State v. Anderson
| Decision Date | 12 October 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. CR82-821,CR82-821 |
| Citation | 440 So.2d 205 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Wallace ANDERSON, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Hardy M. Parkerson, Lake Charles, Charles Schrumpf, Sulphur, for defendant-appellant.
Leonard Knapp, Jr. and Karen Lee Price, Lake Charles, for plaintiff-appellee.
Before DOMENGEAUX, FORET and YELVERTON, JJ.
*
The defendant, Wallace Anderson, was indicted by the Calcasieu Parish Grand Jury on charges of aggravated rape under La.R.S. 14:42, and attempted aggravated rape under La.R.S. 14:42 and 14:27. These charges arose from an incident in December, 1981, involving the defendant, and two juveniles. Following his plea of not guilty, 1 defendant was tried jointly before a twelve (12) member jury on both charges and was found guilty on each count. 2
The trial court sentenced the defendant to the mandatory penalties for aggravated rape and attempted aggravated rape, i.e., life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence on the former and fifty (50) years imprisonment on the latter, the second sentence to be served consecutively to the first.
On this appeal from his conviction and sentence, the defendant has presented fifteen assignments of error, which are as follows:
(1) The trial court erred in failing to allow the attorneys for defendant to rehabilitate the defendant after he was impeached for prior convictions.
(2) The trial court erred in using the responsive verdicts effective on the trial date (October 1982) in its charge and interrogatories to the jury, when the alleged offense occurred in December 1981.
(3) The trial court erred in using an improper and unconstitutional jury instruction in stating that the jury may find that the defendant intended the natural and probable consequences of his acts.
(4) The trial court erred in failing to give the amended written jury charges to defendant's counsel, although defendant had requested a copy of the charge that was read to the jury.
(5) The trial court erred in allowing, over defendant's objection, hearsay evidence from police officers as to what the alleged victims had told police officers concerning defendant's actions.
(6) The trial court erred in recognizing Barbara Ray as an expert in the field of serology.
(7) The trial court erred in allowing the prosecutor in closing argument to allude to evidence which was not in the record and highly prejudicial; specifically, evidence that Barbara Ray had stated that she had found type O blood on the defendant's underwear, when in fact, Barbara Ray had stated that she was unable to type the blood on the underwear.
(8) The trial court erred in allowing into evidence certain photographs taken by police, which were not included in the State's answers to defendant's motion for discovery; nor were the photographs made available to defendant's counsel when defense counsel inspected the State's evidence at the Sheriff's Department pursuant to the written authorization furnished to defendant's counsel by the State of Louisiana in satisfaction of the defendant's motion for discovery; and in failing to timely amend and supplement its answers to discovery prior to trial in violation of Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 718 and 729.3. 3
(9) The trial court erred in prejudicing the jury by calling down the defendant in front of the jury, although the defendant had done nothing wrong; the court addressed him in a hostile tone, ordering him to take gum out of his mouth, when in fact he merely had a speech impediment.
(10) The trial court erred in allowing into evidence, over defendant's objection, a rape kit without the State having proved a proper chain of evidence and without a proper foundation having been lain for an introduction of same.
(11) The trial court erred in limiting defendant's counsel's closing arguments, when defense counsel attempted to analogize to similar fact situations and cases.
(12) The trial court erred in finding that the evidence presented by the State was sufficient to show a rape beyond a reasonable doubt and to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.
(13) The trial court erred in allowing the State, in its closing arguments to refer to evidence which was not in the record with regard to who called the police.
(14) The trial court erred in not placing the witnesses for the State under a sequestration order, after defendant had requested by motion that all witnesses be placed under the rule of the court.
(15) The trial court erred in allowing prospective jurors who had been summoned to have their names withdrawn from the jury venire, or excusing such jurors without notifying defense counsel of the reasons for so excusing the prospective jurors.
On Saturday, December 5, 1981, during late afternoon, two Lake Charles police officers, Detective Reinecke and Officer Barfield, responded separately to an anonymous call 4 that a possible rape was in progress in an abandoned apartment at 613 Armstrong Street. Detective Reinecke arrived at the location first and observed a single automobile parked in the apartment complex's driveway. In that vehicle were two black juveniles, Brenda Anderson (age 14) and Philip August (age 9). Before approaching the car, Reinecke inquired without success of several pedestrians as to who had called the police. Upon logging in the license number of the automobile, Reinecke was joined by Officer Barfield, and the two saw a black female standing at an upstairs window pointing to the apartment below.
Before proceeding further, the officers asked the children in the parked car what was wrong. Brenda, who was crying at that time, stated that her "daddy" had just raped her and that he had her little sister inside the apartment at that moment. 5 She also told the officers that the defendant ("daddy") had a knife. Finding the door heavily padlocked, the officers entered the apartment through a window and promptly arrested the defendant whose clothes were "disarranged [and] kind of dirty." 6 Melissa August (Brenda's younger sister), age 10, was found tucking her shirt in her pants and arranging her clothes, and when she was asked by the officers what had happened, she answered "that Wallie [defendant] was getting ready to do it to her." Melissa showed the officers where the defendant had hidden the knife when he heard them entering the apartment. At the time of the offenses, the defendant was free on a weekend pass from Angola, where he was serving a prison term on a conviction for manslaughter. 7
By this assignment defendant alleges that the trial court erred in refusing to allow his attorneys to rehabilitate him after he had been impeached by references to prior convictions. During his counsel's examination the defendant admitted that he had been convicted for manslaughter and had been serving a prison term for that offense since 1979. The defendant further admitted to his prior convictions for other felony crimes. 8 The State referred twice, as set forth below, to defendant's manslaughter conviction during its cross-examination of him:
Upon his redirect examination, the defendant was asked by his counsel to "tell [the jury] about the manslaughter." The State's objection to that question and the answer it sought to elicit was sustained by the trial judge. 9
Defendant contends that the trial court's refusal to allow him to be rehabilitated by explaining the details of his prior conviction for manslaughter violated fundamental fairness, inasmuch as the State is allowed to cross-examine the defendant about the details of the prior crime in order to show its true nature. See State v. Kimble, 407 So.2d 693 (La.1981); La.R.S. 15:495. It is well established that the prosecution may question the defendant as to the details of prior convictions in order to impeach his credibility. However, that questioning must be of a limited nature and may not go into far-reaching and irrelevant matters, which might prejudice the rights of the accused. State v. Talbert, 416 So.2d 97 (La.1982); State v. Connor, 403 So.2d 678 (La.1981); State v. Oliver, 387 So.2d 1154 (La.1980). The extent of the State's inquiry which is allowable depends upon the facts of each case, and the trial judge's discretion in determining the scope of prosecutorial questioning is great and will not be disturbed on appeal absent a showing of abuse. State v. Chaney, 423 So.2d 1092 (La.1982); State v. Thompson, 364 So.2d 908 (La.1978).
In the case sub judice the State did not go into the details of defendant's manslaughter conviction, and we cannot find that the trial judge erred in refusing to allow the defendant to go into those details. Nor was defendant denied due process of the law or fundamental fairness under these facts. The defendant chose to admit to the prior convictions, and the State did not elaborate upon the circumstances surrounding the crimes committed. We do not find it necessary to add to the accused's panoply of rights by overruling the trial court's correct determination that defendant's attempted redirect examination was irrelevant. Allowing one to explore the circumstances of a previous conviction under the nebulous assertion that he should be allowed to rehabilitate himself, when he himself has provided the source of impeachment, would do nothing more than circumvent the rule that irrelevant evidence is not admissible. La.R.S. 15:441. 10
Clearly, the defendant's attempt to introduce the facts surrounding his previous conviction for manslaughter would not have tended to prove or disprove any material fact in his trial for...
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