State v. Small

• Decision Date: 16 October 2012
• Docket Number: No. 2011–K–2796.,2011–K–2796.
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Satonia SMALL.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

100 So.3d 797

STATE of Louisiana

v.Satonia SMALL.

No. 2011–K–2796.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Oct. 16, 2012.

Elton B. Richey & Associates, LLC, Elton B. Richey, Jr., Christopher Dowd Hatch, Shreveport, LA, for Applicant.

Hon. James D. Caldwell, Attorney General, Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office, Hon. Charles Rex Scott, District Attorney, R. Bennett Langford, III, Assistant District Attorney, for Respondent.

VICTORY, J.

[2011-2796 (La. 1]We granted this writ application to determine whether defendant can be guilty of second degree murder for leaving her two small children home alone in the middle of the night, during which time a fire broke out and one of her children died in the fire. After reviewing the facts and the applicable law, we find that a conviction for second degree murder cannot be supported in this case, where defendant's criminally negligent act of leaving her young children alone in the middle of the night was not a “direct act” of killing, but was instead a criminally negligent act of lack of supervision which resulted in her child's death. For that reason, we reverse the judgments of the lower courts and find defendant guilty of the lesser included offense of negligent homicide.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On January 20, 2008, around midnight, S.S., age six, was found unconscious from smoke and soot inhalation inside her burning home. The fire originated on the back right burner of the kitchen stove. S.S.'s mother, defendant Satonia Small, had left S.S. and her brother J.D., age seven, asleep unsupervised in the second-story apartment at about 10 p.m. to go drink at the home of her friend, Patrina Gay. When a neighbor called Gay to tell her about the fire, defendant returned home and [2011-2796 (La. 2]learned that J.D. had escaped by jumping out of a window, but that S.S. was found inside by firefighters, could not be revived, and was taken to the hospital. Defendant was arrested for cruelty to juveniles. A few days later, S.S. died at the hospital,¹ and on March 18, 2008, the grand jury indicted defendant for second degree murder.

On November 10, 2008, the state gave notice that it intended to present evidence at trial that defendant pleaded guilty on May 2, 2007, to criminal abandonment in violation of La. R.S. 14:79.1, committed on December 4, 2006. At a hearing held on May 27, 2009, the state indicated that it intended to introduce at trial a transcript of the colloquy in which defendant pleaded guilty to criminal abandonment. In this colloquy, defendant recognized the gravity of her misconduct and promised she would not leave her children unattended again. The state argued that defendant's assurance that she would never leave her children alone again was relevant to proving her guilty knowledge and the absence of mistake. The trial court then ruled that the prior guilty plea colloquy would be admissible.

Trial began on August 25, 2010. The state presented 12 witnesses. Two neighbors testified. Ronnie Jackson described how he helped his family and several other residents escape from the burning building, and then saw J.D. right after the child jumped from a second-story window. Jackson was unable to open the locked apartment door to assist S.S. Tamara White testified that she realized the building was on fire at some point after 11 p.m. She called her cousin Patrina Gay, whom she knew was defendant's friend, and asked her to tell defendant that her apartment was on fire. Four first responders testified. Officer Marcus Hines of the Shreveport [2011-2796 (La. 3]Police Department testified that he was off duty when he saw the fire,² and when he arrived, the entire upstairs of the building was engulfed in flames. He saw J.D. outside and residents informed him that S.S. was still inside. Officer Hines watched as firefighters extracted S.S. from the building, performed CPR, and then placed her in an ambulance. Defendant, who smelled strongly of alcohol, arrived about 20–30 minutes later. Sergeant Steven Plunkett of the Shreveport Police Department testified that he responded when Officer Hines reported the fire. Sergeant Plunkett unsuccessfully tried to kick the apartment door open. He saw J.D., who appeared to have trouble breathing, as the child was treated by fire department personnel.³ Chad Cannella, a fire captain and paramedic for the Shreveport Fire Department, testified that he kicked in the door to the apartment and began searching when the ceiling caved in. The cave-in released some of the [2011-2796 (La. 4]smoke, which improved visibility and permitted him to find S.S. in a bedroom. Captain Cannella carried S.S., who was not breathing and had no discernible pulse, to the parking lot and began CPR. Captain Cannella then placed S.S. into an ambulance. Officer Franky Miles of the Shreveport Police Department testified that he saw S.S. transported by ambulance when he arrived. Defendant, whom he described as dressed “like she ... had been out, like to a club or something,” then arrived. He was instructed by his supervisor to Mirandize her and transport her to the detective bureau.

Three persons involved in the investigation testified. Chris Robinson, fire investigator for the Shreveport Fire Department, testified as an expert in the determination of the cause and origin of fires. During his investigation, he found that a pan had melted to the back right burner where the fire originated. He found no electrical problems, and testified that the fire had progressed from the stove, up through the vent, into the attic, and set the roof on fire. This fire would have produced a lot of smoke. The victim was found in the second room down the hall to the right and the kitchen was in a room to the left. He had investigated about 850 fires with six or seven fatalities, of which 100 were kitchen fires with only one other fatality, and he commented that a kitchen fire is “not a fast-developing fire.” Dr. Frank Peretti, M.D., testified as the medical examiner who performed the autopsy and as an expert in forensic pathology.⁴ Dr. Peretti found that S.S. had died [2011-2796 (La. 5]of anoxic encephalopathy with pneumonia and complicating smoke and soot inhalation. Dr. Peretti opined that young children often seek cover during a fire rather than escape. Detective Eric Farquar of the Shreveport Police Department testified that he Mirandized and interviewed the defendant. At the time of the interview, S.S. had not yet died so defendant was under investigation for cruelty to juveniles. Defendant initially told him that she had only gone to McDonald's to get food for her children. She later admitted that she went to a party at Patrina Gay's house. The interview was played for the jury.

Two witnesses testified about defendant's prior guilty plea to criminal abandonment. Jacqueline Martin, minute clerk at Shreveport City Court, testified as records custodian to identify the minute entries for defendant's prior guilty plea, on May 2, 2007, to criminal abandonment. The minute entries indicated that defendant was fined $50, sentenced to 60 days, suspended, placed on one year probation, and instructed to take parenting classes. Martin also read from the guilty plea colloquy, in which defendant assured the judge that she would not leave her children alone again. Officer Brandon Chandler with the Shreveport Police Department testified that he had investigated the criminal abandonment charge. A concerned person had called to report that two small children were left alone outside in inclement weather. When he arrived, Officer Chandler found S.S., age four, and J.D., age five, alone in the residence and the home in an unhealthy, deplorable condition. Officer Chandler identified photographs showing the [2011-2796 (La. 6]condition of the home. Officer Chandler indicated that the children were removed from the home and from defendant's custody.

Defendant's friend Patrina Gay also testified. Gay indicated that on the morning of the fire she made plans with defendant to get together that evening. Gay picked defendant up and did not know who was supervising defendant's children. They stopped at a liquor store and then arrived at Gay's home at about 10 p.m. Her cousin called about the fire at about midnight, by which time defendant was a little intoxicated. They drove back to defendant's apartment and when they arrived, defendant was apprehended by police. The defense presented no witnesses.

During opening remarks, the defense conceded that defendant neglected her children, but argued that the fire was an unforeseeable accident and that defendant was guilty of negligent homicide rather than second degree felony murder. During closing remarks, the state argued that defendant's prior neglect proved that she did not simply make an isolated mistake on the night of the fire. The state also argued that the jury could infer from the low fatality rate associated with kitchen fires that if defendant had been home she could have ushered S.S. to safety. In closing, the defense argued that, because defendant's act of neglect did not directly cause S.S.'s death, defendant was not guilty of second degree felony murder. During closing remarks and the bulk of rebuttal, the state argued that a verdict of guilty of negligent homicide would not fit the facts of the case (and would deprecate the egregiousness of defendant's misconduct) in which defendant demonstrated a pattern of gross neglect.

Jurors were instructed that they could return a verdict of guilty of second degree murder, guilty of manslaughter, guilty of negligent homicide, and not [2011-2796 (La. 7]guilty. The twelve-person jury deliberated for two hours before unanimously finding defendant guilty on August 26, 2010, of second degree murder.

On September 13, 2010, defendant filed a motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal or in the alternative for judgment of conviction of negligent homicide, in which she argued, inter alia, that the evidence was...