State v. Karam
| Decision Date | 31 July 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-0163.,02-0163. |
| Citation | 834 So.2d 1003 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Phillip Lynn KARAM. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Michael Cade Cassidy, District Attorney, Thirty-First Judicial District Court, Jennings, LA, for Appellee, State of Louisiana.
G. Paul Marx, Lafayette, LA, for Appellant/Defendnat, Phillip Lynn Karam.
Court composed of MARC T. AMY, MICHAEL G. SULLIVAN and ELIZABETH A. PICKETT, Judges.
The defendant was convicted of three counts of first degree murder and subsequently sentenced to three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. The defendant appeals. For the following reasons, the defendant's convictions are affirmed. Due to an error in the order of restitution, the defendant's sentences are vacated and this matter is remanded for resentencing.
The record indicates that on February 5, 2000, between 9:30 and 9:40 p.m., a 911 telephone call was received by the Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriffs Department. The dispatcher testified that the caller did not speak during the call, but that moaning could be heard. The dispatcher believed the telephone call to be medical in nature and sent assistance to the location of the telephone call, 1607 North Cutting Street, Jennings, Louisiana. She testified that in addition to sending medical personnel to the location, she also dispatched area patrol units.
When officers arrived at the scene, they recognized or learned that the residence was that of Kenneth and Christine Guidry. Kenneth Guidry was a retired Jennings Police Department Captain. Sergeant Colin Ray Richard testified that he knew Christine was battling cancer and felt that they might be responding to a request for assistance related to her illness.
Officers Johnny Lassiter, Doug Murry, and Burt LeBlanc approached the carport door of the residence. According to Officer Lassiter, Officer LeBlanc either knocked on the carport door or rang the doorbell. Officer Lassiter explained that he heard the defendant, Phillip Karam, walking down the hall and muttering. The record indicates that the responding officers were familiar with the defendant as he, too, is a former Jennings Police Officer. Officer Lassiter testified that he knew the defendant and Kenneth Guidry were friends and, thus, he was not surprised to hear the defendant's voice at the Guidry home. According to Officer Lassiter, when the defendant opened the door, Officer LeBlanc asked, "What's the deal, Phil?" Officer Lassiter explained that the defendant responded: "Yeah, I did them both." Officer Murry, who was also at the door, testified that the defendant stated: "[T]hey're both dead or something to that fact." Another officer, Officer Richard Broussard, testified that the defendant had a smile on his face when he answered the door. According to the officers present, the defendant then pulled a gun and began shooting. Officer Lassiter was shot in his arm while Officer LeBlanc was shot in his chest. Several shots were fired; two of the officers testified that they heard approximately five or six shots fired. Although Officer LeBlanc was attended by the other officers and medical personnel, his chest wound was fatal.
The defendant retreated to the backyard of the Guidry home, while the officers secured the area and the neighborhood. Due to the "standoff" situation, officers were unable to immediately enter the residence to check on the condition of the Guidrys. After a period of approximately two hours and after encouragement from police officers, the defendant walked to the driveway where he was arrested. According to Sergeant Richard, when he entered the home, he saw blood spatters on the kitchen floor, unspent rounds, and the body of Kenneth Guidry. Sergeant Richard found Christine Guidry lying face down in the hallway. Mrs. Guidry was found with the telephone in her hand.
On March 21, 2000, a grand jury indicted the defendant with three counts of first degree murder, violations of La.R.S. 14:30. The defendant was arraigned twice on these charges and, on both occasions, he entered pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity. On May 18, 2001, defense counsel orally requested appointment of a sanity commission, which he followed with a written request on May 25, 2001. On June 13, 2001, a competency hearing was held and the trial court found the defendant capable of proceeding to trial.
On August 2, 2001, the defendant was convicted by a jury of three counts of first degree murder.1 Although the State pursued the matter as a capital case, the jury reached an impasse regarding the appropriate sentence. On August 17, 2001, the trial court sentenced the defendant on each of the three counts to life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, to run consecutively. Additionally, the trial court ordered the defendant to pay counseling costs for the victims' families. The defendant was also assessed with court costs. The trial court ordered that the maximum amount allowed by law be deducted from any income of the defendant, with counseling costs to be deducted first. Finally, the weapon used in the commission of the crimes was ordered forfeited to the Jennings Police Department.
The defendant appeals his convictions, advancing the following assignments of error:
1. The trial court erred in that it admitted statements of the defendant that were neither inculpatory nor otherwise admissible under any exception to the hearsay rule.
2. The verdict is contrary to the law where the petit jury venire was not selected in accord with Article 408 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in that the venire box was not sealed and locked as mandated by law.
3. Trial court erred in refusing to grant a mistrial and in failing to grant [a] motion for new trial where the prosecutor argued that the defense had failed to "do its job" and thereby created an inference that the defendant had a burden to prove innocence in this case.
4. Trial court erred in that it ordered a general amount of restitution and costs, which is an error patent and must be subject to correction or reversal since only the trial court can set the amount of restitution, cost or penalties.
5. The verdict is contrary to law in that the evidence was insufficient to exclude the reasonable hypothesis of innocence and did not establish sufficient facts for proof of Attempted [sic] First Degree Murder beyond a reasonable doubt.
6. The trial court erred in that certain items of evidence were admitted without a sufficient chain of custody being established by the State.
7. The trial court erred in that hearsay attachments to the autopsy were entered into evidence despite the character of the documents as hearsay and the failure of the State to provide timely discovery to the defense.
8. The trial court erred in admitting the police report over objection where the witness could not recall the details of the report and where attempts to refresh his recollection were unsuccessful.
As is required by La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, we have reviewed this matter for errors patent on the face of the record. In addition to a sentencing error raised by the defendant and addressed below in our discussion of the defendant's assignments, our review reveals one additional patent error.
Upon request by the defendant, a sanity commission was appointed on May 25, 2001. The defendant was found competent to proceed to trial on June 13, 2001. After the appointment of the commission, but prior to its determination, hearings were held on several motions, including the request to hire experts, the question of the presence of police officers in the courtroom during trial, and a motion to hire a local attorney.
La.Code Crim.P. art. 642 provides, in part, that: "When the question of the defendant's mental incapacity to proceed is raised, there shall be no further steps in the criminal prosecution, except the institution of prosecution, until the defendant is found to have the mental capacity to proceed." Although the hearing was held in error in this case, we conclude that any error was harmless. See State v. Young, 576 So.2d 1048 (La.App. 1 Cir.), writ denied, 584 So.2d 679 (La.1991).
In State v. Calais, 615 So.2d 4, 5 (La. App. 3 Cir.), writ denied, 617 So.2d 1180 (La.1993), a panel of this court explained that the stay of proceedings described in Article 642 ensures "that no action prejudicial to the defendant will be taken until the defendant's capacity to understand the nature of the proceedings and to assist in his defense has been established." In addition to the type of motions heard by the trial court prior to the opinion of the sanity commission, which were primarily those filed by the defendant's counsel and which were generally resolved in his favor, we point out that these hearings were pretrial in nature.
The defendant concedes that he shot the victims in this case. However, with regard to the deaths of Kenneth and Christine Guidry, the defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to establish that he had the specific intent to mu more than one person and, accordingly, insufficient to convict him of first degree murder under the theory advanced by the State. In his brief to this court, the defendant claims:
The proof in the Court below with regard to Counts 1 and 2 (the Guidrys) is lacking in the specific detail that would establish First Degree Murder. There was, in fact, no evidence of what happened before law enforcement arrived. While there was ample testimony regarding the shooting of Officer Burt LeBlanc, based on eyewitness testimony, no testimony was presented to indicate the nature of the shootings inside the residence.
(Record citations omitted.) He claims that, at most, the evidence supports verdicts of second...
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... ... denied, 516 U.S. 1050, 116 S.Ct. 716, 133 L.Ed.2d 670 (1996). Additionally, the trial court is given great discretion in determining whether evidence is relevant, and absent a clear abuse of discretion, rulings on relevancy of evidence should not be disturbed on appeal. State v. Karam, 02-0163, p. 13 (La.App. 3 Cir. 7/31/02), 834 So.2d 1003 (citing State v. Anthony, 98-0406, p. 16 (La.4/11/00), 776 So.2d 376, 387, cert. denied, 531 U.S. 934, 121 S.Ct. 320, 148 L.Ed.2d 258 (2000)). A review of the Defendant's statement, which was made at the detective bureau shortly after ... ...
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State Of La. v. Boyer
...not prejudicial to Defendant. As for the motion to recuse, we find that any error that occurred was harmless. In State v. Karam, 02-163 (La.App. 3 Cir. 7/31/02), 834 So.2d 1003, hearings on several motions were held in the interim between the appointment of a sanitycommission and the determ......
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State v. Rideau, 2005-1470.
...384 U.S. 305, 86 S.Ct. 1497, 16 L.Ed.2d 577 (1966). The trial judge apparently relied on this court's opinion in State v. Karam, 02-0163 (La.App. 3 Cir. 7/31/02), 834 So.2d 1003, to support his position that Rideau was not entitled to attack the specific charges or to object to the reasonab......
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State v. Boyer
...not prejudicial to Defendant. As for the motion to recuse, we find that any error that occurred was harmless. In State v. Karam, 02–163 (La.App. 3 Cir. 7/31/02), 834 So.2d 1003, hearings on several motions were held in the interim between the appointment of a sanity [3 Cir. 6] commission an......