State v. Hattaway
| Decision Date | 02 July 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-KA-0894,91-KA-0894 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Mark Allen HATTAWAY. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied Sept. 2, 1993.
J. Michael Small, Alexandria, Rebecca L. Hudsmith, Shreveport, Timothy A. Meche, Alexandria, for applicant.
Richard P. Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., New Orleans, Terry R. Reeves, Dist. Atty., Martin S. Sanders, III, Winnfield, for respondent.
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The question presented in this case is whether, after the initiation of adverse judicial criminal proceedings against a defendant and subsequent to the trial court's appointment of counsel to assist him, the state violated the defendant's state constitutional right to counsel by disregarding the appointment, obtaining a waiver, and eliciting a confession from the defendant while he was without the presence or assistance of his attorney. The defendant's confession and fruits thereof were admitted into evidence before the jury. Trial on the merits resulted in the defendant's capital murder conviction and death sentence. We reverse. Article I, Sec. 13 of our state constitution guarantees the accused, at least after the initiation of adverse judicial criminal proceedings and the court's appointment of an attorney to assist him, the right to rely on counsel as the medium between himself and the state. Consequently, the state cannot, under such circumstances, obtain a waiver from the accused or otherwise communicate with him with respect to the offense that is the subject of the proceedings except through the medium of the defense counsel.
Additionally, we conclude that, after the initiation of adverse judicial criminal proceedings and the appointment of counsel to assist the defendant, the defendant is entitled to the help of his lawyer at any confrontation caused by the state that creates potential substantial prejudice to his right to a meaningful defense or a fair trial, if the help of a lawyer would serve to avoid or reduce that prejudice. Therefore, the state in the present case also violated the defendant's right to counsel when it unlawfully removed him from the trial venue without notice to his court-appointed counsel or to the trial court, transported him to another parish and confined him there virtually without means of communication with his attorney, family, friends, or potential defense witnesses.
The defendant, Mark Allen Hattaway, was convicted of the first degree murder of David Slade and sentenced to death. At the time of the killing, Slade was using a house trailer as his temporary work residence in Winn Parish. He lived in the trailer alone near his job at a concrete plant. On December 4, 1988, Slade's dead body was discovered in the woods a short distance from the trailer.
Patsy Admire, Hattaway's girlfriend, formerly had lived in the trailer with a different concrete plant worker. On December 2, 1988, she learned that Slade was using the trailer when she picked up some of her belongings there. Later that evening Admire and Hattaway borrowed her brother's truck and drove to the trailer with the intention of plying Slade with alcohol and "rolling" him; but when Slade refused to go drinking, they robbed him. During the robbery Slade was fatally shot with a pistol that Admire's brother kept in his truck.
The criminal investigation quickly focused on Admire and Hattaway. The authorities learned that the murder weapon was her brother's pistol, which her brother kept in his truck, and that he loaned the truck to Admire and Hattaway on the evening of the offense. Hattaway voluntarily submitted to a series of interviews and polygraph tests. After receiving Miranda warnings, Hattaway maintained that he was innocent and not privy to any relevant information.
On January 9, 1989, Hattaway was charged with an unrelated burglary, arrested, and incarcerated in the Winn Parish jail. He was subjected to custodial interrogation about the Slade murder, during which he claimed innocence but said that Admire had told him that she had killed Slade. The officers informed Hattaway that Admire twice named him as the killer: At first she said he killed in self-defense, but later she depicted him as a deliberate killer. Based on this information, the officers rearrested Hattaway in jail, and charged and booked him with the murder of Slade. Hattaway continued to insist upon his innocence during several hours of custodial interrogation.
On February 20, 1989, Hattaway was transferred to the Winnfield City jail to prevent him from communicating with Admire, who was also confined in the Winn Parish jail.
On February 21, 1989, Hattaway was brought into court for his initial court appearance or first judicial hearing. La.C.Cr.P. art. 230.1. The district judge ascertained his identity, informed him that he had been charged with second degree murder, and explained the nature of the charge. As evidenced by the following colloquy, after ascertaining that Hattaway was financially unable to employ a lawyer the court assigned local attorney Herman Castete to represent him; and Hattaway acknowledged the appointment:
By the Court: Do you have an attorney?
By Mr. Hattaway: No, sir.
By the Court: Are you financially able to afford an attorney?
By Mr. Hattaway: No, sir.
By the Court: Mr. Hattaway, Mr. Herman Castete of the Indigent Defender Board is appointed to represent you in this case. You will be given his phone number. You will have the opportunity and the right to call him at reasonable times to discuss the case. I encourage you to do that. If you have difficulty in reaching him or talking with him or experience a problem, you are to let the Sheriff's Office know and they in turn will tell me and it will be corrected.
By Mr. Hattaway: Yes, sir.
By the Court: Do you understand?
By Mr. Hattaway: Yes, sir.
By the Court: Do you have any questions?
By Mr. Hattaway: No, sir.
The trial judge also set bail at $150,000 and remanded Hattaway to jail. The appointed attorney was not present during this initial court appearance. On the same day, before he could talk to his attorney, Hattaway was transferred from Winn Parish to the Bienville Parish jail in Arcadia.
On February 22, 1989, while incarcerated in the Bienville Parish jail, Hattaway informed the jailer that he wanted to talk to someone from Winn Parish about his case. The Bienville Parish jailer testified twice, possibly inconsistently. At the suppression hearing, he testified that Hattaway merely wanted to talk to "someone from Winn Parish;" at trial, however, the jailer testified that Hattaway had asked for "the officers down here in Winn Parish." A Bienville Parish deputy notified the Winn Parish sheriff's office of the request. Two Winn Parish deputies immediately drove to Arcadia and interrogated Hattaway in the Bienville Parish jail. Prior to the questioning, the deputies issued Hattaway oral and written warnings as follows:
Before we ask you any questions, you must understand your rights. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions, and to have him with you during questioning. You have this right to the advice and presence of a lawyer even if you cannot afford to hire one. We have no way of giving you a lawyer, but one will be appointed for you, if you wish, if and when you go to court. If you wish to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering questions at any time.
You also have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to a lawyer. (emphasis added).
The warnings did not inform Hattaway that he had a court-appointed attorney, Herman Castete, or that he had a right to call and confer with Castete before deciding whether to talk to the officers. The officers also did not notify Hattaway's attorney of their plans to interrogate his client.
The officers obtained from Hattaway the following written waiver:
I have read the statement of my rights shown above. I understand what my rights are. I am willing to answer questions and make a statement. I do not want a lawyer. I understand and know what I am doing. No promises or threats have been made to me and no pressure of any kind has been used against me.
After signing the waiver form, Hattaway confessed to intentionally shooting Slade as part of an armed robbery. Hattaway's statement describing the killing and the role he played in the crime removed any question as to whether there was probable cause to charge him with first degree, rather than second degree, murder. Compare La.R.S. 14:30 and 30.1.
On the morning after the statement was obtained in the Bienville Parish jail, February 23, 1989, Hattaway was returned to the Winn Parish jail. Patsy Admire was still confined to that same jail at this time. Hattaway's attorney, Herman Castete, was notified of his appointment late that day.
Hattaway was indicted with first degree murder on April 12, 1989. The defense attorney moved to suppress Hattaway's confession and the evidence obtained as a consequence thereof. After a hearing, the motion to suppress was denied. Subsequently, Hattaway's confessions were introduced at his guilt and penalty trials as the centerpiece of the state's case against him. The state also introduced circumstantial evidence and an oral admission by Hattaway to a cousin that tended to inculpate Hattaway in the murder. Hattaway was convicted by the jury of first degree murder on September 13, 1990. The next day, after the penalty hearing, the jury recommended the death sentence, naming as the single aggravating circumstance the fact that the killing had been committed in the course of an armed robbery.
Hattaway moved for a new trial, but the motion was denied. At the hearing on the motion, Dr. Paul Ware, an expert in psychiatry and neurology, testified that in his...
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