State v. Quatrevingt

• Decision Date: 28 February 1996
• Parties: 93-1644 La
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 197

670 So.2d 197

93-1644 La. 2/28/96, 64 USLW 2612

STATE of Louisiana v. Steven B. QUATREVINGT.

No. 93-KO-1644.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Feb. 28, 1996.

Rehearing Denied March 29, 1996.

On Writ of Certiorari, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal.

Samuel S. Dalton, Jefferson, Vincent Anthony Miceli, Jr., Metairie, Steven B. Quatrevingt, for Applicant.

Steven B. Quatrevingt, pro se.

Richard P. Ieyoub, Attorney General, Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Jack Peebles, Karen Godail Arena, for Respondent.

[93-1644 La. 1] VICTORY, Justice. ¹

Steven Quatrevingt was indicted by the grand jury for the first degree murder of Carol Pauline Bissitt, in violation of La.R.S. 14:30. After trial by jury in January 1990, defendant was found guilty as charged. The jury, however, deadlocked on the penalty to be imposed, and on March 9, 1990, the trial judge sentenced defendant to life imprisonment without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed. ² State v. Quatrevingt, 617 So.2d 484 (La.App. 4th Cir.1992). We granted writs to address the admissibility of DNA evidence in Louisiana, 93-1644 (La. 6/16/95); 655 So.2d 351, and now affirm Quatrevingt's conviction and sentence.

FACTS

Our review of the record indicates that the court of appeal's recitation of the facts is accurate. Thus, we borrow it for this opinion:

Testimony at trial established that the victim and her parents lived at the Mark VII Apartments, located at 4508 Papania Drive in New Orleans, Louisiana, and that defendant, Stephen Quatrevingt, was employed by Mark VII as maintenance man for the apartment complex. According to the parents, the victim was a [93-1644 La. 2] mentally-handicapped, twenty-two (22) year old [sic] who performed daily household chores for her parents while they were operating a family restaurant catering business. It was the practice of the parents to wake the victim in the morning so that she could chain the door after they were gone.

At or about ten o'clock on the morning of June 13, 1988, the victim's mother spoke with her on the telephone. At that time, the victim informed her mother that she was going for a bicycle ride later in the day. State's witness, Wendy Robin, testified that she observed the victim outside of her apartment around noon. Also, Freddie Jean Deboss, the manager of the apartment complex, testified that he [sic] spoke with the victim around noon when she complained that the electricity in her apartment was off. At that time, Quatrevingt accompanied the victim to her apartment to determine the cause of the electrical problem. Returning at or about 12:35, Quatrevingt informed Ms. Deboss that the main breaker was merely turned off. Eight-year-old Gerald Dorsey further testified that, while riding his bike in front of the victim's apartment, he observed Quatrevingt and the victim walking towards the victim's apartment, and that he heard loud noises emanating from the apartment "like jamming on the walls." Gerald Dorsey stated that he did not see the victim later in the day.

At or about 5:00 p.m., the parents returned home, and the father remarked that, although the door was locked, the door's chain was unlatched. Entering the apartment, the parents observed their daughter's disrobed body near the door, her face covered with a white towel. Lifting the towel, the mother saw a blue cast on the victim's face, dried blood under her eyes, and something around her neck. At that point, the parents attempted to call the police; however, the telephone was off the hook. Eventually, the police were called regarding the murder.

Detective Steven Nicholas ("Nicholas") of the Homicide Division of the New Orleans Police Department arrived on the scene to direct the investigation in the preliminary phase. Upon entering the apartment, Nicholas observed that the victim was nude from above the breasts [sic], that her legs were partially spread, that her eyes were partially open, and that a telephone cord, leading from a kitchen receptacle, was roped around the victim's neck.

Testifying that the physical evidence revealed no sign of forced entry, Detective Nicholas believed that the victim knew her assailant. Coroner Paul McGarry testified that he examined the victim's body and determined the time of death to be between 12:00 and 12:30 p.m. that day. According to Dr. McGarry, her face was dark purple and had hemorrhages in the skin and in the eyes. Around the victim's neck were three wraps of a robe sash, tightly tied in two double knots under the victim's chin; beneath the sash, Dr. McGarry found a telephone cord wrapped three times around the neck, indenting the skin. The bruising on her throat revealed that the victim was first strangled by hands. Although her genital area was intact, revealing no [93-1644 La. 3] trauma to the vagina, the victim's rectum had been dilated to more than one inch, causing eight tears in the rectal tissue. Smeared fecal matter was observed along the periphery of the rectum, along with what appeared to be seminal fluid. After moving the body slightly, a small piece of rubber-like black material was retrieved from underneath the victim's right thigh.

On the same day, Quatrevingt was questioned by Detective Nicholas on the scene. According to Nicholas, Quatrevingt was advised that he was under investigation for the murder of the victim, and informed of his rights. During the interview, Quatrevingt stated that he had gone to the apartment with the victim, and explained that, as he was leaving the victim's apartment, he tripped over the telephone cord. However, the victim was fine when he departed. Being suspicious of Quatrevingt's knowledge of certain details of the crime, a search warrant was obtained to seize his shoes and clothing. At approximately 3:00 a.m., on June 14, 1988, Quatrevingt was brought to Charity Hospital where samples of his hair, blood and saliva, were taken and a penile swab performed. Thereafter, all of the samples taken from Quatrevingt were sent to various laboratories for analysis.

At trial, testimony was received from New Orleans Police Department criminologist, Edgar Dunn, who stated that the bermuda shorts taken from Quatrevingt tested positive for both semen and fecal matter. Also, the penile swabs of Quatrevingt further revealed the presence of fecal matter. Further evidence consisted of a match between Quatrevingt's shoe sole and a print found outside the victim's apartment, as well as the fact that the piece of rubber found under the victim matched a gouge in the bottom of Quatrevingt's shoe.

Additionally, several doctors and technicians testified, despite defense objections, that the DNA testing revealed that the seminal fluid found on the towel near the victim's leg "matched" the DNA imprint of Quatrevingt.

In response, the defense presented evidence that other suspicious males were in the area at the time of the rape/murder: Specifically, the state received a call from a woman who identified another individual as the murderer. Regarding the DNA testing, the defense offered Dr. James Cohen. Dr. Cohen stated that, although the methods of DNA testing fell well within the bounds of accepted protocol in the scientific community, the testing done in this matter did not adequately control for an occurrence known as "bandshifting." According to Dr. Cohen, "the match referred to by the State was only obtained after adjusting for the bandshifting."

As noted, the jury found the defendant guilty of first degree murder; but could not agree on the sentence, so defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment [93-1644 La. 4] without probation, parole, or suspension of sentence as provided by law. The court of appeal affirmed. Defendant advances six assignments of error:

(1) The trial court and court of appeal erred in finding that the evidence was sufficient to convict.

(2) The trial court and court of appeal erred in finding that the DNA evidence was admissible.

(3) The trial court erred in allowing the introduction of hearsay evidence.

(4) The trial court erred in limiting the cross-examination of a state witness.

(5) The trial court erred in defining reasonable doubt.

(6) The trial court erred in allowing the prosecution to refer to a non-existent confession during its opening statement.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

(ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR I)

The defendant was indicted with first degree murder for the killing of Carol Pauline Bissitt while engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of aggravated rape. The relevant portions of La.R.S. 14:30 define first degree murder as follows:

A. First degree murder is the killing of a human being:

(1) When the offender has specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm and is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of ... aggravated rape....

Louisiana R.S. 14:42 provides, in pertinent part, that:

A. Aggravated rape is a rape committed upon a person ... where the anal or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without lawful consent of the victim because it is committed under any one or more of the following circumstances:

(1) When the victim resists the act to the utmost, but whose resistance is overcome by force. ³

[93-1644 La. 5] In order to affirm a conviction, an appellate court must determine that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient for a rational fact finder to conclude that every element of the crime was proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Martin, 93-0285 (La. 10/17/94); 645 So.2d 190; State v. Captville, 448 So.2d 676 (La.1984). In a case involving circumstantial evidence, assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. La.R.S. 15:438.

The defendant does not seriously dispute that a first...