State v. Nelson
| Decision Date | 15 October 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-KA-0767,83-KA-0767 |
| Citation | 459 So.2d 510 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Lane C. NELSON. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, Jo Ellen McMillen, Philip Boudousque, G. Michael Grosz and William C. Credo, Dorothy A. Pendergast, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.
Matt Greenbaum, Law Offices of Matt Greenbaum, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.
Defendant, Lane Christian Nelson, was convicted of committing a first degree murder on July 22, 1981, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30. 1 After a sentencing hearing the jury recommended death on the ground that Nelson was engaged in an armed robbery at the time of the murder, a statutory aggravating circumstance. LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 905.4(a). 2 Defendant has appealed his conviction and sentence.
On July 23, 1981, at about 7:00 P.M., a traffic accident occurred on Interstate 10 in Madison County, Florida. Trooper Homer Melgaard investigated the accident, which involved a disabled truck hit in the rear by a Mercury automobile, despite the truck driver's efforts to flag traffic. Witnesses at the scene advised Trooper Melgaard that two men walking down the road had been in the Mercury. One of them, Lane C. Nelson, was arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcoholic beverages and both he and his companion, Robert Wilhelm, were taken to the Madison County jail. Because Trooper Melgaard had to wait for a wrecker, the trio reached the jail between 8:30 and 8:45 P.M. Melgaard requested a breathalyzer test on Nelson which showed a .24 reading. 3 In the course of doing his paperwork on the accident report, Trooper Melgaard engaged Nelson in a general conversation and inquired about the ownership of the vehicle. Nelson said he had borrowed the rented automobile from a friend in Louisiana to go to the store, and Trooper Melgaard suspected that the car might be stolen. During the course of the conversation, Nelson volunteered: "Looking at me, you do not think I would kill anybody," (Tr. 245). At this point, Trooper Melgaard broke off the conversation and summoned Officer William Pheil, who gave Nelson his Miranda rights at approximately 10:00 P.M. 4 After those rights were fully explained and Nelson signed a waiver, the officers began questioning him about his startling statement.
Nelson had been hitchhiking to New Orleans when he was picked up by Beauvais Randall in Bunkie, Louisiana. Randall, apparently a transvestite, was dressed like a woman. After Nelson told Randall that he had no money, Randall offered to pay Nelson for a photography session at Randall's apartment in New Orleans. Following an early morning arrival at the Randall apartment, the two men took a nap, and Randall showed Nelson magazine illustrations of women in bondage positions which he wished duplicated. Randall was trussed in ropes and Nelson took Polaroid photographs. During a break, Nelson received twenty dollars from Randall and purchased cigarettes, a pint of vodka, and two six packs of beer. Before Nelson left for the store, he retied Randall who performed oral sex on Nelson. Subsequently, there were approximately three hours of photography with Randall dressed in a woman's black slip and high heels. Randall then assumed men's clothes and the two went to a pizza parlor where Nelson drank beer. After they returned to Randall's apartment, Randall asked Nelson to tie him up again before Nelson left to do some laundry. While doing the laundry, Nelson decided that he would leave in Randall's rented Mercury with Randall's money. When he announced his plan to Randall, the latter began to scream. Nelson stabbed Randall repeatedly with an eight inch knife which had been in Randall's suitcase, took sixty-five or seventy dollars from Randall's jeans, and drove off in the Mercury. He intended to drive to Florida but went west instead of east and spent the night at a rest stop about one hundred miles from New Orleans. Nelson then retraced his steps to New Orleans and continued on to Florida where he picked up hitchhiker Wilhelm. Nelson told Wilhelm about what had happened to Randall because he "had to tell someone". (Appendix B, page 52)
According to Trooper Melgaard and Officer Pheil, Nelson did not appear to be too intoxicated to make a statement and spoke coherently. During the course of the statement, Pheil called special agent Robert Kinsey with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Kinsey repeated Nelson's Miranda rights to him at approximately 10:20 P.M. and Nelson signed another waiver. Kinsey and Pheil first talked to Wilhelm and then interviewed Nelson at approximately 10:30 P.M. Nelson gave directions to Randall's apartment, speaking directly to the Jefferson Parish authorities. Nelson's cooperation enabled the Jefferson Parish police to find Randall's body still tied in a locked bedroom. Nelson gave a taped confession to Officer Kinsey. A transcript of the confession, in which Nelson sounds completely sober, coherent, and candid, is attached as Appendix A. 5
Nelson also consented to a search of the Mercury automobile, but the search was not completed until the following day. In the automobile were some aluminum cans, a short piece of white nylon rope, and one photograph showing a white male tied up in bed wearing a woman's slip. Although there were numerous knife wounds, Randall's death resulted from two stabs which severed his common carotid artery.
Subsequently, on July 27, 1981, when Detective DeNoux of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's office arrived in Madison, Florida, to transport defendant back to Louisiana, Nelson was again advised of his Miranda rights and gave a second taped statement, a transcript of which is attached as Appendix B. Both recordings were heard by the jury.
Defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to suppress his original oral inculpatory statement to Trooper Homer Melgaard because he had not been warned of his Miranda rights and he was too intoxicated to make a knowing and intelligent waiver of those rights before his confession.
Trooper Melgaard erred in not advising Nelson of his constitutional rights. Berkemer v. McCarty, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984). However, the error was inadvertent; there is no indication of any official misconduct or bad faith. See State v. Kent, 391 So.2d 429 (La.1980). Miranda states that "where in-custody interrogation is involved, there is no room for the contention that the privilege is waived if the individual answers some questions or gives some information on his own prior to invoking his right to remain silent when interrogated." Miranda v. Arizona, supra, 384 U.S. at 475-476, 86 S.Ct. at 1628, 16 L.Ed.2d at 724.
Despite being in custody, Nelson was not being interrogated at the time of his statement, certainly not about anything even remotely connected with murder. His arrest was entirely legal. Compare Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416 (1975). Nelson's unsolicited incriminating statement was unresponsive to the car ownership about which he was being questioned. At most, Nelson was suspected of possible car theft. Trooper Melgaard was unaware that a murder had been committed and could not have known that his conversation might elicit the incriminating response. See Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980) and State v. Castillo, 389 So.2d 1307 (La.,1980). As to the crime of murder, Nelson's outburst was as voluntary as if he had walked into the police station and announced his guilt. Miranda, supra. Miranda, supra, 384 U.S. at 478, 86 S.Ct. at 1630, 16 L.Ed.2d at 726.
Nelson had already confessed his guilt to Wilhelm. Wilhelm, a disinterested hitchhiker, was also in custody and may have been driving the Mercury. (Appendix B, page 52). At some point, Wilhelm would have undoubtedly incriminated Nelson, who was in the car rented by Randall and had left his finger prints throughout Randall's apartment. Therefore, despite Melgaard's error in not advising Nelson of his Miranda rights, the police would inevitably have discovered Nelson's involvement with Randall's murder. "[W]hen, as here, the evidence in question would inevitably have been discovered without reference to the police error or misconduct, there is no nexus sufficient to provide a taint and the evidence is admissible." Nix v. Williams, --- U.S. ---- at ----, 104 S.Ct. 2501 at 2511, 81 L.Ed.2d 377 at 390 (1984). 6
The state carried its burden of proof as to the admissibility of Nelson's oral inculpatory statement. LSA-R.S. 15:451.
Despite Nelson's blood alcohol level, the evidence is that he was competent to waive his constitutional rights. On the basis of the testimony of the Florida police officers and the clarity of the first taped confession, the trial court and the jury concluded that Nelson was not too intoxicated to make a voluntary statement. Nelson apparently had a great tolerance for alcohol; his taped statement itself fully supports the conclusion that Nelson was sober enough to make a knowing and intelligent waiver of his constitutional rights prior to his confession. See State v. Delore, 381 So.2d 455 (La.,1980).
This assignment lacks merit.
Defendant contends that his two taped statements were inadmissible because they were fruits of his illegal interrogation by Trooper Melgaard. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).
As to the second statement, on July 27, 1981, the connection between Nelson's incriminating remark...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State Of La. v. Dressner
...State v. Deboue, 552 So.2d 355, 366 (La. 1989), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 881, 111 S.Ct. 215, 112 L.Ed.2d 174 (1990); State v. Nelson, 459 So.2d 510, 513 (La. 1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1030, 105 S.Ct. 2050, 85 L.Ed.2d 322 (1985); State v. Lecompte, 371 So.2d 239, 243 (La. 1978). Evidence o......
-
State of La. v. DRESSNER
...State v. Deboue, 552 So.2d 355, 366 (La.1989), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 881, 111 S.Ct. 215, 112 L.Ed.2d 174 (1990); State v. Nelson, 459 So.2d 510, 513 (La.1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1030, 105 S.Ct. 2050, 85 L.Ed.2d 322 (1985); State v. Lecompte, 371 So.2d 239, 243 (La.1978). Evidence of a......
-
State v. Holmes
...retardation rendered him incapable of forming specific intent for aggravated burglary of the murder victims' home); State v. Nelson, 459 So.2d 510, 516-17 (La.1984), 471 U.S. 1030, 105 S.Ct. 2050, 85 L.Ed.2d 322 (1985) (no error disallowing defense questions to psychiatrist designed to show......
-
State v. Tassin
...identify the victim, and to corroborate other evidence establishing the location and placement of wounds and cause of death. State v. Nelson, 459 So.2d 510 (La.1984), cert. den. 471 U.S. 1030, 105 S.Ct. 2050, 85 L.Ed.2d 322 (1985); State v. Kirkpatrick, 443 So.2d 546 (La.1983), cert. den. 4......