97-179 La.App. 3 Cir. 3/11/98, State v. Guillory

• Decision Date: 11 March 1998
• Citation: 715 So.2d 400
• Parties: 97-179 La.App. 3 Cir
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 400

715 So.2d 400

97-179 La.App. 3 Cir. 3/11/98

STATE of Louisiana v. Christopher Joseph GUILLORY, Sr., Defendant-Appellant.

No. CR97-179.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 11, 1998.

Robert Richard Bryant, Jr., Lake Charles, for State.

David J. Utter, Clive Adrian Stafford Smith, New Orleans, for Christopher Guillory.

Before SAUNDERS, SULLIVAN and GREMILLION, JJ.

[97-179 La.App. 3 Cir. 1] SAUNDERS, Judge.

This is an appeal of three first degree murder convictions and three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. The Defendant is Christopher Joseph Guillory, Sr.

The first trial of the Defendant ended on November 21, 1995, after jury selection with the presiding trial judge declaring a mistrial and then granting a change of venue. Venue for jury selection was moved to East Baton Rouge Parish and jury selection began on April 29, 1996. A twelve person jury, plus alternates, was selected by May 3, 1996. The guilt phase of the trial began in Lake Charles on May 6, 1996, and ended on May 10, 1996. It took the jury from 12:55 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. to return [97-179 La.App. 3 Cir. 2] three verdicts of guilty of first degree murder. The penalty phase was conducted on May 11, 1996. After nearly two hours of deliberation, the jury was unable to unanimously agree on a verdict, and the trial judge then sentenced the Defendant to life imprisonment on each count without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Formal imposition of the three consecutive sentences took place on September 13, 1996.

FACTS

Around 11:23 a.m. on Monday, March 22, 1993, Corporal Donald Shillow of the Lake Charles Police Department made a grisly discovery. Inside a machine shop that was also the residence of forty-year-old Daniel Dougay, he found the bodies of Mr. Dougay, his fifteen-year-old son, Robert Dougay, and Aaron Guidry. Aaron Guidry was a fourteen-year-old friend of Robert Dougay and he happened to be spending the night when the murders occurred. From the condition of the bodies, the police could tell that the murders occurred several days earlier.

The corrugated tin building at 2711 Church Street was a small machine shop where Daniel Dougay worked on cars. Lately, Mr. Dougay had been living in the cluttered machine shop even though it did not have electricity or toilet facilities. On the night of Friday, March 19, 1993, young Robert Dougay and Aaron Guidry spent the night with Mr. Dougay because they planned to go to the Iowa Rabbit Festival the next day. The last time anyone heard from any of the three men was at 11:30 p.m. on Friday night when Doris Ewalt spoke with her nephew, Robert Dougay, while he and Aaron Guidry were visiting his grandmother at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital.

On Monday, March 22, 1993, Michael Narcisse was working at Gates Food Store, a convenience store down the street from the machine shop, when his nephew [97-179 La.App. 3 Cir. 3] told him that there were three dead bodies in Daniel Dougay's shop. Mr. Narcisse knew the victims and the Defendant, as he would see them often in the store. He refused to believe that anyone would kill Daniel Dougay, so he went to the shop and saw the bodies. Mr. Narcisse then called the police.

The police soon learned that Jeffery Tezeno had been living in the machine shop with Daniel Dougay because Mr. Tezeno had been thrown out of his home by his parents. Daniel Dougay took him in several months earlier, but threw him out of the machine shop shortly before the murders because Mr. Tezeno had stolen equipment used by Mr. Dougay. Through confidential informants, Lieutenant "Candy" Lewis of the Lake Charles Police Department learned that Jeff Tezeno was staying at the Melrose Motel on Broad Street in Lake Charles. When the desk clerk was shown a mug shot of Mr. Tezeno, she identified him and said he was staying in a room rented by the Defendant, Christopher "BB" Guillory. Lieutenant Lewis found Mr. Tezeno in the motel room, and he was taken to the police station for questioning.

Later, Mr. Narcisse found the Defendant at his parents' home, and they drove to the Gates Food Store where the two men talked and drank beer. The Defendant eventually said he wanted to meet with "Lieutenant" Lewis, so Mr. Narcisse called Lieutenant Lewis to come to the store. When Lieutenant Lewis met with the Defendant, he advised the Defendant of his Miranda rights, and the Defendant was allowed to go to his parents' home to change clothes. While they drove to the police station, the Defendant and Lieutenant Lewis began to talk about Jeff Tezeno and the murders.

At that point in the investigation, the Defendant was not a suspect. Jeff Tezeno was the leading suspect and the Defendant was wanted simply as a possible witness [97-179 La.App. 3 Cir. 4] to Mr. Tezeno's comings and goings since the murders. However, while Lieutenant Lewis talked with the Defendant he became very suspicious that the Defendant may have been with Mr. Tezeno when the murders occurred or the Defendant himself may have committed the murders. Lieutenant Lewis told the Defendant about his suspicions.

At the police station, the Defendant continued to talk with Corporal Kevin Kirkum while Lieutenant Lewis stepped away, and the Defendant eventually confessed that he committed the murders. After Lieutenant Lewis again talked with the Defendant, the lead investigator, Detective Denise Hughes, informed the Defendant of his Miranda rights, and the Defendant gave a videotaped confession.

It appears that the Defendant and Jeff Tezeno went on a weekend-long cocaine and marijuana binge while they were at the Melrose Motel. To get money to buy the drugs, the Defendant and Mr. Tezeno would steal items from Mr. Dougay's shop and pawn or sell the items to others. When the Defendant was brought to the police station, he turned over pawn slips from two local pawn shops; the items pawned were those used in automotive paint and body work done by Daniel Dougay at his shop. The Defendant also sold a four-wheeler and a Skil saw to Willie Fontenot the morning after the murders on Saturday, March 20, 1993. On the Friday night of the murders, both the Defendant and Jeff Tezeno had ridden to Mr. Fontenot's home on Daniel Dougay's Honda motorcycle and unsuccessfully tried to sell him an air compressor. In his confession, the Defendant said he went to the Dougay shop after midnight and knocked on the door asking if Jeff Tezeno was there, even though he knew that Jeff Tezeno was at the Melrose Motel. When Daniel Dougay answered the door, he told the Defendant that Tezeno was not there, and while he went back to [97-179 La.App. 3 Cir. 5] sleep on the mattress on the floor, he complained that he would report Tezeno to the police because Tezeno had stolen a compressor from him. The Defendant said he held a pen-light in his mouth while he drew a .22 caliber pistol stolen from Daniel Dougay and proceeded to shoot Daniel Dougay, then Robert Dougay and finally Aaron Guidry. The coroner testified that all three men suffered two fatal gunshot wounds to the head.

After the shootings, the Defendant stole Daniel Dougay's car, but abandoned it later. It appears that the Defendant told Jeff Tezeno about the shootings and then he told others about the shootings. The victims' bodies remained in the shop until the police were called the following Monday. That is not to say that the bodies were not discovered or seen by anyone else until Monday; to the contrary, there were a couple of visits to the shed by the Defendant, Mr. Tezeno and others after the murders.

Early in the morning of Saturday, March 20, 1993, Vance Behn rode with Calvin Washington to see the Defendant and Jeff Tezeno at the Melrose Motel. While Calvin Washington went into the motel room, Vance Behn stayed in the car and the Defendant came to the car and spoke with Mr. Behn. As the conversation ended, the Defendant raised his shirt to show Mr. Behn Daniel Dougay's .22 caliber pistol and then told him, "Don't tell anyone I'm here." Later that same morning, the Defendant rode up to Donald Washington's home on a four-wheeler and told Donald, "I got it for[sic] a dead man." The Defendant also lifted his shirt to show Donald Washington the .22 caliber pistol. Between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, the Defendant tried to sell other equipment from Daniel Dougay's shop to Shawn Bengel who was working at an automotive paint and body shop near the murder scene. When the police later showed a picture of the Defendant on television, Mr. Bengel recognized the man as the one who was riding a four-wheeler and trying to sell him [97-179 La.App. 3 Cir. 6] automotive repair equipment. As mentioned previously, the Defendant eventually sold the four-wheeler and a Skil saw to Willie Fontenot later on Saturday afternoon.

The police located the Defendant during the evening of Monday, March 22, 1993, and later that same evening, he gave a videotaped confession. During booking procedures, the Defendant made another incriminating statement to Deputy Sconnie Granger about how he used a gun to kill the three victims. The next day, the Defendant's court appointed attorney saw him in jail and suspected that the Defendant was still high on cocaine. A test of a urine sample given by the Defendant revealed the presence of both cocaine and marijuana in the Defendant's system more than seventeen hours after the confession. Both the State and the Defendant presented witnesses who testified about the possible effect the drugs would have on the Defendant's ability to voluntarily confess to the murders.

The Defendant contends that he did not kill the victims but rather Jeffery Tezeno committed the murders and was able to blame it on the Defendant. There was no direct evidence of the Defendant's guilt. All that the State had was circumstantial evidence, the Defendant's confession, and several other incriminating statements made by ...