State v. McKnight
| Decision Date | 22 February 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 20216-KA,20216-KA |
| Citation | 539 So.2d 952 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Mary McKNIGHT, Appellant. 539 So.2d 952 |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
David M. Newell, Indigent Defender Bd., Homer, for appellant.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Baton Rouge, John C. Blake, Dist. Atty., H. Russell Davis, Asst. Dist. Atty., Arcadia, for appellee.
Before MARVIN, LINDSAY and HIGHTOWER, JJ.
The defendant, Mary McKnight, appeals her conviction and sentence for aggravated burglary, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:60. She was sentenced to serve fifteen years at hard labor. For the following reasons, we affirm the defendant's conviction. However, the defendant's sentence is vacated and set aside and this case is remanded for resentencing.
FACTS
On August 28, 1987, the defendant, then a Texas resident, was visiting Ringgold, Louisiana, on her young granddaughter's birthday. After dining in Bossier City with the child, the defendant drove to the Ringgold cemetery where her youngest son, who had committed suicide in 1986, was buried. She then drove to the home of her ex-husband and the boy's father, Ross Edwards, at about 11:00 p.m. The defendant left her four-year-old granddaughter sleeping on the back seat of her automobile, the engine of which she left running. The defendant, barefooted with a fillet knife in a scabbard tucked in the belt of her dress, then entered the glass-enclosed plant room or atrium of the Edwards residence. She began to knock or pound on the doors leading into the living room. Mr. Edwards and his present wife, Kathy Edwards, were awakened by the pounding and went into the living room to investigate.
The testimony of the defendant and the Edwardses differ substantially as to what transpired after the defendant's arrival at the Edwards' home.
Kathy Edwards testified that she heard a sharp, crashing sound from the plant room. Leaving her bedroom and entering the living room, Mrs. Edwards looked out the window and saw the defendant "bouncing" against the door with her shoulder. Mrs. Edwards' husband told her to get back away from the door. As she turned to go to call the police, Mrs. Edwards heard a noise. Looking back, she saw the defendant enter, off balance. As the defendant came into the living room, Mr. Edwards asked her what she wanted or needed. The defendant placed her hands on her head, looked directly at Mrs. Edwards, and said, "This is what I need." Mrs. Edwards testified that the defendant then lunged at her and grabbed her by the arms. Mrs. Edwards managed to break away from the defendant, who then pulled the knife from her belt and came at Mrs. Edwards again.
Mr. Edwards testified that at this point he grabbed the defendant from behind. The defendant turned towards him, knife uplifted, and stabbed him in the upper part of his right arm. Mr. Edwards testified that after the defendant stabbed him, he was able to push her over the back of the couch, with her head almost touching the cushions, and held her arms across her chest. The defendant then dropped the knife, and Mrs. Edwards placed it on the mantle.
The defendant testified that she went to the Edwards' home because she wanted to "shake Kathy." She claimed that she armed herself with a fillet knife before approaching the house because she was afraid of Mr. Edwards. The defendant testified that she went through the atrium to the French doors leading into the living room. Mrs. Edwards came to the door in response to her knocking and called for Mr. Edwards.
According to the defendant, Mr. Edwards opened the door and demanded to know what she wanted. The defendant testified that she responded, "There she is," and reached for Mrs. Edwards, who began to "spin" away from her. The defendant testified that Mr. Edwards then grabbed her and threw her over the back of the couch. She claimed that she was unable to breathe and that she then drew her knife from its scabbard and stabbed Mr. Edwards in self-defense. She was then subdued by Mr. Edwards.
The police were summoned by members of Mrs. Edwards' family. The sleeping child in the automobile was discovered and arrangements were made to provide for her care. Officer Troy Sanders of the Ringgold Police Department handcuffed the defendant and transported her to the nearby Ringgold Sheriff's Substation. In the presence of Deputy Billy J. Wiggins, Dispatcher Woodard and Bobby Conley, Officer Sanders advised the defendant of her Miranda rights. The defendant told him that she understood her rights.
In response to Deputy Wiggins' inquiry as to what had happened at the Edwards residence that night, the defendant stated she had been to the cemetery and decided to go "whip Kathy Edwards' a--." She further stated that she had intended to do so for a long time and she had taken the knife to use on Mr. Edwards if he was at home. The defendant also told the officers that she and Mrs. Edwards had words at the door, and that Mr. Edwards grabbed her when she was trying to get at his wife. She claimed that she pulled the knife on him because he was trying to break her neck.
Officer Sanders sent Mr. Conley to his car to obtain a small tape recorder. He tested the recorder, turned it on, and placed it in his pocket while the defendant was standing beside him. After filling out the arrest report, Officer Sanders and Deputy Wiggins took the defendant back to the Edwards residence to get several items from the defendant's car which she requested. Unable to find the defendant's briefcase, they then stopped at her son's trailer home where the items were located. They then transported the defendant to the Arcadia jail.
During the course of the automobile ride to Arcadia, the defendant was very talkative. She made several inculpatory statements. These inculpatory statements were recorded by the tape recorder in Officer Sanders' pocket.
On September 11, 1987, a bill of information was filed, charging the defendant with aggravated burglary, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:60. 1 The defendant was tried on this charge February 16-18, 1988. A twelve-person jury unanimously found the defendant guilty as charged.
On April 5, 1988, the trial court denied the defendant's motions for post conviction judgment of acquittal and for a new trial. On the same day the trial court sentenced the defendant to serve fifteen years at hard labor.
The defendant appealed her conviction and sentence. She assigned four errors, but in brief, she makes three additional arguments. They are, in the order in which they will be addressed: (1) the trial court erred in refusing to suppress the defendant's taped statements; (2) the verdict rendered was contrary to the law and evidence; (3) the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for mistrial during the prosecution's opening statement; (4) the trial court erred in allowing the state to interrupt the defendant's opening statement; (5) a juror failed to reveal on voir dire that she allegedly had a close personal relationship with a Bienville Parish Sheriff's Deputy; (6) any other errors patent on the face of the record; and (7) the trial court erred in imposing an excessive sentence.
SUPPRESSION OF STATEMENT
The defendant assigns as error the trial court's refusal to suppress the defendant's tape recorded statement which she made to Officer Sanders and Deputy Wiggins shortly after the incident occurred and after she had been placed under arrest. She argues that the taped statement should have been suppressed because it was not a knowing, intelligent or voluntary statement, and the tape recording was not the best evidence of the statement.
The defendant contends that the officers did not tell her that they would use the statements against her. She further argues that the confession was "subtly induced" because of her former friendship with Officer Wiggins and her traumatized emotional state.
Among the inculpatory statements made by the defendant on the tape recording were her declarations that she was not sorry for what she had done, that her actions were premeditated, and that she had been planning the incident since the suicide death of her son, an event for which she apparently blamed Mrs. Edwards. She also made several threats against the Edwards family and stated that she would "get" them in the future.
Before the state may introduce a confession into evidence, it must affirmatively show that the statement was freely and voluntarily given. The statutorily mandated test for voluntariness "is not whether a confession was induced by improper external forces but whether the confession was free and voluntary and not made under the influence of fear, duress, intimidation, menace, threats, inducements or promises." LSA-R.S. 15:451; LSA-C.Cr.P. Art. 703; State v. Jackson, 381 So.2d 485 (La.1980); State v. Terracina, 430 So.2d 64 (La.1983) State v. Maiden, 463 So.2d 848 (La.App. 2d Cir.1985); State v. Mills, 505 So.2d 933 (La.App. 2d Cir.1987), writ denied 508 So.2d 65 (La.1987).
It must also be established that an accused who makes a confession during custodial interrogation was first advised of her Miranda rights. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).
The question of voluntariness of a confession must be determined by the trial judge from the facts and circumstances of the particular case. State v. Serrato, 424 So.2d 214 (La.1982). His conclusions on the credibility and weight of testimony relating to the voluntariness of a confession will not be overturned on appeal unless unsupported by the evidence. State v. Maiden, supra; State v. Mills, supra.
Emotional distress is not grounds for rendering a confession inadmissible unless it is so severe that the party confessing is unable to voluntarily do so. State v. Beck, 445 So.2d 470 (La.App. 2d Cir.1984), writ denied 446 So.2d 315 (La.1984); State v. Wiley, 513 So.2d 849 (La.App. 2d Cir.1987), writ denied 522 So.2d 1092 (...
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