State v. LaCaze

• Decision Date: 16 December 2016
• Docket Number: No. 2016–KP–0234,2016–KP–0234
• Citation: 208 So.3d 856
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Rogers LACAZE
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

208 So.3d 856

STATE of Louisiana

v.Rogers LACAZE

No. 2016–KP–0234

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

December 16, 2016

PER CURIAM:

Writ denied . The Fourth Circuit correctly reversed the district court's order for a new trial.

In 1995, an Orleans Parish jury found Rogers LaCaze, and separately, co-defendant Antoinette Frank, guilty of three counts of first degree murder for the March 4, 1995 armed robbery and triple homicide of siblings Cuong Vu and Ha Vu, employees of the family-owned Kim Anh Vietnamese restaurant in New Orleans East, and New Orleans Police Officer Ronnie Williams, who was at the time working a paid security detail at the restaurant. Antoinette Frank ("Frank"), herself a New Orleans Police Officer, was Ofc. Williams's former partner and sometimes also worked security at the restaurant.

After finding LaCaze guilty as charged on all three counts, jurors unanimously voted to impose the death sentence. This Court affirmed his convictions and sentence. State v. LaCaze , 99–0584 (La. 1/25/02), 824 So.2d 1063, cert. denied , LaCaze v. Louisiana , 537 U.S. 865, 123 S.Ct. 263, 154 L.Ed.2d 110 (2002).

The state's case was premised on the survivors' identifications of both LaCaze and Frank, in addition to other evidence which showed, inter alia, that after Frank met LaCaze in November 1994, the pair established a routine of acting in concert while Frank was on duty, with LaCaze accompanying her as she responded to calls. Just hours before the murders, the two were seen together at a Wal–Mart store, Frank in full uniform, shopping for the same caliber ammunition that was used to kill all three victims. The state also presented LaCaze's custodial statements in which he placed himself inside the restaurant during the massacre, albeit while denying he killed anyone.

LaCaze took the stand to repudiate his custodial statements, instead claiming he was at the time with his brother Michael, playing pool at Mr. C's Pool Hall, an alibi Michael repeated when called to testify. The defense timeline offered at trial, however, was internally inconsistent: LaCaze conceded he was still in Frank's company when she ordered food from the restaurant, which phone records established occurred at 12:51 a.m., roughly 20 minutes after LaCaze and Michael claimed they were en route to the pool hall. Further, the pool hall's manager testified unequivocally that Michael had played pool that night without his brother .

Ultimately, the jury rejected LaCaze's defense in which he insisted his inculpatory statements were the result of coercion, and instead accepted the state's theory that, although it appeared the same gun was used to kill all three victims, it was immaterial whether Frank or LaCaze had pulled the trigger because the evidence showed that both were present and specifically intended to kill, and therefore equally guilty as principals.

In 2002 or 2003, LaCaze filed a pro-se shell application for post-conviction relief, followed by a counseled supplement. After protracted delays, the district court conducted a multi-day evidentiary hearing in 2013, at which the parties called over 20 witnesses in total. Nearly two years later, the district court issued a 128–page ruling addressing LaCaze's claims in detail and ultimately vacating his convictions and death sentence based on its determination that juror David Settle was seated after he failed to disclose his law enforcement experience during voir dire, an error it found constituted a structural defect warranting a new trial.

The Fourth Circuit granted the state's writ and reinstated the convictions and death sentence, State v. LaCaze , 15–0891 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1/6/16) (unpub'd), having found the district court "erred in finding that the seating of Mr. Settle on [the] jury was a structural error entitling him to a new trial," and that the district court had not erred in dismissing the remaining claims.

As a result of LaCaze's failure to file a writ application in the Fourth Circuit, the parties now dispute the scope of the issues before us. As the state sees it, his failure to seek writs in the court below caused the district court's ruling as to all remaining claims to become final and no longer subject to review. However, this Court has recognized that a "party who does not seek modification, revision, or reversal of a judgment" may "in an appellate court, including the supreme court," assert in support of that judgment any argument for which the record contains support "although he has not appealed, answered the appeal, or applied for supervisory writs ." State v. Butler , 12–2359, pp. 4–5 (La. 5/17/13), 117 So.3d 87, 89 (emphasis added) (citing La.C.C.P. art. 2133(B) ). Although LaCaze did not file a cross-application below, he did file an opposition in which he re-urged claims the district court dismissed as alternate grounds for upholding the order for a new trial, and thereby preserved those claims, as contemplated in Butler . In any event, considering the need for heightened scrutiny in capital penalty proceedings, see Gilmore v. Taylor , 508 U.S. 333, 342, 113 S.Ct. 2112, 2117, 124 L.Ed.2d 306 (1993), we have considered whether exercise of our supervisory jurisdiction is warranted in light of any claim now raised and upon which the district court passed judgment.

The district court vacated LaCaze's convictions and death sentence based exclusively on the seating of juror David Settle. LaCaze urges the district court correctly ordered a new trial as a result of Mr. Settle's presence on the jury because Mr. Settle failed to respond during voir dire when asked whether any panelists were related to anyone in law enforcement, although he had a history of law enforcement experience and other venire members disclosed their connections to law enforcement personnel. Specifically, LaCaze asserts he has discovered post-conviction that Mr. Settle's employment history includes past service as a police officer for railroad companies in other states and that, at the time of LaCaze's trial, he was "a Field Officer for the Louisiana State Police."

The district court credited the argument, finding "simply no excuse" for Mr. Settle's failure to respond when his panel of prospective jurors was asked if anyone was related to someone in law enforcement, especially after fellow panelists volunteered their more tenuous connections. The district court determined that Mr. Settle was a "badge-wearing law enforcement officer" who, but for his failure to respond, would have been subject to a meritorious challenge for cause, citing State v. Simmons , 390 So.2d 1317 (La. 1980), and therefore found his inclusion on the jury a structural error which prevented the verdicts from being rendered by an impartial jury.

As the Fourth Circuit determined, the district court erred in this regard. Louisiana law is settled that there is no per se bar to law enforcement personnel serving as jurors. Although at the time of trial, our jurisprudence provided that the guarantee of a fair trial "is offended by the presence on a jury of a badge-wearing law enforcement officer," Simmons , 390 So.2d at 1318, courts interpreting Simmons construed it narrowly and carved out exceptions for law enforcement personnel not actively engaged in making arrests. See, e.g. , State v. Valentine , 464 So.2d 1091, 1095 (La. App. 1 Cir. 1985), writ denied , 468 So.2d 572 (La. 1985)DOC correctional officer not incompetent to serve although she also had four first cousins who worked for the sheriff); State v. Henderson , 566 So.2d 1098, 1103–04 (La. App. 2 Cir. 1990) (field sergeant at Wade Correctional Institute competent to serve). Further, as even the district court acknowledged, while LaCaze's appeal was pending, this Court overturned Simmons , reasoning that because law enforcement officers are sworn to uphold the law, including the guarantee of a fair trial, a district judge has discretion to determine whether an officer is speaking the truth when he states under oath that he can remain fair and impartial. State v. Ballard , 98–2198 (La. 10/19/99), 747 So.2d 1077, 1079. Thus, the Simmons ban does not apply, given that it was overruled it while LaCaze's appeal was pending. See Griffith v. Kentucky , 479 U.S. 314, 328, 107 S.Ct. 708, 716, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987) ("... [A] new rule for the conduct of criminal prosecutions is to be applied retroactively to all cases, state or federal, pending on direct review or not yet final, with no exception for cases in which the new rule constitutes a 'clear break' with the past.").

Even assuming arguendo that Simmons did apply, Mr. Settle would not have been subject to a meritorious challenge for cause. LaCaze maintains Mr. Settle was an "active duty officer," but has put forth no evidence that he was at the time of trial the sort of badge-wearing officer Simmons deemed unfit for jury service. Instead, LaCaze has shown that although Mr. Settle was previously a police officer in other states with patrols limited to railroad property, when he was selected as a juror in this case he was working for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles without arrest powers —in an apparent desk position. Mr. Settle testified at the post-conviction hearing that "he was 'not a field officer' at the time of LaCaze's trial, that he '[did not] have arrest powers,' and that his job was to 'clear up driver's license for people under suspicion." Such circumstances hardly give rise to the sort of bias that disqualified the juror in Simmons . See Simmons , 390 So.2d at 1318 (juror with graduate degree in law enforcement who was employed by sheriff's office and working closely with the district attorney's office, must have been affected by her employment to an extent that would influence her verdict).

Even having acknowledged that Simmons was overturned before LaCaze's convictions and sentences were affirmed, the district court found Mr. Settle's presence on the jury a reversible error because his non-disclosures precluded the parties from exploring whether...