State v. Sanders
| Decision Date | 30 November 1994 |
| Citation | 648 So.2d 1272 |
| Parties | 93-0001 La |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
Nicholas J. Trenticosta, Gary P. Clements, New Orleans, for applicant.
Richard P. Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., Douglas H. Greenburg, Dist. Atty., Mark D. Rhodes, Juan W. Pickett, Kristi S. Maiorana, Houma, for respondent.
[93-0001 La. 1] HALL, Justice *.
On January 5, 1990, defendant, Norman Sanders, was charged by grand jury indictment with first degree murder of "Jamie Pitre and Kellie Pitts Sanders." The indictment was later amended to clarify that the indictment charged two counts of first degree murder. Defendant was convicted on both counts and sentenced to death. This case is now before us on automatic appeal pursuant to LSA-Const. art. V, § 5(D)(2).
Defendant has presented 34 assignments of error, of which 20 were argued. These 20 principal assignments of error will be discussed in this opinion and the 14 remaining unargued assignments of error will be discussed in an unpublished appendix.
For reasons assigned in this opinion, we affirm the convictions, but reverse and set aside the sentence and remand for a new sentencing hearing.
On October 13, 1987, Terrebonne Parish authorities found the bodies of two homicide victims, Jamie Pitre and Kelly Pitts Sanders. The facts surrounding the victims' deaths, as developed at defendant's trial, follow.
[93-0001 La. 2] Defendant, Norman Sanders, and Kelly Pitts, one of the victims, married in September 1986. In September 1987, then 18-year-old Kelly left the house she shared with defendant and moved in with her mother and sister. Defendant subsequently threatened to kill Kelly and her whole family if she did not return to him. On September 21, 1987, Kelly filed for a legal separation from defendant and for a restraining order preventing him from threatening or approaching her.
On October 12, 1987, stating that he wanted to take pictures of Kelly with another man for use in divorce proceedings, defendant enlisted the help of two friends to find Kelly. One of the friends informed defendant that he knew of Kelly's whereabouts, and that she had been seen in the company of a young man, Jamie Pitre. Defendant's two friends showed him the home of Ronnie Pitre. Ronnie Pitre lived with his wife and child and younger brother, 17-year-old Jamie. On the evening of the 12th, the Pitres, along with Jamie and Kelly, watched an evening movie. At the conclusion of the film (around 10:00 p.m.), the Pitres retired, and Kelly and Jamie left the house and went to Kelly's station wagon parked outside. Some time later, defendant approached the vehicle (there was some evidence he laid in wait in the rear seat of the car) and shot Jamie in the back of the head once and Kelly in the face once. Both died instantly.
Defendant then fled, first to Baton Rouge, and then to El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico. Acting on a tip, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Department officers contacted the FBI, who contacted agents of the police of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. Chihuahua state police agents arrested defendant in Juarez. The defendant orally confessed to the crime at the scene of his arrest and later signed a written confession while in custody of the Chihuahua police. The defendant was transferred to FBI custody at El Paso and returned to Houma for trial, where the jury found him guilty of two counts of first degree murder and, having found the presence of the aggravating circumstance that defendant knowingly created a risk of death or great bodily harm to more than one person, recommended a sentence of death, which the trial court imposed.
Subsequent to his sentencing, defendant filed in this court a Motion to Remand to District Court for Receipt of Evidence in Order to Enlarge the Record for Appeal. The court referred the motion to the merits. The motion raises the critical issue of whether or not the district court had personal jurisdiction over the defendant at trial. This issue is likewise raised in defendant's [93-0001 La. 3] assignments of error and will be addressed first.
Defendant's motion to remand and assignments of errors nos. 6, 7 and 8 raise issues under The Extradition Treaty between the United States of America and the United Mexican States of 1978. These issues were not raised in the district court and are raised for the first time on appeal. Defendant argues that the treaty prohibits the extradition of a person who may be subject to the death penalty in the prosecuting nation. Defendant also argues that the treaty and Mexican law prohibit the extradition of Mexican nationals and that defendant is a Mexican national. Defendant further argues that United States authorities presented a forged birth certificate to Mexican police officials indicating that defendant was born in the United States whereas he was in fact born in Mexico, thereby depriving the Mexican authorities of the exercise of their discretion under the treaty not to extradite a Mexican national.
Defendant's motion to remand asks that the case be remanded to the district court to take evidence on defendant's status as a Mexican national and to develop facts relating to the alleged false birth certificate. Attached to the motion is a document executed several years after defendant's birth which purports to reflect his birth in Durango, Mexico. Since no objection to jurisdiction was raised in the district court, the record on appeal is practically devoid of any evidence bearing on defendant's nationality.
Defendant contends that because of violations of the treaty, the Louisiana court is without personal jurisdiction of the defendant, the conviction is null, and defendant should be repatriated to Mexico. Defendant relies particularly on Articles 8 and 9 of the treaty, which provide:
When the offense for which extradition is requested is punishable by death under the laws of the requesting Party and the laws of the requested Party do not permit such punishment for that offense, extradition may be refused unless the requesting party furnishes such assurances as the requested party considers sufficient that the death penalty shall be imposed, or, if imposed, shall not be executed.
1. Neither Contracting Party shall be bound to deliver up its nationals, but the executive authority of the requested party shall, if not prevented by the laws of that Party, have the power to deliver them up, if, in its discretion, it be deemed proper to do so.
2. If extradition is not granted pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article, the requested party shall submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose [93-0001 La. 4] of prosecution, provided that Party has jurisdiction over the offense.
The guiding legal principles were set forth in the recent United States Supreme Court case of United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. 655, 112 S.Ct. 2188, 119 L.Ed.2d 441 (1992). In Alvarez, U.S. agents caused the forcible abduction of a Mexican national from Mexico to California, where he was charged with murder. Defendant there raised similar defenses to those raised here. Protests were lodged by the Mexican government. The Supreme Court, nevertheless, found the treaty inapplicable and no bar to prosecution in the United States.
The Supreme Court explained that absent a treaty, a nation is not obligated to surrender a person to another nation. The treaty between the United States and Mexico creates mutual obligations on the two nations to extradite under certain circumstances and according to certain procedures. The treaty does not prohibit a transfer of custody by other means. The treaty "does not purport to specify the only way in which one country may gain custody of a national of the other country for the purposes of prosecution." The court found that the treaty did not by its terms or by implication prohibit abduction outside of the terms of the treaty or prohibit prosecution where the defendant's presence is obtained by means other than those established by the treaty. The court concluded that defendant's abduction was not in violation of the treaty and, therefore, his trial in the United States was not prohibited.
In this case, the transfer of custody of the defendant was accomplished by informal, consensual cooperation between a low-level FBI office in El Paso, Texas and local police officials in Juarez, Mexico, not through "the diplomatic channel" as specified in Article 10 of the treaty.
According to testimony, the Mexican police were presented with a warrant or detention order and a birth certificate showing that defendant was born in Durango, Colorado. Unlike in the Alvarez case, no protest under the treaty has been made by the Mexican government. Nothing in the treaty prohibits such a transfer of custody or prohibits prosecution after transfer of custody by such means. Article 8 of the treaty allows refusal by Mexico of extradition of persons who may be subjected to the death penalty, but does not prohibit such extradition. Article 9 of the treaty allows refusal by Mexico of extradition of Mexican nationals, but does not prohibit such extradition.
The treaty does not by its terms or by implication afford defendant the right to freedom [93-0001 La. 5] from prosecution in the United States or to be repatriated under the circumstances of this case. It cannot be said that the treaty was violated even if, as claimed by defendant, U.S. officials engaged in some subterfuge in the process of the informal transfer of custody. We hasten to add that the record contains no evidence, only defendant's allegation, that a false birth certificate was used. However, even if such were the case, and if defendant is a Mexican national, the treaty affords him no relief. These assignments of error are without merit and the motion to remand is denied.
Defendant's argument in...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Brown
...1246, 113 L.Ed.2d 302 (1991) ; Chapman v. California , 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967) ; State v. Sanders , 93-0001, p. 25 (La. 11/30/94), 648 So.2d 1272, 1291. At trial, the state relied on defendant's statement to establish that defendant was directly involved in Capt......
-
State v. Odenbaugh
...(La. 2/28/96), 669 So.2d 364 (ex-employee returns to restaurant, kills one employee and attempts to kill another); State v. Sanders, 93-0001 (La. 11/30/94), 648 So.2d 1272 (husband kills estranged wife and new boyfriend); State v. Deboue, 552 So.2d 355 (La. 1989) (murder of two children in ......
-
State v. Moton
...v. Blank, 04–0204 (La.4/11/07), 955 So.2d 90, cert. denied, 552 U.S. 994, 128 S.Ct. 494, 169 L.Ed.2d 346 (2007); State v. Sanders, 93–0001 (La.11/30/94), 648 So.2d 1272, cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1246, 116 S.Ct. 2504, 135 L.Ed.2d 194 (1996); State v. Burns, 45,539 (La.App.2d Cir.9/22/10), 48 S......
-
State v. Carter
... ... Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279, 295296, 111 S.Ct. 1246, 1257, 113 L.Ed.2d 302 (1991) ; Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967) ; State v. Sanders, 930001, p. 25 (La.11/30/94), 648 So.2d 1272, 1291. Here, the record evidence demonstrates that defendant repeatedly and untruthfully told police that he had not abducted Corinthian, such that Jacobs's note that defendant was "Lying about the last time see saw Corinthian" in defendant's statement ... ...