport. He briefly observed Vaughn interview defendant. During that initial interrogation, Trammel assumed that defendant had exercised his right to counsel, but he did not know if that opinion was based on fact. Defendant was next transferred from Shreveport to Red River Parish by Trammel; [13] Vaughn did not participate in the transfer. According to Larry Rhodes, an officer with the Red River Parish Sheriffs Office, defendant was incarcerated in the Red River Parish jail on August 12, 1995, at 12:20 a.m. The officer estimated that defendant's holding cell was approximately twelve by eight feet with concrete walls, had a window in the door, and contained a mattress and blanket. At about 8:50 p.m. that evening, Rhodes received a jail slip indicating defendant wished to speak with him about the Natchitoches crime. When Rhodes arrived, defendant began to discuss the murder. The officer informed defendant he would need to speak with a Natchitoches officer. Rhodes then telephoned the Natchitoches Police Department and informed an officer there that defendant wished to discuss Mr. Traylor's murder. Rhodes did not wait for Natchitoches officers to arrive and did not participate in the subsequent interview. Trammel testified that he received a telephone call from Rhodes, who indicated that defendant wished to discuss the crime After arriving at the jail, but before taking defendant's statement, Trammel administered Miranda warnings and obtained a written waiver from defendant. At the beginning of the recorded interview, Trammel again advised defendant of his Miranda rights. Trammel testified he was not surprised to learn that defendant wanted to talk about the crime after being transferred to Red River Parish, because, as the men traveled there, defendant had asked questions about what information the police had in their possession and had hinted at his involvement in the murder. Defendant testified at the suppression hearing that he requested an attorney following his arrest in Shreveport and that the officers told him they would not allow him to consult a lawyer until after he made a statement concerning the crime. He stated that he later requested to talk to Natchitoches detectives after being detained at the Red River Parish jail, because they wasn't going to let me talk to a lawyer till I talked to them. Defendant also insisted that he had been incarcerated in Red River Parish for three or four days before he requested to speak with the Natchitoches detectives. His written waiver, however, indicated he had been there for approximately sixteen hours. At the conclusion of the evidence, the trial court denied the motion to suppress, stating, The testimony herein leads the Court to conclude that this confession was freely and voluntarily given, [and] that all the rights of Mr. Hobley were protected.... The court also found that the testimony given by Mr. Hobley is not reliable, and that given by the officers is reliable. In this case, even accepting defendant's testimony that he requested counsel after his arrest in Shreveport, we find that he initiated further communication by making the written request to discuss the crime. Under the totality of the circumstances, we can discern nothing in the record at that stage in the proceedings that suggests defendant's waiver of counsel was anything but knowing and voluntary. As a result, the trial court did not err when it determined that defendant was not deprived of his constitutional right to counsel. In addition, La.Rev.Stat. 15:451 requires that before a statement can be introduced into evidence, the state must affirmatively show that it was free and voluntary, and not the result of fear, duress, intimidation, menace, threats, inducements, or promises. State v. Simmons, 443 So.2d 512 (La.1983). In defendant's case, Rhodes and Trammel both testified that defendant initiated the communication about the crime, that they advised him of his rights, and that they obtained a signed consent from defendant to interrogate him without an attorney present. The state's documentary evidence also indicates that defendant initiated contact with the officers and that his confession was not obtained illegally. Finally, even defendant's testimony on direct at the motion to suppress hearing does not suggest that his confession was the product of police coercion. [14] Under these circumstances, the court did not abuse its discretion when it found that the state affirmatively demonstrated that defendant's statement had been free and voluntary, and not the result of fear, duress, intimidation, menace, threats, inducements, or promises. Although defendant on appeal now contends the court should have taken into account his low IQ and psychosis before ruling, trial counsel made no such argument. [15] Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to suppress. Defendant's claims about the admissibility of his inculpatory statement concerning the crime lack merit. Specific Intent (Assignments 6 and 9) In these assignments, defendant asserts the state failed to prove that he had possessed the specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon the victim. Thus, he claims, the jury erred when it found him guilty of first degree murder pursuant to La.Rev.Stat. 14:30. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, an appellate court in Louisiana is controlled by the standard enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Under that standard, the appellate court must determine whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676, 678 (La.1984). Under La.Rev.Stat. 14:30, the state was required to prove that defendant had killed Mr. Traylor with the specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm while engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an aggravated kidnapping or an armed robbery. Specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm may be inferred from the circumstances surrounding the offense and the conduct of the defendant. See La.Rev.Stat. 14:10(1); State v. Butler, 322 So.2d 189 (La.1975). Defendant argues the gun went off accidentally when Mr. Traylor was attempting to escape from the vehicle after being held hostage. In his confession, he described the events that led to Mr. Traylor's death as follows: ... And we were riding down, we were riding and we headed on out, doing about 65. And then I was driving like this here, and the next thing you know, [Mr. Traylor] come over the seat, and grabbed the gun and did the steering wheel like that. And I said, Don't let him get the gun, let him get the gun! And he started, we started struggling well I had this (inaudible) and then when he turned this way, we were headed toward the bayou. The car was leaning, I almost turned over. I said, Damn! and we tried to get the gun from him and it just Boom-boom, the gun went off. I said, Damn man, look at this shit, you fucked up. I told you to watch the damn man. He had took his eyes off the man (inaudible) that's why he tried that. But if he would have kept his eyes on me, he wouldn't have, you know, that wouldn't have even happened. Then, we turned off in the bayou, the tire went on flat, the right tire went on flat. Then I said damn we ain't going to make it and I pulled on side of a garbage can. I wiped my fingerprints and stuff off and then we had got out of the car. The state's evidence showed that two armed men, defendant and Lewis, kidnapped Mr. Traylor from his driveway, intending to rob him, because they believed he carried on his person cash from his liquor store. Mr. Traylor, unarmed and gagged, was shot twice, once in the leg and once in the chest. Evidence discovered at Mr. Traylor's residence showed that Mr. Traylor was ambushed and injured in his driveway upon his return home from his place of business, as defendant admitted in his statement. Blood was found on Mr. Traylor's black Ford truck located in his driveway. Also found in the carport were pieces of duct tape similar to that used to cover Mr. Traylor's mouth. After he was placed in the back seat of the car and taken away, Mr. Traylor, according to defendant's statement, reached for the steering wheel and defendant's gun. Damage to the vehicle's tire and wheel rim and the vehicle's tire tracks indicated that the vehicle had veered sharply off the highway before it ended up at the landfill site. Although defendant admitted to wiping his fingerprints from the vehicle, the police found two of defendant's fingerprints on a plastic bag located in the glove compartment of Mr. Traylor's car. In addition, four of Lewis's prints were lifted from the exterior of the vehicle's right rear door. The state and defense stipulated that the two bullets that struck Mr. Traylor were fired from a distance of between one and four feet from his body. The bullet that entered Mr. Traylor's chest exited through his back and was found beneath his body; the other bullet was removed from his leg. The murder weapon was never found. Given this evidence, jurors did not act irrationally in rejecting defendant's explanation that Mr. Traylor's death resulted from an accidental shooting. The jury was free to make determinations as to defendant's credibility and the weight to be attributed to his confession. After reviewing the evidence in the record, we do not find unreasonable either the jury's finding that defendant had shot Mr. Traylor or that he had possessed the requisite specific intent in doing so. Even if it was Lewis who fired the weapon, that fact would not preclude the jury from convicting defendant of first degree murder. A person may be convicted of intentional murder as a principal to the offense, even if he has not personally struck the fatal blows. See La.Rev.Stat. 14:24. [16] A defendant, however, may be convicted as a principal only for those crimes for which he had the requisite mental state. State v. Brooks, 505 So.2d 714, 717 (La.1987). Those persons who knowingly participate in the planning or execution of a crime may be said to be concerned in its commission, thus making them liable as principals. State v. Knowles, 392 So.2d 651 (La.1980). Under similar facts, this Court has found that an accomplice to a triggerman acted as an equal partner in the murder committed by the two during a crime spree. In State v. Wingo, 457 So.2d 1159, 1164 (La.1984), we reviewed the defendant's role in the killings and the proof of his specific intent. Id. at 1164. We reasoned as follows: a rational juror, viewing the overall evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant actively participated in the killing of the victims (whose deaths were obviously purposefully inflicted). Given the evidence presented, it was certainly reasonable for the jury to conclude that defendant's role was that of an equal partner in all of the crimes committed by the two during this episode, including the murders. The theory that Glass (who was significantly smaller than both defendant and Mr. Brown) broke in alone and overpowered the Browns while defendant waited outside, unaware that Glass would kill the helpless victims, is simply not a compelling hypothesis, and the jury acted reasonably in rejecting it. Id., 457 So.2d at 1165 (citations omitted). In State v. Brooks, 505 So.2d 714, 717-18 (La.1987), we found that, although the defendant may not have fired the fatal shot, the evidence of his presence and assistance up to the point of the shooting provided a basis from which jurors could have concluded that he actively acquiesced in this use of deadly force. We thus found that the defendant had shared his accomplice's specific intent to kill. In this case, defendant's confession demonstrates, at the very least, considerable involvement in the abduction and attempted robbery. In light of defendant's admission to giving instructions to his accomplices during the kidnapping, the state's characterization of defendant as the ringleader of the group was neither inaccurate nor implausible. The jurors did not irrationally reject the defense theory that defendant did not acquiesce in the use of deadly force. We conclude that the jury, viewing all of the evidence in a light favorable to the prosecution, could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant had possessed the specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon Mr. Traylor. As a result, defendant's claim that the state presented constitutionally insufficient evidence of intent lacks merit.