State v. Martin

• Decision Date: 18 January 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-K-1485,87-K-1485
• Citation: 519 So.2d 87
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Ronald MARTIN, Sr. 519 So.2d 87
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 87

519 So.2d 87

STATE of Louisiana v. Ronald MARTIN, Sr.

No. 87-K-1485.

519 So.2d 87

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Jan. 18, 1988.

Clifford E. Foster, New Orleans, Paul E. Brown, Office of Indigent Defender, Thibodaux, for applicant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Douglas Greenburg, Dist. Atty., for respondent.

CALOGERO, Justice.

Defendant Ronald Martin, Sr. was charged with aggravated rape, aggravated crime against nature and aggravated burglary. At his trial, there was no true dispute over the fact that the victim had been raped. Instead, the primary issue was whether the defendant was the rapist. The victim testified that the man who attacked her had a tattoo on his right upper arm which "said something like 'Angela,' " and "had some loops in it." In response to this testimony, the defendant asked to be permitted to display his arms to the jury, for the apparent purpose of demonstrating that he did not have a tattoo which matched the victim's description, but that he did have noticeable tattoos on his arms of a type that had not been observed by the victim on her assailant.

The trial judge ruled that the defendant could display his arms to the jury, but that if he did so, the state would be permitted to cross-examine him on the origin of any tattoos which were on his arms, and on whether he had ever had any tattoos removed. Rather than exposing the defendant to cross examination in this fashion, defense counsel opted not to have his client display his arms to the jury. The jury later found the defendant guilty on all three counts, and his convictions were affirmed by the court of appeal. Because we find that the trial court committed prejudicial error by ruling that the defendant could not display his arms to the jury without submitting himself to cross-examination, we now reverse the conviction and remand for re-trial.

(I) FACTS

The court of appeal decision ably summarizes the pertinent facts which precipitated the defendant's indictment, and we repeat that court's factual summary here:

"During the evening of December 16, 1983, an eighteen year old woman was brutally raped and subjected to other intimate indignities. The victim testified that she was home alone at her parents' house in Schriever when an intruder entered her bedroom. The man held a knife to the victim's throat and threatened to kill her if she failed to cooperate. After looking around the house for money and other valuables, the man made the victim submit to vaginal and oral intercourse. Immediately after the man left, the victim called her mother at work. Her parents then summoned the police. The victim gave a detailed description of her assailant to the police and noted that the man was present in her home for about one hour. A few days after the incident, Terrebonne Parish Detective Godfrey Buquet produced a composite drawing of the suspect during the course of an interview with the victim. Although the victim examined several mugshot books, she did not identify her assailant until August of 1984. At that time, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Deputy Robert Breaux was investigating several unsolved burglaries. During the course of that investigation, he interviewed defendant, who was then incarcerated in the Lafourche Parish Detention Center for an armed robbery violation. Detective Breaux, who was familiar with the instant case, testified that he noticed the similarity between defendant and the composite drawing. Thereafter, he prepared a photo array, which was exhibited to the victim. She immediately identified defendant as the perpetrator of these offenses." State v. Martin, 509 So.2d 160, 163 (La.App. 1st Cir.1987).

(II) TRIAL

Following the victim's identification of the defendant, he was indicted for aggravated rape, aggravated crime against nature and aggravated burglary. He entered a plea of not guilty to each charge, and the case proceeded to trial before a jury.

At the trial, defendant did not contest the fact that the victim had been assaulted and raped on the night in question. Medical testimony corroborated the victim's claim that she had been raped, and defense counsel conceded as much in closing argument. Rather, the defense contended that Martin was not the rapist. Thus the crucial issue in the trial became whether the State had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was the culprit.

During the presentation of the state's evidence, the victim took the stand and identified the defendant as the man who had raped her. The jury also heard testimony from investigating police officers, who recounted the description of the assailant which they had received from the victim immediately after the crime, the manner in which the composite drawing was prepared and the fact that the victim had identified the defendant from a photographic line-up some eight months after the assault.

When asked by the prosecutor if she noticed anything peculiar about the physical appearance of the man who raped her, the victim described the clothes that the man had been wearing and the color of his hair. She added that:

He had a--his flannel shirt was rolled up---the sleeves on it were. He had on heavy gloves and he had a tattoo across his arm.

Q. Do you remember what the tattoo said?

A. I'm not sure.

Q. Do you remember---What did you tell the police it said?

A. It said something like "Angela"---you know---I remember it had some loops in it.

Under cross-examination by defense counsel, the victim stated that the tattoo she had observed was located on the assailant's upper right arm, in the biceps area. She further testified that although the rapist did not remove his shirt during the attack, the tattoo on his right upper arm was visible because the sleeves on his flannel shirt were rolled up. She also stated that she did not observe any other tattoos on the defendant's body.

After the state rested its case, the defense presented testimony from a number of defendant's friends and family members, primarily for the purpose of attempting to establish an alibi defense. Some of these witnesses were also asked by defense counsel if they had ever observed any tattoos on the defendant's body.

Defendant's wife testified that Martin had a number of tattoos on his body for the entire six year period that she has known him. However, she denied that he had any tattoo which read "Angel" or "Angela," or that contained any similar word. Linda Rison, an acquaintance of the defendant, testified that Martin had "a lot of tattoos," and that those tattoos had been on his body for the entire seventeen year period that she had known him. She was not asked to describe the tattoos.

Finally, defendant's mother testified that her son "has several tattoos," and that to the best of her knowledge all of the tattoos on his body were at least ten years old at the time of trial. She further testified that her son had never had a tattoo removed. When asked on cross-examination to describe the tattoos, she testified that Martin has tattoos which read "Darlene," "Love and Hate," and "Devil's Disciple." She stated that one of the tattoos was on the fingers of Martin's hand, and that she was unsure of the exact location of the others: "Some of 'em are on his body and some are on his legs."

After the testimony of these and other defense witnesses was concluded, defense counsel requested of the court "that Mr. Martin be able to stand before the jury and show the tattoos he has on his arms." The prosecutor immediately interjected and requested the right to "cross-examine" the defendant "relative to the tattoos" if such a display were allowed. Defense counsel responded that the defendant's act of showing his arms to the jury would not constitute testimony, and that therefore the state should gain no right to question him on any issue.

The trial judge disagreed, and ruled that while the defendant could display his arms to the jury, he would be subjected to "limited" cross-examination by the state if he chose to do so. The scope of the cross-examination would include the questions of "when and where" defendant obtained the tattoos and "who put them there."

Defense counsel objected to the trial court's ruling, arguing that such a "limited" cross-examination would force the defendant to reveal that he obtained some of his tattoos while he was in jail for unrelated charges, and that disclosure of the fact that defendant had been imprisoned for other offenses would unfairly prejudice him in the eyes of the jury. The trial judge overruled the defense objection, and defense counsel accordingly opted, in light of that ruling, to have his client forego displaying his arms to the jury. Thereafter, the defense rested, and the case was submitted to the jury. After deliberating for over three hours, the jury returned a guilty verdict for each of the offenses charged.

(III) DISPOSITION BY THE COURT OF APPEAL

Defendant timely appealed his convictions and urged eleven assignments of error to the First Circuit Court of Appeal. In assignment of error number seven, defendant contended that the trial court erred by not allowing him to display his tattoos to the jury without being subjected to limited cross-examination.

The court of appeal found that while it is "well settled" that an identifying tattoo on a defendant's body is "demonstrative rather than testimonial evidence," such evidence is only admissible when it is material. Noting that the trial judge is vested with wide discretion in determining whether evidence is relevant, the appellate court concluded that the court's ruling on the tattoo issue was not an abuse of discretion: "Because body tatoos [sic] are subject to alteration, the trial court properly limited their display absent some foundation as to origin." State v. Martin, 509 So.2d 160, 166 (La.App. 1st Cir.1987).

The court of appeal also found no merit in defendant's remaining ten assignments of error, and defendant's convictions were accordingly affirmed. De...