State v. Carter

• Decision Date: 24 January 2012
• Docket Number: No. 2010–KA–0614.,2010–KA–0614.
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Terrance CARTER.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

84 So.3d 499

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Terrance CARTER.

No. 2010–KA–0614.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Jan. 24, 2012.
Rehearing Denied March 9, 2012.

84 So.3d 506

Capital Appeals Project, New Orleans, LA, Blythe Taplin, Sarah Lynn Ottinger, Marilyn Michele Fournet, Baton Rouge, LA, for Appellant.

James D. Caldwell, Attorney General, William R. Jones, District Attorney, Clifford Royce Strider, III, Assistant District Attorney, for Appellee.

GUIDRY, Justice.

Defendant Terrance Carter was indicted on July 19, 2006, by a Red River Parish Grand Jury for the first degree murder of Corinthian Houston in violation of La. R.S. 14:30. After initially pleading not guilty, defendant changed his plea to a dual plea of not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity.¹ The district court denied defendant's motion to suppress his statements following a hearing conducted on July 16, 2008. Upon defendant's motion for change of venue due to extensive pre-trial publicity, the district court granted the change of venue, and by mutual agreement between the defense and the State, venue was relocated to Lincoln Parish. The sequestered jurors were selected in Lincoln Parish and taken to Red River Parish for trial. Jury selection began on September 8, 2008, and was completed on September 19, 2008. Testimony commenced thereafter, and on September 25, 2008, the State and defense concluded their cases. After deliberating, the jury returned the unanimous verdict of guilty of first degree murder. The penalty phase was conducted on September 26, 2008, and, having found the aggravating circumstances of aggravated kidnapping, second degree kidnapping, aggravated arson, and a victim under the age of 12 years, the jury returned with a unanimous recommendation that defendant be sentenced to death.

Defendant filed a motion for new trial, on which the district court conducted a hearing. During that hearing, defendant interrupted counsel and informed him that he wished to withdraw the motion. The district court continued to hear the testimony accepted as a proffer should the motion be withdrawn, but it ultimately granted the state's motion to dismiss two of the claims asserted in the motion. The defense sought writs, and on September

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24, 2009, the Second Circuit remanded for the trial court to determine defendant's capacity to withdraw his motion and to rule on defendant's request to withdraw his motion. The district court held a second hearing on October 6, 2009, after which it determined that defendant was competent to withdraw his motion for a new trial, and granted defendant's request to withdraw the motion. The district court sentenced defendant to death on that same day.

Under La. Const. art. V, § 5(D), defendant now appeals his conviction and sentence of death asserting twenty-five assignments of error and three supplemental assignments of error. We address the most significant of these alleged errors in this opinion, and the remaining errors will be addressed in an unpublished appendix. After a thorough review of the law and the evidence, for the following reasons we affirm defendant's first-degree murder conviction and the imposition of the death sentence.

FACTS

On July 1, 2006, defendant happened upon an acquaintance, George Herring, at a convenience store in Coushatta. Defendant persuaded Mr. Herring to drive him to Natchitoches, claiming he wanted to visit his young son. When they arrived in Natchitoches, however, defendant directed Mr. Herring from house to house in search of a woman named Pamela Fisher, who had recently ended a romantic relationship with defendant. During this fruitless quest, defendant evidently learned that Fisher had rekindled her relationship with Marcus Houston, who was the father of her child, Corinthian Houston. Defendant then directed Mr. Herring to Mr. Houston's residence, where five-year-old Corinthian, the victim, was playing with his older sister and his cousins. Corinthian greeted defendant enthusiastically, defendant took him into Mr. Herring's van, and, after yet another fruitless search for Ms. Fisher, the three drove back to Coushatta. Back in Coushatta, defendant instructed Mr. Herring to drop them off in front of an abandoned house next door to where defendant was living with his mother. Defendant assured Mr. Herring that he had a way to return Corinthian to Natchitoches, so Mr. Herring went home.

When the victim's father arrived home from work and discovered the victim was missing, the victim's sister told him that defendant had picked him up. Mr. Houston then called Ms. Fisher and the police. Ms. Fisher and the police repeatedly contacted defendant in search of Corinthian throughout the evening, including going to defendant's home, but defendant denied taking Corinthian and was not home when officers arrived there. At some point during this time period, defendant retrieved an extension cord and gasoline can from his mother's washroom next door. Defendant then tied Corinthian to a chair in the abandoned house, poured the gasoline over him, set him on fire, and burned him to death.

Defendant at some point thereafter crossed the street to the home of his neighbor, Huey Williams. Mr. Williams was not home, but defendant obtained an unspecified number of pills of the anti-psychotic medication Geodon from Mr. Williams's house, which he then consumed. Defendant again spoke to police on the phone around 9:30 p.m., and he again denied having taken Corinthian. Thereafter, defendant passed out in Mr. Williams's bed, where Mr. Williams found him sleeping at around 9:45 p.m. Defendant woke around 2 a.m. and returned home. Defendant's mother contacted the police.

On July 2, 2006, officers arrested defendant for kidnapping Corinthian and, between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m., transported him

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to the police station. After officers arrested defendant, his mother called one of her other sons and asked him to look in the abandoned house next door. She was concerned that Corinthian may have been restrained there, because she found it unusual that defendant had spent so much time there throughout the day. When her son arrived, by the light of his cellular phone (the house had no electricity), he discovered Corinthian's charred body tied to a chair. He returned to his mother's house, and they contacted the police. Defendant waived his rights and gave statements at approximately 1:10 p.m. and 3:40 p.m. on July 2, 2006. Defendant provided a blood sample, and was tested for drugs and alcohol at approximately 6:25 p.m. on July 2, 2006.

DISCUSSION

Part 1: Alleged Potential Conflict of Interest

Defendant's primary argument on appeal, and the sole error advanced at oral argument, is that one of his two appointed trial attorneys, Daryl Gold, labored under a potential conflict of interest in that counsel himself was facing possible charges in an unrelated criminal offense at the time of defendant's trial—charges that would be prosecuted by the Louisiana Attorney General's Office. Defendant does not allege any specific actions counsel took or failed to take as a result of the potential conflict of interest; instead, he contends the risk of a potential conflict was great, such that the trial court inadequately inquired into the conflict and failed to obtain a valid waiver of conflicted counsel pursuant to State v. Cisco, 01–2732 (La.12/3/03), 861 So.2d 118.² He thus asserts the trial court's failure violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel and necessitates either reversal of the conviction and sentence or, alternatively, a remand for a hearing to determine whether the defendant's waiver of the potential conflict of interest was knowing and intelligent. As discussed below, we find no merit to this assignment of error, because we conclude there has been no showing of an actual conflict of interest that necessitated either counsel's disqualification or a waiver of conflicted counsel by the defendant. Accordingly, the trial court's actions did not deprive the defendant of his Sixth Amendment right to conflict-free counsel.

The United States Supreme Court and this court have thoroughly examined the relationship between conflicting interests and effective assistance of counsel. See Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980) ; Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 55 L.Ed.2d 426 (1978) ; State v. Wille, 595 So.2d 1149, 1153 (La.1992) ; State v. Carmouche, 508 So.2d 792, 797 (La.1987) ; State v. Edwards, 430 So.2d 60, 62–63 (La.1983) ; State v. Marshall, 414 So.2d 684, 687–88 (La.1982). The issue of conflicting loyalties usually arises in the

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context of joint representation, but it can also arise in other scenarios. For example, an attorney may run into a conflict when "he or she is required to cross-examine a witness who is testifying against the defendant and who was or is a client of the attorney." State v. Cisco, 01–2732, p. 17, 861 So.2d at 129–30 (quoting State v. Tart, 93–0772, p. 19 (La.2/9/96), 672 So.2d 116, 125, and citing State v. Kirkpatrick, 443 So.2d 546, 552 (La.1983) )....