State v. Monroe, 80-KA-2137

• Decision Date: 06 April 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-KA-2137,80-KA-2137
• Citation: 397 So.2d 1258
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Ronald MONROE.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 1258

397 So.2d 1258

STATE of Louisiana v. Ronald MONROE.

No. 80-KA-2137.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

April 6, 1981.

Rehearing Denied May 18, 1981.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Lance Africk, Louise Korns, and John H. Craft, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.

John Lawrence, and Dwight Doskey, of Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

DIXON, Chief Justice.

Ronald Monroe was convicted of first degree murder, R.S. 14:30, and sentenced to death in conformity with Louisiana's capital sentencing procedure. C.Cr.P. 905 et seq. There is no merit to any of the thirty-seven assignments of error. Additionally, after reviewing the sentence imposed, we find that in this case the death penalty is not an excessive sentence. The conviction and sentence are affirmed.

The murder victim was Lenora Collins, defendant's next door neighbor. Ms. Collins occupied one half of a shotgun double, and defendant's family occupied the other half. The murder occurred at approximately 3:00 a. m. on September 10, 1977. The victim and her children, Joseph, aged twelve, and Theodise, aged eleven, were sleeping in the victim's bed. The victim awoke when she heard someone enter through the bedroom window. She turned on the light, began struggling with the defendant, and cried for Joseph to get help.

Theodise tried to find something with which to hit the defendant, but she fell down. The defendant stabbed Theodise in the back, telling her he would kill her. Theodise managed to lock herself in the bathroom where she remained until her mother called out for help. Upon reentering the bedroom, Theodise saw her mother reach for the phone then fall to the floor. Ms. Collins had been stabbed seven times, and three of the wounds were the cause of her death.

The evidence adduced at trial consisted of the testimony of the two children. Both had known the defendant for several years, and both identified him as their mother's assailant. The state presented evidence that the defendant's motive for the murder was anger over being evicted because Ms. Collins' mother had recently purchased the residence. Monroe unsuccessfully offered an alibi defense, according to which he was drunk and sleeping in his bed at the time of the murder.

Assignment of Error No. 1

By this assignment defendant contends that the trial judge erred in overruling his motion to quash the petit jury venire for January, 1980. He claims he was prejudiced by a newspaper account of a surge of homicides in New Orleans during January, 1980. He contends that the "prospective jurors have read these news items and are exposed to such publicity concerning crime in New Orleans that the defendant cannot get a fair trial." Even assuming that defendant could have proved his allegations, which he made no attempt to do, the judge's action was proper. A petit jury venire can be set aside only for fraud. C.Cr.P. 419. Prejudicial publicity can provide grounds for a change of venue, C.Cr.P. 622, but does not entitle a defendant to set aside an entire petit jury venire.

Defendant also alleges that the January, 1980 venire was tainted because of conversations between jurors and assistant district attorneys which left the jurors with "the impression that other defendants who either do not take the stand or do not inform the jury of any allegations of crime attributed to them are not being truthful to the jury." The trial judge properly denied defendant's motion since no proof was offered by the defendant to substantiate this allegation. See State v. Sheppard, 350 So.2d 615 (La.1977).

This assignment of error lacks merit.

Assignments of Error Nos. 2 and 8

By Assignment No. 2 defendant contends that C.Cr.P. 798(2) is unconstitutional because it deprived him of his right to a trial by a jury selected from a fair cross section of the community. This court rejected this argument in State v. Kelly, 375 So.2d 1344, 1348 (La.1979), and has repeatedly permitted the exclusion of jurors properly challenged under C.Cr.P. 798(2) for conscientious scruples against capital punishment. See State v. Martin, 376 So.2d 300, 306 (La.1979).

By Assignment No. 8 defendant contends that jurors challenged for cause under C.Cr.P. 798(2) were not held to the requirements of Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968). The record shows that the jurors were held to the Witherspoon standard.

These assignments lack merit.

Assignments of Error Nos. 3 and 19

These assignments concern the admissibility of items seized during defendant's arrest. He argues that, because the officers arrested him from his mother's home without first obtaining a warrant, their entry into the home was unlawful under Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), and State v. Brown, 387 So.2d 567 (La.1980). ¹ Defendant's reliance upon these cases is misplaced. Payton v. New York, supra, does not proscribe every warrantless entry into private premises to effect arrests.

In the instant case, the officers first learned of the murder at 3:22 a. m. They soon arrived at the scene, and were told by the children of the victim that the defendant, who lived next door, was the assailant. The officers knocked at the door of defendant's home at 4:00 a. m. and asked his mother if defendant was there. After entering the home, they arrested defendant from his bedroom. They noticed that defendant's bedspread had fresh blood stains on it so they seized it. Additionally, they seized a bloody dish towel from the kitchen garbage can.

We reject defendant's argument that there were no exigent circumstances justifying the warrantless entry which occurred in this case. The officers had probable cause to believe that defendant had stabbed a woman to death only moments before, in the same building. The murder weapon had not been recovered. Unlike the situations presented in Payton v. New York, supra, and State v. Brown, supra, there was no time to obtain a warrant here. This case is closer to State v. Abadie, 390 So.2d 517, 520 (La.1980), in which we stated:

"... It has long been recognized that police acting with probable cause may effect warrantless entries to search and arrest when confronted with a situation, such as here, in which prompt action is necessary to prevent the flight of alerted suspects and possible destruction or removal of evidence. Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967). The Payton decision only barred warrantless arrests following non-consensual entry into the suspect's house under circumstances in which there was no justification for the officers' failure first to present their facts to a neutral magistrate and to obtain judicial approval prior to the invasion of the suspect's house. Here, there was plainly no time for that procedure, since suspects were scampering away and evidence was within the immediate view of the police. The entry to arrest and to secure the safe was clearly supported by probable cause and was reasonable under the circumstances, despite the absence of prior judicial approval."

These assignments lack merit.

Assignments of Error Nos. 4 and 10

By Assignment No. 4 defendant complains of the trial judge's denial of his motion for individual voir dire and sequestration of jurors during voir dire. The burden is on the defendant to show special circumstances indicating why individual voir dire is warranted. Because defendant made no such showing, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying the motion. State v. Berry, 391 So.2d 406, 411 (La.1980) (on original hearing); State v. Dominick, 354 So.2d 1316, 1321-22 (La.1978).

In Assignment No. 10 the defendant claims the trial judge erred in denying his motion for mistrial when a prospective juror stated, "I don't think (the defendant) would be here if the district attorney didn't think he did something." The defendant claims that, since the jurors heard this remark they were influenced by it, and consequently defendant could not receive a fair trial.

The jurors who were chosen swore to accept the law as given to them by the judge. They were instructed on the presumption of innocence. Implicit in defendant's argument is the assumption that, because the jurors heard this remark, they were unable to accept the law as given to them by the judge. We do not believe this prospective juror's statement could have had such an impact. The complained of remark was a typical misconception of the law the type that voir dire is designed to dispel.

These assignments lack merit.

Assignment of Error No. 5

Defendant argues in this assignment that the trial judge erred in denying his motion for funds to hire a pathologist and a fingerprint expert. The burden is on the defendant to show that he is unable to obtain existing evidence crucial to the defense. State v. Madison, 345 So.2d 485, 490 (La.1977). No such showing was made in the instant case. Nor does counsel in his brief allege that defendant was prejudiced by his inability to hire a pathologist or a fingerprint expert. Furthermore, we do not see how defendant could possibly have been prejudiced. No fingerprint evidence was introduced at trial because the fingerprints obtained from the victim's residence were too smudged. And, the defendant relied upon an alibi defense at trial. The cause of death, time of death, and extent of wounds were not contested by the defendant.

This assignment lacks merit.

Assignments of Error Nos. 6 and 25

In these assignments of error defendant contends that R.S. 14:30 and C.Cr.P. 905 to 905.9 are unconstitutional because they deprive a defendant of due process. This court has noted in State v. Williams, 383 So.2d 369, 373 (La.1980), that our capital sentencing law is modeled after the Georgia statute upheld by the United States Supreme Court in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed. 2d...