State v. Bourg

223 So. 3d 26, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 915, 2017 WL 2671074, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1149
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 21, 2017
Docket16-915
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 223 So. 3d 26 (State v. Bourg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bourg, 223 So. 3d 26, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 915, 2017 WL 2671074, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1149 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge.

liThe State of Louisiana (State) filed a writ application for supervisory review of the trial court’s ruling granting the defendant, David Bourg, a new trial following the jury’s verdict that the defendant was guilty of manslaughter. We docketed the State’s writ application for full briefing and argument. Upon review, we find that the trial court legally erred and abused its discretion in granting the defendant a new trial. Accordingly, we grant the State’s writ application and reverse the ruling of the trial court. We remand this case to the trial court for sentencing of the defendant in accordance with the manslaughter statute, La.R.S. 14:31.

I.

ISSUE

We must decide whether the trial court erred in granting the defendant’s motion for new trial on the grounds that the State failed to prove specific intent beyond a reasonable doubt.

II.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• On June 1, 2014, David Bourg drove Michael Pitre home from target practice. While parked in front of Pitre’s mother’s house, Bourg shot Pitre in the head with Bourg’s nine millimeter Ruger handgun, killing Pitre. Pitre did not have a gun. The bullet entered Pitre’s left temple and exited above and behind his right ear. Pitre slumped forward in the passenger seat. The blood from Pitre’s head wound soaked the right edge of the passenger seat in Bourg’s truck and ran into the |2passenger door sill. Bourg immediately lit a cigarette and paced outside his truck with his still-loaded gun and cell phone in hand, attempting repeatedly to call his sister, his sister’s boyfriend, and his brother. He did not attend to Pitre or call 911. Pitre’s brother and his mother heard the shot from Pitre’s mother’s house and went outside. Pitre’s brother saw the gun and sent his mother back inside. She called 911. Pitre’s brother asked Bourg repeatedly to put the gun down so he could lend assistance to his brother.

Police officers arrived, as did Pitre’s son and daughter-in-law, who began CPR. Bourg put the gun to his own head. Officer Frank Restivo arrived first and heard Bourg say, “I will kill myself’ and “I will kill ya’ll.” Officer Restivo and Officer Matthew Hebert ordered Bourg to throw the weapon down at least ten times. Bourg ultimately de-cocked the gun and threw it [29]*29on the ground. Officer Restivo saw Bourg look toward the weapon again, and he ran at Bourg and tackled him to the ground, briefly, or almost, rendering him unconscious. Officer Restivo is six feet five inches tall and weighs 280 pounds. Bourg’s head and back hit the pavement hard, and his body bounced. Dr. Jude Agendia treated Bourg at Kinder Hospital and noted ecchymosis around the eye, which is bleeding or draining under the skin. Dr. Christopher Tape testified that Bourg’s ecchy-mosis1 around the eyes was consistent with his head hitting the pavement very hard.

When asked why he shot Pitre, Bourg told the arresting chief of police, Grady Haynes, that Pitre threw his laptop or iPad out of the window. An Allen Parish Grand-Jury charged David Bourg with the second-degree murder of Michael Pitre, a violation of La.R.S. 14:30.1. Two years later, a jury convicted |aBourg, eleven to one, of the responsive verdict of manslaughter, a violation of La.R.S. 14:31.

Defense counsel filed a “Motion for New Trial and/or Motion for Post-Verdict Judgment Granting Acquittal.” The defendant sought the acquittal pursuant to La.Code Crim.P. -art. 821, asserting that there had been insufficient evidence to support his conviction. He requested a new trial pursuant to La.Code Crim.P. art. 851(B)(1) and (5), arguing that the verdict was contrary to the law and evidence and that the ends of justice would be served by the granting of a new trial.

At the hearing on the motions, the defense requested either a new trial or an entry of a post-verdict judgment of “negligent homicide.” The trial court denied the motion for a post-verdict judgment but granted the motion for a new trial. The State filed an application for- supervisory review by this court.'

The State contends that there are issues of law and a showing of an abuse of discretion, which warrant review and are within this court’s jurisdiction. We granted the State’s application for supervisory review and now find that the trial court erred as a matter of law on the issue of specific intent and upon the granting of a new trial.

III.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

The trial for second degree murder lasted six days and ended in June 2016, with a jury’s verdict convicting the defendant of manslaughter. Second degree murder is punishable by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. La.R.S. 14:30.1(B). Manslaughter is 1 ¿punishable by imprisonment at hard labor for zero to forty years. La.R.S. 14:31(B).

At the end of the trial, the jury was instructed to find the defendant “guilty” based upon a finding of the elements of second degree murder, as charged, or the responsive verdict of manslaughter, or the responsive verdict of negligent homicide; or, if the juxy found justification sueh as self-defense, it was to find the defendant “not guilty.'” The jury was given the elements of each offense.

Second degree murder was defined to the jury as “the. killing of a human being when the offender has a specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm.” See La. R.S. 14:30.1(A)(1). Manslaughter was defined as “the killing of a human being when the offender has a specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm but the [30]*30offense is committed in sudden passion or heat of blood immediately caused by provocation sufficient to deprive an average person of his self-control and cool reflection.” See La.R.S. 14:31(A)(1).

Negligent homicide was defined as the killing of a human being by criminal negligence, which exists when there is “such disregard of the interest of others that the offender’s conduct amounts to á gross deviation below the standard of care expected to be maintained by a reasonably careful person under similar circumstances.” See La.R.S. 14:32. The jury was. further instructed on the definitions of justified homicide and self-defense. The jury returned a verdict of “guilty of manslaughter.”

Hearing on the Defendant’s Motions

The hearing on the defendant’s motion for a post-verdict judgment of either acquittal, or of negligent ■ homicide, or for a new trial, was held three months |safter the June verdict, in September 2016. It appears that-the trial transcript had not yet been prepared and that the trial court did not have the trial testimony for review on the motions. At the beginning of the hearing, Mr. Bourg’s attorney stated, “we are relying completely on the evidence not being sufficient” for the conviction. He very briefly argued, “I think the evidence was clear that there was a fight. I think he was protecting himself and that he didn’t intend to kill Mr. Pitre.” The State’s attorney briefly argued the lack of evidence of a fight and the fact that the defendant shot Mr. Pitre in the head because Mr, Pitre threw his laptop out of the window. He pointed out the absence of any injuries on Mr.- Pitre’s hands indicating that he had punched Bourg repeatedly, 'as Bourg claimed. He also pointed out the undisturbed nature of the items in the truck, indicating that no fight took place. This was essentially all of the argument that was presented.

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Related

State of Louisiana v. DAVID BOURG
Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2019
State v. Bourg
260 So. 3d 679 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State of Louisiana v. David Bourg
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018

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Bluebook (online)
223 So. 3d 26, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 915, 2017 WL 2671074, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bourg-lactapp-2017.