Opinion ID: 1926660
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: This assignment of error is without merit.

Text: ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 32, 32A, 33, 36, 37, 38, 41, 43, 44, 46, 56, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 96, 97 AND 98 Defendant contends the trial judge erred in overruling his objections and motions for mistrial wherein he argued that the state improperly referred to the law of co-conspirators and principals during its voir dire examination of prospective jurors and during its opening statement. More particularly, he complains of the reading by the state of La.R.S. 15:455 and La.R.S. 14:23-26 as well as certain passages contained in Corpus Juris Secundum relative to principals and co-conspirators. He similarly contends that the trial judge erred in charging the jury concerning these issues. Defendant argues that the law of co-conspirators and principals was inapplicable to this case inasmuch as defendant was not charged with conspiracy. La.R.S. 14:26 defines the offense of conspiracy as follows: Criminal conspiracy is the agreement or combination of two or more persons for the specific purpose of committing any crime; provided that an agreement or combination to commit a crime shall not amount to a criminal conspiracy unless, in addition to such agreement or combination, one or more of such parties does an act in furtherance of the object of the agreement or combination. Where the intended basic crime has been consummated the conspirators may be tried for either the conspiracy or the completed offense, and a conviction for one shall not bar a prosecution for the other. . . . . . . A criminal conspiracy to commit any given offense is an inchoate crime, separate and distinct from the completed criminal conduct. However, when a defendant is on trial for the completed offense and the facts of the case establish the existence of a conspiracy, reference to the law of conspiracy may be relevant and permissible in order to allow the state to take advantage of the evidentiary rules found in La.R.S. 15:455, which provides: Each coconspirator is deemed to assent to or to commend whatever is said or done in furtherance of the common enterprise, and it is therefore of no moment that such act was done or such declaration was made out of the presence of the conspirator sought to be bound thereby, or whether the conspirator doing such act or making such declaration be or be not on trial with his codefendant. But to have this effect a prima facie case of conspiracy must have been established. Therefore, if the state did in fact establish a prima facie case of conspiracy, the various references to the law of conspiracy during voir dire and during the state's opening statement were proper. State v. Bennett, 341 So.2d 847 (La.1976); State v. Kaufman, 331 So.2d 16 (La.1976). The type of proof necessary to establish a conspiracy may be by direct or circumstantial evidence. State v. Kaufman, supra . In State v. Carter, 326 So.2d 848 (La.1975), we held that, when the only showing of conspiracy is that two people committed a crime, and there is no showing that defendant either committed or conspired to commit the criminal act, no prima facie case of conspiracy has been established. We further held that the fact, alone, that two or more have committed the crime charged is not sufficient to establish a prima facie case of conspiracy. In the instant case, however, we find that there was a prima facie showing that two persons agreed or combined for the specific purpose of committing a crime. Felix Vergara testified that on three separate occasions on the night of the crime, within two hours of its commission, he saw defendant approaching the victim in the hallway of the apartment building and later looking up the stairs. Then, when Peter Meisner and the victim were talking in the hallway some time later, two individuals forced their way into the apartment. They ordered the victim to sit on the sofa and, after tying Meisner up, ordered the victim into the back bedroom. Alternatively, they spent time in the rear bedroom with the victim and searched the apartment for valuables. One of the perpetrators disconnected Meisner's stereo equipment and moved it over to the living room window. After hearing a shot, Meisner heard one of the assailants ask the other if the victim had been killed. As one of the men rolled Meisner over on the floor, the other stabbed him several times with a knife before exiting together through a window in the front room. They also took Meisner's watch which he had managed to place under his stomach. Defendant's fingerprints were lifted from Meisner's stereo dustcover which was found outside the window through which the assailants escaped. The testimony of Felix Vergara together with the fingerprint evidence tended to establish that defendant was one of the two men who committed the crime. Since Meisner was unable to indicate which of the two assailants had actually shot the victim and robbed and stabbed him, it was relevant for the state to refer to the law of conspiracy because it sought to bind defendant by the acts of his cohort, even if defendant did not personally murder the victim. Inasmuch as the state's evidence established at least a prima facie case of conspiracy, there was no error in the state's correct references to the law of conspiracy during voir dire examination of prospective jurors and during its opening statement. Since defendant was being charged as a principal for the offense of first degree murder and the state sought to attribute to defendant acts which may have been directly committed by his conspirator at the scene of the crime, the law regarding principals was also relevant. Hence, we similarly find no error in the trial judge's rulings with respect to the state's references to the law of principals during its voir dire examination and opening statement. La.Code Crim.P. arts. 786 and 766. A trial judge is required to charge the jury as to the law applicable to the case. La.Code Crim.P. art. 802. Since a prima facie case of conspiracy was established, the law of conspiracy was clearly applicable to the case. The same is true relative to the law of principals. Accordingly, the trial judge did not err in charging the jury concerning these areas of law. State v. Kaufman, 331 So.2d 16 (La.1976). Inasmuch as the foregoing defense objections were properly overruled by the trial judge, defendant's motions for mistrial based on these rulings were likewise properly denied.