State ex rel. Lawrence v. Smith

• Decision Date: 03 December 1990
• Docket Number: No. 90,90
• Citation: 571 So.2d 133
• Parties: STATE ex rel. David Hill LAWRENCE v. Larry SMITH, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary. KP 0470.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 133

571 So.2d 133

STATE ex rel. David Hill LAWRENCE v. Larry SMITH, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary.

No. 90 KP 0470.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Dec. 3, 1990.

Ginger Berrigan, Garvel, Brady & Berrigan, Alexandria, for State ex rel. David Hill Lawrence, plaintiff-applicant.

Willian E. Tilley, Dist. Atty., Asa A. Skinner, Leesville, for Larry Smith, defendant-respondent.

WATSON, Justice.

Lawrence was convicted in 1978 of the second degree murder of his wife and sentenced to life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. His conviction was affirmed on appeal. State v. Lawrence, 365 So.2d 1356 (La.1978), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 846, 100 S.Ct. 93, 62 L.Ed.2d 60 (1979).

An application for postconviction relief was filed last year in the trial court claiming insufficiency of the evidence, improper reference to defendant's postarrest silence, and ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court denied the application and a writ was granted to consider particularly the sufficiency issue. Defendant's contention is that the evidence was insufficient to prove second degree murder because the mitigating factors of manslaughter were established.

FACTS

David Hill Lawrence, a career sergeant in the Army stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana, spent the evening of August 26, 1976, drinking beer with several Army friends. Lawrence called his wife between 4:30 and 5:30 P.M. to tell her he would be late getting home. Between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. he called again to say he was on his way home. During the four hours, Lawrence consumed seven or eight beers. Sergeant John Mahoney was having car trouble and accompanied Lawrence. About 10:00 P.M. the two men arrived at the Lawrence home in Simpson, Louisiana, where they intended to spend the night. Mahoney was a good friend of the couple and had previously stayed overnight at their home.

Sandra Lawrence, David's wife of almost seven years, was furious. After an argument, she attacked David and backed him into the kitchen. A fight ensued. Mahoney was on the verge of leaving the kitchen when he heard a body or bodies hitting the floor. He turned and saw the two struggling on the floor with David on top of Sandra hitting her head on the floor. Mahoney pulled David away from his wife and tried to calm him down. The two men left Sandra lying on the floor of the kitchen and went to the front porch for a cigarette. When Mahoney returned to check on Sandra, she was lying on the kitchen floor breathing heavily. Not realizing that Sandra was seriously hurt, Mahoney left in David's truck. This was the only available transportation, and Mahoney intended to return for David the next morning.

David Lawrence said he spoke to his wife and carried her into the bedroom before falling asleep on the living room couch. When he received a call around 4:20 A.M. advising him that his company had been placed on alert, David went into the bedroom and discovered that his wife was dead. The caller, Donald Wayne Martin, said that David sounded like someone just waking up. After finding Sandra, David called Mahoney and asked him to notify the coroner and sheriff's office. David also telephoned his father, J.W. Lawrence, Jr., about 4:30 A.M. and said: "Sandy is dead." (Tr. 308.) In response to his father's questions, David said he thought he must have killed Sandra when he hit her head on the floor.

Sergeant and Mrs. Lawrence had two children, a boy and a girl, and appeared to have a normal family life. David's aunt, Joy Lynn Lawrence, saw the couple frequently and had never seen them fight or argue. They had attended a family services clinic at Fort Polk because Sandra, a native of Pennsylvania, did not like Louisiana. Sandra was five feet five inches tall and weighed about 112 pounds. David was five feet ten inches tall and weighed about 155 pounds.

Aunt Joy and, a little later, David's father, arrived at the house shortly after David's call and confirmed that Sandra was dead. David was sobbing, and his son, Patrick, was trying to console him. Aunt Joy had never seen her nephew cry. David's father, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, said that David was in a state of shock and in no condition to answer questions. Through Aunt Joy, he had advised David to remain silent.

At the time of trial, Lawrence had been in the military ten years and five months. He had served two tours of duty in Vietnam and thirteen months in Korea, receiving eight awards for merit and two unit awards, including a special commendation. He had reached the rank of Sergeant E-5 and served as crew chief on a helicopter.

Lehrue Stevens, Jr., the pathologist who performed the autopsy, said Sandra Lawrence had bruises on her arms and chest, bruising at the neck consistent with strangulation, and a fracture at the base of the skull which extended three inches toward the left ear. The skull fracture resulted from a significant force but could have been caused by a fall in which two people were struggling. Dr. Stevens estimated that death occurred between 10:00 P.M. and midnight.

Pathologist Tom Norman, another expert witness, found no evidence of strangulation and attributed death to the severe skull fracture. Dr. Norman said the fracture could have resulted from a violent fall. According to Dr. Norman, Sandra Lawrence would have been temporarily unconscious but might have regained her senses for a short interval preceding her death. Dr. S.J. Jones, the coroner who examined the body at the scene, testified about the severe massive injury to the head. His estimate of the time of death was between 9:45 and 10:00 P.M.

MANSLAUGHTER

Manslaughter is a responsive verdict to second degree murder. Manslaughter is a homicide committed in sudden passion or heat of blood immediately caused by provocation sufficient to deprive an average person of self control and cool reflection. LSA-R.S. 14:31. ¹

Under one line of authority, the Due Process Clause requires the prosecution to prove the absence of heat of passion or sudden provocation when that issue is properly presented in a homicide case. Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975). Mullaney held a Maine statute unconstitutional which required a defendant to prove heat of passion or sudden provocation in order to reduce murder to manslaughter. See also Reed v. Ross, 468 U.S. 1, 104 S.Ct. 2901, 82 L.Ed.2d 1 (1984). Compare Patterson v. New York, 432 U.S. 197, 97 S.Ct. 2319, 53 L.Ed.2d 281 (1977), which upheld a New York statute requiring a defendant to prove extreme emotional distress to reduce murder to manslaughter. Louisiana has followed the Patterson rule that defendant must prove the mitigating factors of sudden passion or heat of blood to reduce a homicide to manslaughter. State v. Tompkins, 403 So.2d 644 (La.1981); State v. Temple, 394 So.2d 259 (La.1981). The distinction is of no moment here since the evidence clearly proves that the crime resulted from sudden passion and heat of blood.

When the preponderance of the evidence shows that a homicide was committed in sudden passion or heat of blood which would have deprived an average person of his self control and cool reflection, a jury errs in rendering a verdict of second degree murder. State v. Lombard, 486 So.2d 106 (La.1986).

A conviction of second degree murder must be vacated when a rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could only have found defendant guilty of manslaughter. State v. Byrd, 385 So.2d 248 (La.1980); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). ²

Although taller and heavier than his wife and a trained soldier, David Lawrence does not fit the stereotype of the wifebeater who finally goes too far. It was his wife who attacked him and backed him into the kitchen. This does not, of course, excuse the subsequent violence. However, the photographs and evidence do not show the victim in a horribly bruised or battered condition and are consistent with David Lawrence's testimony that he placed his wife on the bed without realizing that she was critically injured.

The evidence indicates that the cause of death, the skull fracture, was sustained when the couple fell to the kitchen floor. There is no evidence of any other cause.

Likewise, there is no evidence that this domestic tragedy was the result of a plan or that David Lawrence had formulated a prior intent to kill his wife. Sandra Lawrence initiated the fight; her husband retreated until he lost his temper and retaliated. Under these circumstances, the provocation was sufficient to have deprived an average person of his self control.

"A preponderance of the evidence clearly shows that defendant committed the offense in a sudden passion or heat of blood caused by a provocation which would have deprived an average person of his self control and cool reflection. No rational trier of fact could have concluded otherwise. Thus, the jury erred when it found defendant guilty of second degree murder. It should have returned a verdict of manslaughter ...

"If the appellate court finds that the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the state, supports only a conviction of a lesser included responsive offense, the court may modify the verdict and render a judgment of conviction on the lesser included responsive offense." Lombard, 486 So.2d at 111.

It is interesting to note that the prosecution, in closing argument, argued that defendant was guilty of manslaughter. "[T]he State would submit that the evidence that has been adduced from this witness stand should prove to you beyond any doubt that he has committed manslaughter. Why do I say that? Let me define for you Manslaughter." (Tr. 519.)

Lawrence's conviction must be reduced from second degree murder to manslaughter under State v. Byrd, and he must be resentenced.

DOYLE VIOLATION

The jury's verdict that defendant was guilty as charged (of second degree murder) may...