State v. Kellogg
| Decision Date | 19 September 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 59401,59401 |
| Citation | 350 So.2d 656 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Lewis KELLOGG. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
J. Minos Simon, J. Minos Simon, Ltd., Lafayette, for defendant-appellant.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., J. Nathan Stansbury, Dist. Atty., Byron P. Legendre, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.
Lewis Kellogg was charged with the aggravated battery of Even St. Julien, Jr. on March 30, 1974 in violation of R.S. 14:34. After trial by jury defendant was found guilty as charged on July 22, 1976. On December 9, 1976 defendant was sentenced to four years at hard labor. The sentence was suspended on the condition that defendant serve two months in parish jail and be placed on active supervised probation with special conditions for four years.
The victim, Even St. Julien, Jr., and his wife testified as follows: at approximately two o'clock in the morning on March 30, 1974 they were driving in the parking lot of Sambo's Restaurant in Lafayette looking for a place to park. They waited while the vehicle driven by defendant pulled out of a parking space. After he had pulled out of the slot Kellogg allegedly made some inaudible remarks to St. Julien. After St. Julien asked his wife if she knew who was driving the other vehicle, defendant stepped out of his car and fired a shot at Mr. St. Julien striking him in the right ear and right arm. St. Julien chased the car on foot and threw a hatchet at defendant's car which made a small hole in the car. The St. Juliens chased defendant in their car until they got his license number and then reported the incident to the police.
Defendant admitted that a confrontation took place on the night in question and that his gun was fired. However, he testified that the gun was discharged accidentally as he defended himself. He said that the St. Juliens' vehicle pulled behind him and blocked his exit from the parking space. He asked the occupants of the St. Julien vehicle to move their car and Mr. St. Julien allegedly spoke to defendant in a rough tone of voice and made racial slurs (Mr. St. Julien is black; defendant is white). Defendant decided to attempt to calm St. Julien before he entered the restaurant in his upset frame of mind. Defendant further testified that when he approached the St. Julien vehicle, Mr. St. Julien bent over as if to grab a weapon of some sort from under the seat. At this point defendant attempted to defend himself by hitting St. Julien on the head with the butt of the derringer he was carrying in his pocket, but the gun accidentally discharged. Defendant stated that he drove away to avoid further conflict and to report the incident to the police.
Since the only eyewitnesses to the incident to testify were the victim, his wife and the defendant, it is apparent that credibility of the witnesses was of utmost importance in determining the true state of facts. Although defendant may have been wrong to approach the St. Julien vehicle initially, the defendant's testimony to the effect that St. Julien appeared to reach for a weapon under the seat coupled with the St. Julien's testimony that the hatchet was on the rear floor under the front seat (as well as previous out-of-court testimony which allegedly put the hatchet on the front seat between the St. Juliens), presented a close jury question on the veracity of defendant's version of the incident and the reasonableness of defendant's "defensive" actions. Therefore, defense counsel attempted to test the St. Juliens' credibility and bias by questioning the witnesses about a civil suit Mr. and Mrs. St. Julien had filed against defendant arising out of the incident in question. The State objected to this line of inquiry and the objection was sustained. Out of the...
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