State v. Brown

• Decision Date: 30 September 2021
• Docket Number: 2018-KA-01999
• Parties: STATE OF LOUISIANA v. DAVID H. BROWN
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

STATE OF LOUISIANA
v.
DAVID H. BROWN

No. 2018-KA-01999

Supreme Court of Louisiana

September 30, 2021

On Appeal from the 17th Judicial District Court, Parish of Lafourche

Retired Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll, appointed Justice as hoc, sitting for Weimer, C.J., recused in case number 2018-KA-01999 only.

Retired Judge Frank Hardy Thaxton, appointed Justice ad hoc, sitting for Crain, J., recused in case number 2018-KA-01999 only.

CRICHTON, J. ^[*]

A grand jury indicted defendant, David H. Brown, on three charges of first degree murder, and the State noticed its intent to seek the death penalty, designating several statutory aggravating circumstances. Following the close of evidence, a unanimous jury found defendant guilty as charged. Before the penalty phase of defendant's trial and following a hearing pursuant to Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975), the trial court granted defendant's request to represent himself during the penalty phase. Defendant's request arose due to a conflict between the defendant and his lawyers about defense counsel's presentation of certain mitigating evidence. The jury subsequently returned a unanimous verdict of death on each count. This is defendant's direct appeal pursuant to La. Const. art. V, § 5(D).

In his appeal, defendant raises 82 assignments of error, including the trial court's ruling on defendant's request to proceed pro se during the penalty phase. For the reasons set forth herein, we find the trial court erred in allowing defendant to represent himself during the penalty phase and therefore vacate the sentences of death. However, finding no merit to defendant's remaining challenges, we affirm his convictions and remand the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In the early morning hours of Sunday, November 4, 2012, Carlos Nieves ("Nieves") knocked on the door of Costin Constantin ("Constantin"), his neighbor in the Longueville Apartments in Lockport, Louisiana, located in Lafourche Parish. Nieves told Constantin that his apartment was on fire and that his wife and children were upstairs. Nieves and Constantin attempted to go upstairs but were unsuccessful due to the heat and smoke.

Police, firefighters, and paramedics arrived at the apartment shortly after 5:30 a.m. Firefighters discovered the bodies of Nieves's wife, Jacquelin Nieves, and their two daughters, Gabriela Nieves (age 7) and Izabela Nieves (age 18 months), in a bedroom upstairs. They were each pronounced dead at the scene. Jacquelin and Gabriela were both found naked from the waist down with their legs open, and Isabela was found wearing only a diaper. Each body appeared to have been stabbed several times. A knife wrapped in a pair of children's underwear was found on a mattress in the bedroom, and a blood-soaked white shirt with a dark stripe across the chest was also found at the scene.

The Lockport Police Department took Carlos Nieves into custody and transported him to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office ("LPSO") Criminal Operations Center in Lockport. Investigators with LPSO interviewed Nieves and other residents of the apartment complex and learned that the previous day, Saturday, November 3, 2012, an all-day barbecue and watch party for an LSU football game had taken place outside of Constantin's apartment, which he shared with Adam Billiot. Billiot, Nieves, and defendant all attended the gathering.

Constantin, Billiot, and defendant were all employed at Bollinger Shipyards ("Bollinger"), where Billiot supervised defendant, a welder. On the day of the party, between 11:30 a.m. and noon, Billiot had picked up defendant from Bollinger, where defendant resided in an employee bunkhouse.^[1] Before arriving at the apartment complex, Billiot and defendant purchased food and alcohol from a grocery store and defendant purchased energy drinks at a gas station. Constantin, who had worked a night shift and went fishing that morning, arrived at the complex sometime in the afternoon and went to sleep shortly thereafter. Other residents at the apartments, including Nanette Barrios and her partner, Leroy Hebert, attended the party at various times throughout the day. Residents told investigators that defendant had also attended the party, wearing a white shirt with a stripe across the chest. As will be discussed below, a shirt matching this description was found at the crime scene.

During the game, Jacquelin, Gabriela, and Izabela returned to their apartment after having stayed at Jacquelin's mother's house the night before. While they did not attend the party, Carlos Nieves returned to his apartment and spoke with Jacquelin at some point. After the game, Nieves, Billiot, and defendant visited two bars, namely the Blue Moon in Lockport, then Da Bar in Raceland. After leaving Da Bar, they went back to the Blue Moon but left when they found it empty. They returned to Billiot's apartment around 2:00 a.m.

Shortly thereafter, defendant entered Barrios's apartment, which shared a common wall with the Nieves apartment. Nannette Barrios told investigators that defendant went into her son's bedroom upstairs, turned on the light, and asked him where Hebert was. Unable to find Hebert, defendant went back downstairs, where Barrios was sleeping, and touched her awake. Barrios screamed at defendant and told him to leave. Defendant walked back to Billiot's apartment and briefly spoke with Billiot, who then went upstairs to go to sleep.

Carlos Nieves testified that he returned to his own apartment and fell asleep on the sofa downstairs, waking only when smoke from the fire left him unable to breathe. Shortly thereafter, police, firefighters and paramedics arrived and began pulling the victims' bodies out of the apartment.

Around 11:00 a.m. the same day, police unsuccessfully attempted to locate defendant at the Bollinger bunkhouse but found him there when they returned around 4:00 p.m. An unidentified Hispanic man who answered the door of the trailer gave police permission to enter, and police entered defendant's room and found him asleep in his bed. Lt. John Champagne announced to defendant they were from LPSO and defendant complied when asked to step down from his bunk. Lt. Champagne placed defendant in handcuffs and told him that he was being detained but not under arrest, and advised him of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (1966). He told defendant investigators wished to speak with him about "an incident."

Detectives arrived at the bunkhouse eight to ten minutes later. Det. Baron Cortopossi again Mirandized defendant, and defendant asked the detectives if they thought he needed a lawyer. According to Det. Benjamin Dempster's testimony at trial, Det. Dempster responded, "Do you think you need a lawyer? We are talking to everybody that was at the apartments [sic] the night before, because we had a fire with some deaths." Police then transported defendant to the LPSO Criminal Operations Center, where he was Mirandized again and signed a waiver of rights form.

During an initial unrecorded interview, defendant told investigators that after the Barrios incident, he left the apartment complex and walked northbound along a nearby highway to Sunrise Fried Chicken but walked back to the complex when he saw it was closed. He said Billiot's door was locked when he returned, so he walked across the street from the complex and into a field, fell asleep in a shed, then went home when he woke up. When defendant mentioned that he had been bitten by bugs in the shed, investigators asked him to roll up his sleeves, at which point they observed three bandages on his left arm covering most of a cut.^[2] Defendant then rolled his sleeve down and again asked if he needed a lawyer. Det. Dempster asked defendant if he thought he needed a lawyer, to which defendant did not respond, and the interview ended.

Defendant remained in the interview room while investigators obtained and executed a search warrant of his residence. They located a garbage bag in a dumpster outside of the bunkhouse containing a dark t-shirt belonging to Carlos Nieves and a pair of blue jeans with a wallet inside, which contained two identification cards issued to defendant. After completing the search, investigators returned to the interview room where they again Mirandized defendant and conducted a second, recorded interview. During the second interview, investigators told defendant that witnesses who had seen him the previous day described him as having worn a white shirt with a stripe across it, and defendant indicated that he had worn such a shirt. Investigators then asked defendant if he wanted to explain why a shirt matching that description was found at the crime scene, at which time defendant requested a lawyer and the interview was terminated. Police arrested defendant and booked him on unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling and simple battery in connection with the Barrios incident.

On January 23, 2013, defendant was booked on three counts of first degree murder in connection with this case. On May 17, 2013, a grand jury indicted defendant on three counts of first degree murder. Defendant was arraigned on May 21, 2013 and pleaded not guilty. The same day, the State filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty, designating the following statutory aggravating circumstances: (1) the offender knowingly created a risk of death or great bodily harm to more than one person; (2) the victim, Izabela Nieves, was under the age of twelve (12) years; (3) the victim, Gabriela Nieves, was under the age of twelve (12) years; (4) the offender was engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of the aggravated rape of Jacquelin Nieves; (5) the offender was engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of the aggravated rape of Gabriela Nieves; (6) the offender was engaged in the perpetration...