State v. Genter

• Citation: 872 So.2d 552
• Decision Date: 07 April 2004
• Docket Number: No. 2003-KA-1987.,2003-KA-1987.
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Theodore GENTER.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana (US)

872 So.2d 552

STATE of Louisiana v. Theodore GENTER.

No. 2003-KA-1987.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

April 7, 2004.

Eddie J. Jordan, Jr., District Attorney, Nick Orechwa, Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Laura Pavy, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant/Appellant.

(Court Composed of Judge CHARLES R. JONES, Judge MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., and Judge Pro Tempore MOON LANDRIEU).

MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

On 21 February 2002, the defendant, Theodore Genter ("Genter"), was indicted for the second degree murder of Caryn Beth Capps a/k/a Lydia Reinstein, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1.¹ On 8 March 2002, he pled not guilty to this charge. The court heard his motion to suppress the statement on 24 May 2002 and denied it on 14 January 2003. On 6 June 2003, at the conclusion of a four-day trial, a twelve-person jury found Genter guilty as charged. On 22 August 2003, the trial court denied Genter's motions for judgment of acquittal and in arrest of judgment. Genter waived all delays, and the court sentenced him to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefits of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. On that same date, the court denied Genter's motion to reconsider sentence but granted his motion for appeal.

In December 2001 police officers in Mandeville, Louisiana were investigating a crime that occurred in that area. During this investigation they contacted Christopher Kuddes ("Kuddes"), a suspect in the crime. When giving his statement, Kuddes stated that Genter, who was also a suspect in the Mandeville crime, had earlier bragged about killing a woman named Lydia while in New Orleans. Kuddes told the police that Genter's former roommate, William Morhaus ("Morhaus"), was also involved in the murder. The officers discovered Morhaus had been involved in another altercation on the North shore. The officers picked up Morhaus from his apartment on South Robertson Street in New Orleans and took him back to Mandeville where they interviewed him. During this interview, Morhaus admitted that he and Genter killed a woman he only knew as Lydia and disposed of her body in a dumpster. The officers contacted N.O.P.D. officers, and they questioned Morhaus, who gave a statement implicating himself and Genter in Lydia's murder.

Detective Winston Detective Harbin ("Detective Harbin") testified that on 11 December 2001 he was instructed to go to an apartment at 5832 South Robertson Street in New Orleans. When he arrived, he remembered that he had been called to the same address in March 2001 to investigate the death of Sara Ruffner, which was later ruled to be a suicide. Ms. Ruffner's roommate at the time of her death was Morhaus. Detective Harbin stated that he then received a call from the Mandeville police concerning the alleged murder at that address. He testified that he went to the Mandeville police station and met with detectives. He testified that he viewed Morhaus' videotaped statement, and then spoke with Morhaus, who was at the police station. Detective Harbin testified that he advised Morhaus that he was under investigation for a possible homicide, and Morhaus agreed to accompany Detective Harbin back to New Orleans for questioning. Detective Harbin stated that he advised Morhaus of his rights when they were in the car traveling back to New Orleans, and during the drive he attempted to ascertain Lydia's identity. Morhaus could only tell him that Lydia was from Texas. Once they arrived at the Second District police station in New Orleans, Detective Harbin again advised Morhaus of his rights. Morhaus waived his rights and admitted that the statements he had made on the videotape in Mandeville were true. Morhaus also gave Detective Harbin Lydia's Yahoo e-mail address, and Detective Harbin testified that a search of the website came up with the name Lydia Reinstein. Detective Harbin testified that Morhaus told him that the murder occurred early in the morning on a date in late August 2001, and using a calendar Morhaus pinpointed the murder date as 29 August 2001.

Detective Harbin testified that Morhaus told him that Lydia was living in the South Robertson Street apartment with him and Genter. Morhaus told him that when he came home one night, Genter told him that he was going to kill Lydia, who was asleep in another room, and Morhaus was going to help him. Morhaus stated that he tried unsuccessfully to talk Genter out of killing Lydia. Morhaus stated Genter put a pillow over Lydia's face while he held her legs down until she stopped struggling. Morhaus told Detective Harbin that he and Genter then put Lydia's body in garbage bags, along with the pillow used to smother her and the blanket upon which she had been lying, and placed the bags in a lawn chair and carried the chair to the nearby dumpster at Ursuline Academy, where they dumped the body.

Detective Harbin testified that he then obtained a search warrant for the apartment and searched it on 13 December 2001. He testified that the officers seized various pieces of linen from the room where Morhaus indicated that Lydia had been killed, as well as linens and towels from Morhaus' bedroom and Genter's former bedroom, and some clothing. The officers seized various photographs of different females hoping that one of them was of Lydia. They seized various bills and mailings in Genter's name, in Morhaus' name, and in Sara Ruffner's name, all addressed to the South Robertson Street apartment. They seized various notebooks from Morhaus' bedroom. In addition, the officers seized a note to Morhaus from Genter wherein Genter acknowledged he owed Morhaus a sum of money for rent, but he could not pay and was moving out, leaving his furniture and television to Morhaus. In the note, Genter indicated that he was moving to the North shore with "Chris and Jackie."

Detective Harbin testified that after searching the apartment, he went to Mandeville on 14 December 2001 to interview Genter. He testified that he advised Genter of his rights, which Genter waived. He testified that Genter gave a statement wherein he denied all knowledge of Lydia's death. At some point, an attorney appointed to represent Genter in connection with the Mandeville charges appeared and spoke with him. The attorney advised Genter of his rights, and after speaking with the attorney Genter informed Detective Harbin that he was again waiving his rights. The attorney left. Detective Harbin testified that when he was out of the room after the attorney left, Detective Vincent Liberto ("Detective Liberto") of the Mandeville police asked if he could question Genter. Detective Harbin assented to this request, and Detective Liberto interviewed Genter. During this questioning, Genter confessed to being involved in the disposal of Lydia's body, but he never admitted that he killed her. Detective Harbin testified that he then re-entered the room and advised Genter again of his rights. Genter again waived his rights, and Detective Harbin questioned him further, with Genter writing his answers on a notepad. Genter also identified the woman on the website as Lydia.

Detective Harbin testified that he obtained another search warrant for the apartment to look for any documentation in the name of Lydia Reinstein. Pursuant to this warrant, on 23 January 2002 he seized mattress covers as well as clothing from the bedroom that had been Genter's room. Detective Harbin testified that by this time Morhaus' parents had removed most of his belongings from the apartment, and no one else was living there at that time.

Detective Harbin testified that he also contacted the police in Dallas, Texas, inquiring about Lydia Reinstein. In response, officers there e-mailed him a photograph of Caryn Capps, whom they indicated had been the victim in an assault involving her ex-boyfriend Justin Reinstein. Detective Harbin testified that he showed the photograph to Morhaus, who identified her as Lydia. Detective Harbin stated he subsequently contacted Caryn Capps' mother in Texas, and she sent him photographs of Caryn, as well as an envelope from the last card she received from her daughter. Although the envelope had an Oklahoma return address, the envelope was postmarked 1 May 2001 from New Orleans. Detective Harbin testified that Capps' mother also sent clothing and hair samples for comparison with hair samples seized from the apartment, but no DNA testing was conducted. He also indicated that there was no fingerprint evidence to link Lydia to Caryn Capps, but he noted that the police had never recovered Lydia's body, because they believed it to have been buried in a landfill.

The State played two videotapes of Genter's statement to Detective Harbin and Liberto. In the earlier statement, Genter told Detective Harbin that he was a former missionary with the Church of the Latter Day Saints and was an ordained minister. He described Lydia and indicated that she had begun living in the apartment while he was visiting with friends on the North shore. He stated that Lydia sometimes slept in his room because his room contained an extra bed. He stated that Lydia was trying to overcome her heroin addiction by buying methadone from an uptown New Orleans drug dealer who drove a red pickup truck. He indicated that Lydia worked at the Crow Bar on Decatur Street, where Morhaus met her. He stated that Lydia told him that she was from Texas, but could not return there because there were warrants for her arrest. He denied ever discussing killing Lydia with Morhaus. He admitted, however, that once Lydia was gone he might have told various people that she might be living in a cardboard box somewhere for all he knew. He admitted that he and Kuddes bragged about being contract killers, but he insisted they had made up these stories to give them prestige.

In the later statement, made after he had spoken with the St. Tammany Parish public defender, Genter indicated that he was living...