State v. Myers

• Decision Date: 05 March 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-1296.,02-1296.
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Lavelle MYERS a/k/a Lavelle Coleman.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

839 So.2d 1183

STATE of Louisiana v. Lavelle MYERS a/k/a Lavelle Coleman.

No. 02-1296.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 5, 2003.

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G. Paul Marx, Attorney at Law, Lafayette, LA, for Defendant/Appellant, Lavelle Myers, a/k/a Lavelle Coleman.

Joseph P. Beck, II, District Attorney, Colfax, LA, for Appellee, State of Louisiana.

Court composed of JIMMIE C. PETERS, MARC T. AMY, and MICHAEL G. SULLIVAN, Judges.

JIMMIE C. PETERS, Judge.

The defendant, Lavelle Myers, also known as Lavelle Coleman, was charged by grand jury indictment with second degree murder, a violation of La.R.S. 14:30.1. A jury convicted him of the charge, and the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The defendant has appealed his conviction, asserting six assignments of error. For the following reasons, we affirm the conviction in all respects.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

After being charged with his brother's murder, the defendant entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. At the request of the defendant, the trial court appointed a sanity commission, consisting of Drs. Marshall E. Belaga and Vijaya L. Boppana. The trial court held a hearing on the sanity issue on April 29, 2002, and, after the evidence was presented, concluded that the defendant was able to distinguish right from wrong, to understand the proceedings against him, and to assist in his defense. The three-day trial commenced on June 17, 2002, with the jury returning its verdict on June 19, 2002.

The defendant and the victim, John Coleman, are brothers, and, on May 20, 2001, they were living together in a house trailer located north of Pollock, Louisiana, in Grant Parish. At approximately 3:30 p.m. on that day, three parish law enforcement officers went to the trailer to investigate a report that a corpse had been found in the residence. Upon arrival, they found no evidence of forced entry into the residence and discovered the victim's decapitated body lying in a bathtub. Not only had his head been severed from his torso, but his genitalia had been severed as well. The victim's body appeared to have been washed, as there was very little blood in the bathtub. The investigating officers subsequently discovered the severed genitalia beneath the victim's left leg, but they did not find the severed head at the scene.

Grant Parish Sheriffs Detective Jody Bullock collected blood samples in the bathroom where the victim's body was located, in the hall leading from the bathroom to the victim's bedroom, and in the bedroom itself. While examining the bedroom, Detective Bullock initially observed that the bed appeared to be made up. However, when he removed the top cover, he found that the bed contained no linens. Detective Bullock then lifted the mattress on the bed and observed blood stains on the underneath side as if it had been "flipped" over. Additionally, he observed blood splatters on the bedroom window blinds and collected a spent .22—caliber shell casing from the bedroom floor. During the course of his investigation, Detective Bullock walked to the defendant's bedroom where he discovered a loaded Marlin.22—caliber rifle behind the bedroom door. According to Detective Bullock, the rifle appeared to have been wiped clean, but a closer inspection revealed what appeared to be blood splatters on the lens of the scope mounted on the rifle. Subsequent scientific testing established that the blood found on the scope of the rifle matched that of the victim and that the spent .22— caliber shell found in the victim's bedroom had been fired from the Marlin .22—caliber rifle found in the defendant's bedroom.

Two days later, on May 22, 2001, Detective Bullock recovered the victim's severed head from a dumpster near Georgetown, Louisiana. The victim had been shot twice in the head at close range by a small-caliber weapon. Additionally, he recovered, from the dumpster, a pillow and sheets with substantial amounts of blood on them, as well as some underwear and socks.

The defendant was present at the trailer when the deputies arrived on May 20. On that day, he gave two separate statements to the members of the investigating team. At approximately 4:26 p.m., the defendant gave a statement to Grant Parish Sheriff Deputy John T. Montgomery, one of the first deputies to arrive on the scene. Deputy Montgomery testified concerning the fact that he took the statement, but did not elaborate on its content. At 11:00 p.m., Deputy Montgomery and Detective Bullock questioned the defendant a second time. According to Detective Bullock, in this statement, the defendant asserted that he and his brother had been involved in a physical altercation sometime during the day and that the defendant had struck the victim, rendering him unconscious. Detective Bullock testified that the defendant informed him that he then panicked and telephoned unidentified individuals to come and "fix his problem." Initially, the defendant suggested that he agreed to pay the unnamed individuals $1,000.00, but later in his statement, it became unclear whether he agreed to pay anything. In any event, the defendant was unable to provide the officers with names or telephone numbers of the alleged individuals. Detective Bullock testified that after the statement, he urged the defendant to tell the truth. According to the detective, the defendant responded that he would if he could be guaranteed that he would be placed in a mental hospital.

When the deputies first arrived at the trailer on May 20, Johnny W. Moss, a step-cousin to the defendant and his brother, was also present. He testified that he had been called by the defendant to come to the trailer and that, when he arrived, the defendant informed him that the victim was in the bathtub. Mr. Moss was aware that the defendant and his brother had quarreled regularly before the May 20 homicide. According to Mr. Moss, the victim had recently told him that he wanted the defendant to move out. On another occasion, according to Mr. Moss, the defendant had stated that if the victim "didn't let him alone, he was going to cut his head off."

The state presented evidence of two other incriminating statements made by the defendant after his arrest for his brother's murder. The first occurred on October 2, 2001, when Sergeant Chris Woodard of the Grant Parish Sheriffs Office allowed a trustee to take a juvenile for a tour of the jail in an effort to impress upon the juvenile the consequences of criminal behavior. Sergeant Woodard trailed behind the trustee and the juvenile, and, as they approached the defendant's cell, the trustee asked the defendant to tell the juvenile why he was incarcerated. According to Sergeant Woodard, the defendant responded that he had cut off a man's head and genitals.

The other statement was made to Johnny Ray Desselle, who shared a cell in the parish jail with the defendant for a period of time before trial. According to Mr. Desselle, the defendant told him that he and his brother had gotten into an altercation over some checks he had written for crack cocaine and that the victim had wanted him to move from the trailer. Mr. Desselle testified that the defendant told him that he had shot his brother as he lay in bed and that he had dragged the body to the bathtub where he "cut him like he did a deer."

Susan Garcia, a New Orleans, Louisiana forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on the victim. According to Ms. Garcia, the victim died from the gunshot wounds to the head and not the decapitation. She testified that the shots were fired at contact range and that the entry holes were consistent with small-caliber projectiles. She also noted that the body contained no defensive wounds, indicating to her that he was shot while incapacitated by intoxication or sleep.

On appeal, the defendant raises six assignments of error:

1. The trial court erred in that the question of capacity to proceed was not subject to a full hearing, where over defense objection, one of the commission members did not testify and only submitted a written report.

2. The trial court erred in allowing inadmissable opinion testimony from an investigating officer, which testimony was highly prejudicial and not based on anything other than conjecture.

3. The trial court erred in that it did not suppress the testimony of an `inmate counsel' who secured information from the appellant on the pretense of `representing' him before the courts of this state and there fore [sic] in violation of the appellant's privilege to confidentiality of communications with his legal representatives.

4. The evidence is insufficient to support the verdict of guilty of second degree murder.

5. The trial court erred in that it refused to include the penalty for manslaughter when charging the jury as to that responsive verdict.

6. The indictment is a nullity because the trial court selected the grand jury foreperson in contravention of article 413 B of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure.

Assignment of Error Number 4

The defendant's fourth assignment of error challenges the sufficiency of the evidence presented by that state. We will consider if first because, as the supreme court has explained:

When issues are raised on appeal both as to the sufficiency of the evidence and as to one or more trial errors, the reviewing court should first determine the sufficiency of the evidence. The reason for reviewing sufficiency first is that the accused may be entitled to an acquittal under Hudson v. Louisiana, 450 U.S. 40, 101 S.Ct. 970, 67 L.Ed.2d 30 (1981), if a rational trier of fact, viewing the evidence in accordance with Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could not reasonably conclude that all of the essential elements of the offense have been proved beyond a reasonable...