State v. Schmidt

Citation771 So.2d 131
Decision Date26 July 2000
Docket NumberNo. 99-1412.,99-1412.
PartiesSTATE of Louisiana v. Richard J. SCHMIDT.
CourtCourt of Appeal of Louisiana (US)

Michael Harson, District Attorney, Keith A. Stutes, Assistant District Attorney, Lafayette, LA, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Michael S. Fawer, Covington, LA, Gerald J. Block, Lafayette, LA, William R. Campbell, Herbert V. Larson, Jr., New Orleans, LA, Thomas E. Guilbeau, Lafayette, LA, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant.

(Court composed of Judge HENRY L. YELVERTON, Judge BILLIE COLOMBARO WOODARD, Judge GLENN B. GREMILLION).

GREMILLION, Judge.

In this case, the defendant, Richard J. Schmidt, appeals his conviction and sentence of fifty years at hard labor for attempted second degree murder. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

The State charged Defendant, a medical doctor specializing in gastroenterology, with the attempted second degree murder of Janice Trahan, a nurse, alleging that he committed the crime on August 4, 1994, by injecting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) into Trahan under the guise of giving her a Vitamin B-12 shot. HIV is the virus which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a disease for which there is no cure and which is ultimately fatal.1 Trahan testified that she is now HIV-positive and suffers from Hepatitis C, and that she became infected by those diseases when Defendant injected those viruses into her on August 4, 1994. She initially sought medical attention for symptoms of a viral infection on August 16, 1994, and was informed she was HIV positive on January 3, 1995.

The evidence at trial established that Defendant and Trahan were engaged in an extramarital affair for over ten years at the time the instant offense was committed. When they began their affair, both Defendant and Trahan were married. Trahan divorced her husband; however, Defendant's promises to divorce his wife were never fulfilled. According to the evidence, Trahan tried to end their affair many times, but Defendant either persuaded or coerced her into returning to him each time. The evidence also reflected that Defendant threatened or discouraged Trahan's other would-be suitors.

The evidence revealed that sex was the primary focus when Defendant and Trahan were together. Defendant did not like using condoms nor did he like Trahan using a diaphragm for birth control. According to Trahan, she did not take birth control pills because they gave her migraine headaches. As a result, she became pregnant four times by Defendant and, on three of those occasions, he pressured her into having abortions to terminate her pregnancies.2 She did not terminate one of her pregnancies by Defendant, and, in March 1991, she gave birth to their son, J.T.3 Their relationship continued until July 19, 1994, when Trahan told Defendant their affair was over after learning that he had returned to his wife.

In her testimony, Trahan described the mysterious circumstances surrounding the "shot in the dark" she received from Defendant. In early July 1994, Defendant gave Trahan a series of three Vitamin B-12 shots. The night of August 4, 1994, Defendant called Trahan and told her he was coming over to give her another B-12 shot. Trahan had not seen Defendant since the day of their break-up on July 19, 1994, and was asleep in bed with three-year-old J.T. when Defendant arrived. Trahan explained that she told him she did not want a shot at that time, but would rather it be given the next morning. Defendant, nonetheless, came around the bed and, before she could react, injected her in the arm. None of the previous B-12 injections had hurt, but Trahan testified that this shot was very painful, hurting all the way down her arm. Defendant then left suddenly, telling Trahan that he had to go who is infected with the HIV virus, develops one of a certain list of infections." to the emergency room of Hamilton Medical Center.

The shot continued hurting Trahan that night, and she thought she would have to go to the hospital to have it examined by a doctor. She called the emergency room at Hamilton Medical Center, but learned that Defendant was not there. Trahan then paged Defendant and, according to her, he returned the page from his office. She confronted him with the lie regarding his whereabouts, to which he responded that he had been on the third floor of the hospital. Trahan claims she then told Defendant about the pain she was experiencing from the injection and he apologized and told her he would not give her another "shot in the dark."

The next day, Trahan testified that she told Meredith Poche, a nurse with whom she worked in the Intensive Care Unit of Lafayette General Hospital, about the unusual and painful injection. Poche testified that Trahan told her about Defendant's suspicious behavior and that she suspected that the injection was not a B-12 shot. According to Poche, Trahan told her because she wanted someone to know she had received the injection.

Trahan began suffering flu-like symptoms in the weeks following the August 4, 1994 "shot in the dark." According to Trahan, she continued seeing Defendant professionally after August 4, 1994, and, on August 12, 1994, he gave her a prescription for blood work. Trahan testified that Defendant told her that her blood work was normal, except that her "white count was a little low," and not to worry because she probably had a viral infection.

The first doctor, other than Defendant, to treat Trahan was Dr. Donner Mizelle, an optometrist, who had treated her since 1989. At her August 16, 1994 examination with Dr. Mizelle, Trahan complained of pain in her eyes, fatigue, and swelling of the lymph nodes in her head and neck. On August 29, 1994, Trahan was seen by Dr. Robert Martinez, a neurologist and sleep disorder specialist. She described having a migraine headache in July, as well as another more severe headache the weekend of August 27th and 28th. Dr. Martinez noticed that she had swollen lymph nodes in her head and neck. Trahan also complained that her throat was sore and had ulcers. Since these were classic symptoms of a viral infection, Dr. Martinez referred her to Dr. Bradley Chastant, an ear, nose, and throat specialist.

Dr. Chastant saw Trahan immediately and ordered a lymph node biopsy, which was performed on September 16, 1994. The results indicated a viral reactive infection. Because lymphoma, a malignancy of the lymph nodes, was a possibility, Trahan was referred to Dr. Luis Mesa, a cancer specialist. Dr. Chastant relayed his findings to both Dr. Martinez and Defendant. Dr. Chastant recalled speaking with Defendant about Trahan's condition and later sending him a copy of his report.

Dr. Mesa first examined Trahan in the hospital on September 16, 1994. Before Dr. Mesa saw Trahan, Defendant called and spoke with him about her condition. According to Dr. Mesa, Defendant suspected Trahan had a viral infection. However, Dr. Mesa testified that Defendant told him that an HIV test was performed on Trahan before September 1994, and that it was negative. As a result of the conversation, Dr. Mesa did not order further HIV tests, but noted the negative HIV test result in his report.

On November 21, 1994, Trahan saw her dentist, Dr. Neil Bernard. Dr. Bernard noticed that Trahan's gums were inflamed, her lymph nodes were swollen, and her white blood cell count was elevated.

Finally, Trahan went to her obstetriciangynecologist, Dr. Wayne Daigle, for her annual checkup. Dr. Daigle cared for her during her pregnancy with J.T. and had previously consulted with her in July 1994 about headaches resulting from her use of birth control pills. On December 15, 1994, Dr. Daigle noticed that Trahan had lost weight, suffered malaise, and had other symptoms indicative of a viral infection. She told Dr. Daigle that Defendant had done lab work on her, but Dr. Daigle decided to order new tests. At first, Dr. Daigle suspected Hepatitis A or B, but, as an afterthought, he added an HIV test just to be thorough. On December 20, 1994, Dr. Daigle was informed by the testing laboratory that Trahan was HIV positive. He waited until after the Christmas/New Year holidays to tell her the test results. When Dr. Daigle told Trahan that she was HIV positive, she asked him to inform Defendant. Since Defendant had office space in the same building as Dr. Daigle, Dr. Daigle called Defendant and met him at the back door of their building. Dr. Daigle testified that Defendant appeared shocked when he was first informed that Trahan was HIV positive, but was adamant that he knew he was not HIV positive, that he felt fine, and that he did not need to be tested.

Dr. Daigle knew that Defendant and Trahan had been involved in a ten-year relationship and that sexual intercourse was a common way HIV was spread. As such, Dr. Daigle presumed that Defendant was HIV positive also. When Defendant telephoned Dr. Daigle at the hospital later that evening, Dr. Daigle offered to have him tested for HIV anonymously through his office. Defendant again declined, saying he saw no reason for an HIV test. Dr. Daigle testified that he also told Defendant that the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners would eventually be notified that he was potentially HIV positive; however, Defendant maintained that he felt no need to be screened for HIV.

Dr. Daigle further testified that, during the telephone conversation, Defendant suggested the possibility that Trahan was infected with the HIV virus either through her contacts with AIDS patients at work, from her other sexual partners, or from dirty instruments used at the abortion clinics where she underwent abortions. Dr. Daigle responded that, since Trahan was a heterosexual female and not an intravenous drug abuser, he did not believe she was infected with HIV by the means suggested by Defendant, but that she had been infected by sexual intercourse. Dr....

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