Court Opinion

ID: 9826558
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 16:08:09.846055+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:07.688937
License: Public Domain

STATE OF LOUISIANA

           COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

STATE OF         LOUISIANA                                                                   NO.        2023 KW      0767

VERSUS

MARKE.          SPICER,          JR.                                                   SEPTEMBER              1,    2023

In Re:               Mark     E.       Spicer,       Jr. ,    applying             for       supervisory             writs,
                     22nd     Judicial          District          Court,          Parish          of     St.       Tammany,
                     No.    3932-F-2019.

BEFORE:              GUIDRY,       C.J.,       CHUTZ AND          LANIER,          JJ.

          WRIT DENIED.

                                                            WRC
                                                            WIL

          Guidry,           C.J.,            dissents        and        I        would        grant            the       writ
application.                Under       the     unique       circumstances                   presented             in    this
first          degree       murder       prosecution,             which          seeks       the    death          penalty,
I    would       reverse          the    trial        court's          denial          of    defendant's             motion
to    recuse         the     Honorable          Judge       Ellen       M.       Creel.           The    decedent            was
a    Mandeville             Police       Officer.        The       judge's             law    clerk       is    a    former
prosecutor             with        the        St.     Tammany           Parish           District             Attorney's
Office.          In    that        capacity,          she    amended             the     bill       of     information
for       relator's           father's           2016        domestic            violence               case,       wherein
relator         was     the      alleged        victim.           An    officer             who    interacted            with
the        judge           during        her        tenure         as        the         City           Attorney             for
Franklinton,               provided           first     aid        to        one       of     the        victims             and
collected             the    victim's          body     camera          to       be     used       as     evidence            in
this       case.        The       former       Chief    of    Police             of    the    Mandeville             Police
Department             has       made        inflammatory          comments              about          relator         since
the       incidents         in     question         occurred,          he    endorsed the                 judge      during
her       2020       judicial           election       campaign,              and       his        endorsement               was
featured          in       her     campaign         materials.               I     find       that        based         on    an
objective            evaluation          of     the    totality             of    these       circumstances,                  it
can       be    reasonably             and    substantially             expected             the    judge       would         be
unable          to     conduct          the     proceedings                 in     a     fair           and     impartial
manner.              Considering             these     unique          facts           and    the        interests            of
justice,          recusal          is    required.            La.       Code          Crim.        P.    art.       671 ( B).
See       State       v.    Spicer,           2023-00570 (         La.       6/26/23),              363       So. 3d     1222
    per   curiam) .

COURT      OF APPEAL,             FIRST CIRCUIT

     I.SJ
          DEPUTY       CLERK OF          COURT
                     FOR    THE    COURT