State v. Godeaux
| Decision Date | 13 December 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 65059,65059 |
| Citation | 378 So.2d 941 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Kenneth J. GODEAUX. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
James Miguez and Carl A. Leckband, Jr., Lake Charles, for defendant-appellant.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Leonard K. Knapp, Jr., Dist. Atty., George V. Perez, Jr., Abbott J. Reeves, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.
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Defendant Kenneth J. Godeaux was charged by bill of information with a violation of R.S. 14:95.1, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. After a bench trial defendant was found guilty as charged and was sentenced to three years at hard labor. On this appeal of his conviction and sentence, defendant relies upon five assignments of error, which for the reasons expressed hereinafter we find to be without merit. 1
At approximately 4:30 a. m. on November 18, 1978 a police officer responded to a complaint at the Wizard Fas-Store in Westlake, Louisiana. When the officer arrived at the scene, he was met by the store manager who informed him that someone was slumped over the wheel of a truck parked in front of the store in the parking lot. The officer approached the vehicle and observed defendant lying over the steering wheel of the truck. After several attempts, the officer succeeded in waking defendant and ordered him out of the vehicle. The officer questioned the defendant for a few minutes then arrested him for disturbing the peace by being intoxicated in a public place.
After defendant was handcuffed and placed in the police car, he asked the officer what would happen to the truck. The officer replied that in accordance with standard police procedure the vehicle would be towed away. Defendant then requested that the officer retrieve his gun from the vehicle so that nothing would happen to it. The officer complied with defendant's request and found a .44 caliber pistol on the front seat of the truck beneath a light jacket. It was later discovered that defendant had previously been convicted of aggravated burglary; a bill of information was then filed charging defendant with the instant offense.
By this assignment defendant contends that a trial court ruling at the preliminary hearing prior to trial was erroneous. That ruling came in response to a contention that there was no probable cause for defendant's arrest for disturbing the peace. In support defendant argued then, as now in brief, that the state had presented no evidence at that hearing that defendant was acting in a boisterous or violent manner at the time of his arrest.
This assignment lacks merit for two reasons. First, the issue of whether there was probable cause to arrest defendant for disturbing the peace was really irrelevant to the preliminary hearing held on the charge that defendant, a convicted felon, was in possession of a firearm. Furthermore, after a defendant is tried and convicted, errors alleged to have occurred at the preliminary examination are moot. State v. Walker, 344 So.2d 990 (La.1977).
Defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting as part of the res gestae statements of the defendant made at the time he was arrested for disturbing the peace. He contends that the statement about the gun in the vehicle was not a circumstance of the arrest and was not incident to the alleged criminal act.
Although defendant contends that the trial court admitted defendant's statements as part of the res gestae, the record designated for appeal reflects that defense counsel's only objection to the admission of the statement was on the basis that it was not "voluntary" (See Assignment No. 3). The only ruling of the trial court on the admissibility of the statement was that the statement was in fact voluntary. Because defendant failed to object to the admission of this statement on any basis other than voluntariness and because we can not find on the record before us that the trial court ruled on its admissibility on any other ground, this assignment has no merit. Furthermore, admissions and confessions are admissible as exceptions to the hearsay rule; res gestae is therefore irrelevant.
In this assignment defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting defendant's oral inculpatory statement that the gun was in the truck. Defendant argues that the statement was not voluntary because defendant was intoxicated.
Prior to the admission into evidence of a confession, the state carries the burden to prove that it was given freely and voluntarily and not obtained under the influence of fear, duress, intimidation, menaces, threats, inducements, or promises. R.S. 15:451. The fact that the defendant was intoxicated does not itself render an inculpatory statement inadmissible. In State v. Rankin, 357 So.2d 803 (La.1978) we restated the standard by which we determined the free and voluntary nature of a defendant's statement challenged on the ground that the defendant was intoxicated at the time. There we held that "
In the instant case the arresting officer, Raymond Weatherly, testified that the defendant, although "kind of groggy" and unsteady on his feet, understood the questions asked of him and seemed aware of his responses. When officer asked defendant if he was on any type of medication, defendant responded that he was not. When asked for some identification, defendant removed his wallet from his pocket and tendered his driver's license. More importantly Officer Weatherly testified that after he read defendant his Miranda rights then asked if he understood them, defendant responded that he did.
We can not from the evidence adduced at trial find that defendant was so intoxicated that he was unaware of what he was saying or that his statement was involuntary. The statement was not made in response to police questioning but was an unsolicited...
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State v. Crow, 52,817-KA
...relating to the voluntariness of a confession will not be overturned unless they are not supported by the evidence." State v. Godeaux , 378 So.2d 941 (La.1979) ; State v. Rankin , 357 So.2d 803 (La.1978).Under the circumstances of the instant case, we do not find that the trial court erred ......
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Wells v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.
...of custody. In particular, he argues that the doctor who extracted the blood should have testified. The state relies on State v. Godeaux, 378 So.2d 941 (La.1979), in contending that it proved by a preponderance of evidence that the vial of blood was that taken from the defendant. Defendant ......
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State v. Adams
...object introduced was the same as the object originally seized by the officer. State v. Guzman, 362 So.2d 744 (La.1978). State v. Godeaux, 378 So.2d 941, (La.1980)." [Emphasis See also State v. Tonubbee, 420 So.2d 126 (La.1982). For the reasons stated above this assignment of error is witho......
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State v. Vaccaro
... ... Intoxication can render a statement involuntary if it is of such a degree "as to negate defendant's comprehension and to render him unconscious of the consequences of what he is saying." State v. Rankin, 357 So.2d 803 (La.1978); see also State v. Godeaux, 378 So.2d 941 (La.1979). Defendant was therefore entitled to his hearing ... The error committed by the trial court was a harmless one, however. In State v. Redic, 392 So.2d 451 (La.1980), this court indicated that the erroneous admission of an inculpatory statement may be ... ...