State v. Barnard

287 So. 2d 770
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedDecember 3, 1973
Docket53549
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 287 So. 2d 770 (State v. Barnard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Barnard, 287 So. 2d 770 (La. 1973).

Opinion

287 So.2d 770 (1973)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Larry K. BARNARD.

No. 53549.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

December 3, 1973.
Rehearing Denied January 11, 1974.

*771 William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., LeRoy A. Hartley, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frank T. Salter, Jr., Dist. Atty., Charles W. Richard, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Raymond D. Fuljenz, Lake Charles, for defendant-appellant.

WILLIAM A. CULPEPPER, Justice Ad Hoc.

Larry K. Barnard was indicted for the murder of Rex Emile Lanier, tried and found guilty. He appeals his conviction and sentence to life imprisonment, relying upon five bills of exceptions.

In the latter part of 1970 or 1971, Barnard drove a Corvette automobile to Louisiana where it was seized by the Sheriff of Calcasieu Parish. The car was subsequently sold to Harry Tubbs. Some time later, in the early spring or summer of 1971, Barnard saw the car parked at the *772 home of Tubbs. He stopped to inquire about it and spoke to the father of Tubbs. Barnard made a remark to the effect that if he did not get the car back there could be a killing over it because the car belonged to him. Thereafter, Barnard left Lake Charles and traveled to Illinois. He returned to Lake Charles on March 7, 1972 in an admittedly stolen car in the company of Dawn Myslinski.

On the night of April 5, 1972, while in a lounge known as Rick's Place on Broad Street in Lake Charles, the bouncer, Kenneth E. Hooper, overheard an argument between the defendant and the victim, Lanier, relative to the Corvette automobile. Lanier had acquired the car. The bouncer testified that Barnard threatened to kill Lanier. Barnard was allegedly ejected by the bouncer.

Lanier was shot and killed on April 6, 1972, sometime between eight o'clock in the morning and twelve noon. It was established at trial that the weapon used was a Ruger .22 caliber automatic pistol.

Barnard, in the afternoon of the killing, stole a Lincoln Continental and, with Dawn Myslinski, drove from Lake Charles to Virginia, then to Illinois and Ohio. While in Illinois, according to Barnard, he removed a .22 Ruger pistol from a drawer in the house of Frank Myslinski. He subsequently sold the pistol in Ohio.

It was established that Frank Myslinski owned a Ruger .22 caliber automatic, which was missing from a drawer in his house; that he never knew the victim; and that he had never been in Lake Charles.

Prior to trial, defendant requested inspection and examination of the Ruger pistol and the cartridge alleged to have been used in the murder in order that a ballistics test could be made by an expert of his choosing, under guidelines set out by the court. When this request was denied, Bill of Exceptions No. 1 was reserved.[1]

Defendant contends he was entitled to pre-trial inspection of these items under this Court's holding in State v. Migliore, 261 La. 722, 260 So.2d 682 (1972). He urges that this examination was necessary in order to adequately prepare for his defense; that the denial of his motion seriously prejudiced him; and resulted in a denial of a fair trial and due process under federal and state constitutional provisions.

The evidence sought for examination in the present case is a Ruger pistol and a .22 caliber slug removed from the victim's head. The doctor who removed the bullet testified that it was badly damaged and distorted from its normal shape. The ballistics expert, Deputy Sheriff Charles Ellis, testified that 75% or more of the slug was gone and identification had to be made on the remaining 25%.

At the trial, the State called two firearms and ballistics experts who confirmed that the Ruger found in Ohio, and which had previously been sold in that State by the defendant, was the same Ruger that fired the fatal shot into the skull of the murder victim. Defendant contends that, because of the denial of his request for pre-trial inspection of the Ruger and slug, he was not permitted to have a ballistics expert of his own choosing, but was limited in his defense to cross-examination of the State's experts in violation of his constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law.

The record shows that trial started on February 6, 1973. The gun and slug were introduced in evidence by the prosecution on February 7, 1973. The trial ended on February 9, 1973. At no time after introduction of the gun and slug in evidence did defendant move to have them examined by experts of his own choosing. Nor did he move for a continuance for this purpose.

*773 In the case of State v. Migliore, 261 La. 722, 260 So.2d 682 (1972), relied on herein by defendant, we allowed independent pretrial examination by defendant of narcotics under orders and guidance of the court for the protection and preservation of that evidence.

However, the Migliore ruling has never been applied by this Court to anything other than narcotics.

A request for examination of the weapon, as well as clothing and other physical evidence, was made in the murder prosecution in State v. Hunter, 250 La. 295, 195 So.2d 273 (1967). We there considered that the Legislature deliberately refrained from adopting pre-trial discovery in criminal cases in our Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure. After discussion of the jurisprudence and careful consideration of the argument of the defense, we declined to broaden the holding of State v. Dorsey, 207 La. 928, 22 So.2d 273 (1945) into full pre-trial discovery. Hunter again adopted the rule of this Court as stated in State v. Shourds, 224 La. 955, 71 So.2d 340 (1954):

"It is the settled law of this State that an accused in a criminal case is without right to a pre-trial inspection of the evidence upon which the prosecution relies for a conviction."

Since the Hunter decision, we have rendered the following decisions denying pretrial inspection of the evidence upon which the prosecution relies for a conviction and have held that all evidence relating to a pending criminal case which is in the possession of the State is privileged and not subject to inspection by the accused unless and until it is offered in evidence at the trial. State v. Fink, 255 La. 385, 231 So.2d 360 (1970); State v. Barnes, 257 La. 1017, 245 So.2d 159 (1971); State v. Coney, 258 La. 369, 246 So.2d 793 (1971); State v. Mitchell, 258 La. 427, 246 So.2d 814 (1971); State v. Cripps, 259 La. 403, 250 So.2d 382 (1971); State v. Edgecombe, La., 275 So.2d 740 (1973); and State v. Frezal, La., 278 So.2d 64 (1973). An exception to this rule has been made in instances where the State has in its possession a written confession of the accused. State v. Dorsey, supra; State v. Hall, 253 La. 425, 218 So.2d 320 (1969). Another exception, as heretofore stated, is to be found in State v. Migliore which allowed pre-trial inspection of narcotics.

In State v. Edgecombe, supra, an aggravated rape charge, this Court denied pretrial inspection and examination of clothing and the results of chemical tests to determine the presence and type of blood or seminal fluid thereon. We considered the applicability of the holding of the United States Supreme Court in Brady v. State of Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and found it not apposite to the matter presented in that case.

In Brady, the accused had requested, prior to trial, examination of his co-defendant's extrajudicial statements, some of which were produced, but others denied.

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Bluebook (online)
287 So. 2d 770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-barnard-la-1973.