State v. Clark

• Citation: 220 So.3d 583
• Decision Date: 19 December 2016
• Docket Number: NO. 2012–KA–0508,2012–KA–0508
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Jeffrey CLARK
• Court: Supreme Court of Louisiana

220 So.3d 583

STATE of Louisiana

v.Jeffrey CLARK

NO. 2012–KA–0508

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

December 19, 2016

Rehearing Denied March 13, 2017

Stephen Baima Ingersoll, New Orleans; Sarah Lynn Ottinger ; G. Benjamin Cohen, for Appellant.

LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Hon. Jeff Landry, Attorney General; CONNICK & CONNICK, LLC, Michael Scott Futrell ; WEST FELICIANA DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Hon. Samuel D'Aquilla, District Attorney; Lea R. Hall, Jr.; JEFFERSON PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Hon. Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Juliet Lee Clark, Terry Michael Boudreaux, Thomas Stanford Block ; Hugo A. Holland, Jr., for Appellee.

HUGHES, J.

The defendant, Jeffrey Clark, and a number of fellow inmates incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana ("Angola") conspired to escape from prison. In furtherance of that plot, on the evening of December 28, 1999, they smuggled improvised weapons into the Angola Camp D education building, where various scheduled meetings and classes were taking place; there, they launched an attack on the prison guards present, hoping to obtain keys necessary to gain access to a nearby vehicle and to exit a secure access sally port to leave the prison and escape to Canada. The escape attempt was thwarted when prison officials discovered the disturbance and quickly surrounded the education building. Captain David N. Knapps, who had been taken hostage by the inmates, was bludgeoned and stabbed to death. Each inmate involved was tried separately, and the defendant was convicted of the first degree murder of Captain Knapps (in violation of LSA–R.S. 14:30 ) and sentenced to death.

On appeal to this court, pursuant to LSA–Const. Art. V, Sec. 5 (D)(2),¹ the defendant relies on thirty-seven assignments of error, contending his conviction and sentence should be reversed. After a thorough review of the law and evidence, we find no merit in any of the assignments of error. Therefore, we affirm the defendant's conviction and sentence.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On March 15, 2004 a West Feliciana Parish grand jury indicted Angola inmate Jeffrey Clark and fellow inmates David Mathis, David Brown, Barry Edge, and Robert Carley² for the December 28, 1999 first degree murder of Capt. Knapps (in violation of LSA–R.S. 14:30 ), which occurred in the officers' restroom of the Angola Camp D education building.

In July and August of 2004, respectively, the State notified the defendant that it intended to seek the death penalty and would rely on eight aggravating circumstances:³ (1) the perpetration or attempted perpetration of the aggravated kidnapping of Lieutenant Douglas Chaney and Sergeant Reddia Walker; (2) the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an aggravated escape; (3) the victim was a peace officer engaged in his lawful duties; (4) the offender has been previously convicted of an unrelated murder; (5) the offender created a risk of death or great bodily harm to more than one person; (6) the offender was imprisoned for the commission of an unrelated forcible felony at the time of commission of the offense; (7) the offense was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner; and (8) the victim was a correctional officer who, in the normal course of his employment was required to come in close contact with persons incarcerated in a state prison facility, and the victim was engaged in his lawful duties at the time of the offense.

On February 5, 2010 the State amended the indictment to charge the co-defendants as principals. It also amended the list of aggravating circumstances on which it intended to rely from eight to four.

Although the trial court addressed a majority of pretrial matters in a consolidated manner,⁴ each co-defendant's trial was held separately.⁵ The defendant was the first to go to trial in July of 2010. The trial court declared a mistrial because, during the guilt phase opening statements, the State referenced the fact that the defendant was already serving a life sentence.⁶ The court of appeal disagreed, but this court reversed and reinstated the trial court's ruling. State v. Clark, 10–1676 (La. 7/17/10), 39 So.3d 594.

On April 27, 2011, the day before jury selection was set to commence in the defendant's second trial, the defendant sought to represent himself in certain aspects of his trial with the assistance of his appointed attorneys. After the trial court conducted extensive Faretta⁷ colloquies with the defendant and his counsel, the defendant ultimately gave the opening and closing statements and questioned numerous fact witnesses during the guilt phase of his trial.⁸ The record reflects that the defendant's appointed attorneys provided assistance with these tasks. Under the defendant's direction, as lead counsel, his appointed attorneys conducted the penalty phase qualification and general voir dire and questioned all of the expert witnesses during the guilt phase. The defendant waived his right to self-representation during the penalty phase.

Jury selection commenced on April 28, 2011 and concluded May 6, 2011.⁹ Twelve jurors and four alternates were selected.

The State and the defendant gave opening statements on May 7, 2011. The State described how it believed the crime occurred, summarized the evidence it would present, explained how that evidence established the elements of the crime, and discussed the conditions of employment and confinement at Angola. The State conceded that the jury would "never ... know which inmate wielded which weapon inside that bathroom." The defendant's opening statement to the jury stressed the State's lack of evidence tying him to Capt. Knapps' murder and lack of evidence of his specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm, as well as issues related to crime scene contamination, the failure to properly collect evidence from the crime scene, bias among the State's witnesses, and correctional officer misconduct by abusing inmates in securing control of the education building and investigating the crime.

During the guilt phase, the State presented the testimony of thirty-three lay and expert witnesses, and the defense called twelve witnesses. Much of the testimony focused on whether Angola's tactical team used excessive force in retaking control of the education building and whether correctional officers abused inmates in the days that followed Capt. Knapps' death. The jury also visited the crime scene.

This case is unusually complex, given the number of inmates and correctional officers involved in the events leading up to the foiled escape attempt, the murder of Capt. Knapps, the various locations at which these events unfolded, the extended time frame over which these events occurred, the co-defendants' control of the crime scene and evidence prior to the correctional officers regaining control, and the volume and variety of peripheral issues that have arisen over the course of the succeeding two decades. A summary of the evidence heard by the jury follows.

In October of 1999 inmate Joel Durham approached inmate Doyle Billiot about joining a plan to escape Angola, which included inmates Carley, Edge, Mathis, and Brown. Billiot learned the inmates planned to execute their escape plan during evening call-outs in the Camp D education building on December 28, 1999, and the defendant had agreed to join the escape team. The addition of the defendant to the plot coincided with circumstances that had led him to believe his goal of becoming a trustee in January or February of 2000 was unlikely, which upset him and had made him amenable to the escape plot. The defendant's position in an inmate social organization rendered it possible for him to list the participating inmates on the "call-out sheet" for that night so they could access the various rooms in the education building, thus furthering the escape plans.

According to the defendant's initial statements to investigators, the inmates' plan was to target correctional officers unlikely to fight back (such as those nearing retirement, like Lieutenants Charles Cockerham and Douglas Chaney, or female officers, like Sergeant Reddia Walker) or those allegedly involved in mistreating inmates housed on Angola's most restrictive confinement tier in Camp J (such as Lieutenant David Ross). The inmates also needed to target a correctional officer with the rank of captain in order to acquire the keys necessary to execute their plan. After handcuffing the targeted officers and taking their keys, radios, and parts of their uniforms, the inmates planned to exit the Camp D sally port, take a car parked nearby, travel via a dirt road off Angola grounds, which some of the involved inmates had identified while on a "blade" crew, and then proceed to Tylertown, Mississippi, where they would obtain food, money, and an eighteen-wheeler before heading to Canada. If escape proved impossible, they would seek transfer to federal prison or die.

Apparently the inmates were inspired by an incident, earlier in the month, in which federal Cuban detainees, housed in a St. Martinville, Louisiana facility, held correctional officers hostage over the course of several days and successfully negotiated their release via federal and state negotiators.¹⁰ Angola officials, however, maintained, and trained for, a strict no-negotiation policy.

On December 28, 1999 Carley, Durham, Edge, Mathis, and the defendant attended the AA/NA meeting call-out in "Classroom One" of the Camp D education building.¹¹ Brown was on call-out for an inmate-led legal class¹² in "Classroom Two." Billiot stayed in his dorm, having decided not to participate in the escape attempt. Several other uninvolved inmates were also present in the education building attending the AA/NA meeting, legal call-out, and band practice call-out.¹³ In total, over twenty inmates were in the education building at some point that evening.

Inmate Michael Robinson testified that he was working as an orderly that night. His responsibilities...