Letell v. Leblanc
| Decision Date | 08 June 2016 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION NO. 15-5008 SECTION "I"(4) |
| Parties | ROBERT LETELL v. JAMES LEBLANC, NATHAN CAIN |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana |
This matter was referred to a United States Magistrate Judge to conduct hearings, including an evidentiary hearing if necessary, and to submit proposed findings and recommendations pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and (C), and as applicable, Rule 8(b) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases. Upon review of the entire record, the Court has determined that this matter can be disposed of without an evidentiary hearing. See 28 U.S.C. §2254(e)(2) (2006).1
The petitioner, Robert Letell ("Letell"), is a convicted inmate incarcerated in the Avoyelles Correctional Center in Cottonport, Louisiana.2 On February 22, 2010, Letell was charged by Bill of Information in Lafourche Parish with one count of fourth offense operating a vehicle while intoxicated, one count of vehicular homicide, and three counts of first degree vehicular negligent injury.3 The State entered a nolle prosequi on the negligent injury charges.4
The record reflects that on February 18, 2010, at approximately 4:00 p.m., Willie Joseph Galliano, Sr., was killed when his vehicle was struck by Letell's white Ford F250 truck on Louisiana Highway 308 in Lafourche Parish.5 Galliano was thirty-eight years old at the time of his death. He left behind four children, and his wife was pregnant with their first son.
Frances Louise Addison's vehicle was also struck by Letell's truck during the incident. She was driving through a curve headed southbound on La. Highway 308 with her two children, and saw Letell's white Ford truck heading northbound. The truck was speeding excessively and out of control. The truck hit Addison's vehicle "broadside." Her vehicle flipped and rolled over landing on its wheels. Addison saw a white male driving and no one else in the truck.
Trisha Bourque Lombas was driving northbound on La. Highway 308 and had her four children in the car. The speed limit was 55 miles per hour, but Lombas was driving approximately five miles faster. A white pickup truck approached her from the rear, traveling at "a crazy speed," and almost rammed the rear of her vehicle. Lombas saw the driver of the truck in her driver's side mirror and identified Letell in court and at the scene as the driver.
Lombas increased her speed to avoid contact with Letell's truck. Letell attempted to pass her, but another vehicle was headed towards them in the southbound lane. Letell pulled back behind Lombas's vehicle to avoid a head-on collision. He soon drove up to the rear of Lombas's vehicle, and she again sped up to avoid being hit. Letell then moved to pass Lombas's vehicle as they headed into a curve, forcing the vehicle headed southbound to go off into the grass to avoid a head-on collision. She saw Letell at the accident scene after she stopped to help a woman andchild whose vehicle had been struck by the truck. Letell was on the ground next to the open driver's door of the white truck holding his stomach and crying.
Tommy Mayet was driving southbound on La. Highway 308 shortly before the incident. When Mayet entered a curve traveling about 40 miles per hour, he saw a light-colored Ford F250 pickup truck traveling in the northbound lane at "a very, very high rate of speed." The truck went off the road, and Mayet anticipated the truck would overcorrect and possibly hit him. The truck did exactly as Mayet predicted and "barely missed" striking his vehicle. Following the collision with Galliano's vehicle, Mayet saw Letell lying down on the ground by the truck.
Louisiana State Troopers Keith Gros, Jr., and Dawn Celestine investigated the crash scene following the incident. Trooper Gros found yaw marks left by the defendant's truck, consistent with the vehicle spinning out of control. Trooper Celestine found tire marks in Letell's lane of travel indicating that his truck had driven off the roadway. The point of impact with Galliano's vehicle was in the southbound lane.
Trooper Celestine also spoke to Letell in the hospital on the day of the incident. He had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. He initially claimed that, at approximately noon on the day of the incident, he stopped at an unknown gas station and was carjacked by a black male, who took control of his vehicle. Letell stated that he drank a pint of vodka to calm his nerves and could not remember what happened thereafter. After Trooper Celestine confronted Letell with the witness accounts, Letell stated that he must have been driving "if that is what the witness said." He also stated that he killed a man and should "receive the same punishment the man I killed got."
Louisiana State Trooper Michael Lynn Satcher also visited Letell at the hospital on the day of the incident. He too detected an odor of alcohol on Letell's breath. Trooper Satcher performed a horizontal gaze nystagmus test on Letell, and Letell failed the sobriety test. BecauseLetell was involved in an accident with a fatality, he was required to submit to blood-alcohol testing. Additionally, Trooper Satcher indicated he twice advised Letell of his Miranda rights, once when he initially met Letell, and again when he read Letell the rights relating to the chemical test for intoxication form. Letell refused to sign the form. When his blood was drawn at 7:04 p.m., the blood-alcohol content was .22 grams percent. At the time of the incident, Letell was on parole related to a prior conviction for fourth-offense DWI.
After being found competent to proceed,6 Letell was tried before a jury on September 14 through 16, 2011, and found guilty as charged fourth offense DWI and vehicular homicide.7 On October 18, 2011, the Trial Court denied Letell's post-trial motions, including those for new trial and post-verdict judgment of acquittal.8 After waiver of legal delays, the Trial Court sentenced Letell on the fourth offense DWI to thirty (30) years in prison without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence and a $5,000 fine plus court costs.9 The sentence was ordered to be served consecutive to the sentence on the prior fourth offense DWI for which his parole was revoked in a separate proceeding.10 On the vehicular homicide charge, the Court sentenced Letell to serve a consecutive term of thirty (30) years in prison with a $5,000 fine plus court costs. Thefirst five years of the sentence was to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The Court also denied his motion to reconsider the sentence.11
On direct appeal to the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, Letell's appointed appellate counsel asserted two errors:12 (1) the Trial Court erred in denying trial counsel's motion to withdraw based on a conflict of interest created by Letell's bar complaint; and (2) the sentences were excessive and amounted to double jeopardy. Letell filed a pro se supplemental brief in which he asserted five issues:13 (1) the Trial Court erred in denying him the right to self-representation and to present his own defense under Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975); (2) the Trial Court erred in denying him the right to testify to address the inculpatory statements; (3) the Trial Court erred in denying the motion to suppress the blood-alcohol test for lack of maintenance certificates on the testing machine; (4) the Trial Court erred when it allowed the prosecutor to mispresent material facts, alter documents, and coerce witnesses to perjure themselves; and (5) the Trial Court erred when it denied the motion to suppress the confession/statements taken during the illegal detention.
On October 25, 2012, the Louisiana First Circuit affirmed Letell's convictions and sentences finding no merit in the claims raised and finding pro se issue for it was not preserved under La. Code Crim. P. art. 841 and La. Code Ev. art. 103(A)(1).14 The Louisiana Supreme Court denied Letell's related writ application without stated reasons on April 26, 2013.15
His conviction was final under federal law ninety (90) days later, on July 25, 2013, when he did not file a writ application with the United States Supreme Court. Ott v. Johnson, 192 F.3d 510, 513 (5th Cir. 1999) (); U.S. Sup. Ct. Rule 13(1).
On October 21, 2013, Letell signed and submitted an application for post-conviction relief to the Trial Court in which he asserted multiple grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel,16 prosecutorial misconduct,17 denial of due process and the right to a fair trial by the state trial judge,18 and denial of due process by the state clerk of court.19
After receiving procedural objections from the State asserting that the claims were resolved by the direct appeal, on December 12, 2013, the Trial Court ordered that the claims be dismissed.20 Letell timely sought review of this ruling in the Louisiana First Circuit and later withdrew the application.21
In spite of the dismissal, on July 17, 2014, the State filed an answer and supporting memorandum addressing "the hodge-podge allegations that are not clearly dismissed pursuant to the prior judgment" and seeking dismissal of any remaining claims as meritless.22 Letell filed a myriad of responses to the State's answer, along with a number of writ applications to the Louisiana First Circuit and the Louisiana Supreme Court mostly seeking directives to the trial court to issue a ruling.23 Letell's efforts were unsuccessful and the Trial Court entered no other rulings on his original application for post-conviction relief.
On review of the Trial Court's original dismissal of the post-conviction application, the Louisiana Supreme Court eventually denied Letell's related writ application on September 11, 2015, on procedural grounds citing La. Code Crim. P. art....
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