State v. Butler

557 So. 2d 471, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 276, 1990 WL 13496
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 15, 1990
DocketNo. 88-KA-1046
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 557 So. 2d 471 (State v. Butler) 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. Butler, 557 So. 2d 471, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 276, 1990 WL 13496 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

BYRNES, Judge.

Paul E. Butler and Thomas L. Butler were indicted for the “first degree murder of Mary Antoine while attempting to kill or inflict great bodily harm upon more than one person.” La.R.S. 14:30. The jury returned a sentence of life imprisonment for Thomas L. Butler and were deadlocked as to the sentence for Paul E. Butler. The court imposed a sentence of life imprisonment for Paul E. Butler. These defendants appeal their convictions and sentences relying upon two assignments of error. We modify the convictions and as modified the convictions and sentences are affirmed.

The record reflects the following evidence concerning this crime: Officer Edmond Worthy testified that on April 30, 1985 at 1:58 p.m., he responded to a call at 2119 Magnolia and discovered that Louise Kates and Mary Antoine had been severely [473]*473beaten. Both were bleeding profusely and the house was splattered with blood. Several people stood in the doorway. Worthy called for an emergency unit which transported the victims, and secured the scene. He discovered a broken knife in the kitchen sink with water running over it.

Officer Kevin Doucette went to the scene and collected blood samples. ■ He dusted for fingerprints, but was unable to lift any. He noticed the door appeared as if it had been pried open.

Detective Norman Pierce arrived on the scene and interviewed several potential witnesses: Norma Johnson (the neighbor from across the street) Elizabeth Kates, (daughter of one of the victims), Alvin Bernard, and Reverend Elizah Polk. Later, he prepared an arrest warrant for Paul Butler based on a photographic identification by victim, Louise Kates which was made while she was hospitalized. His investigation revealed that a Gold Seal Milk truck had been at the house, and as a result, he interviewed Thomas Butler, Donald Clark and several other truck drivers at the Gold Seal Creamery. He said he remembered including in his report that Louise Kates indicated (through nods while she was hospitalized) that the subject who stabbed her, once lived in Mary Antoine’s apartment. He said the door of the house looked as if it had been pried open, but that the break-in marks did not appear “fresh”. He said neither of the defendant’s fingerprints were found in the house.

Detective Norman McCord testified he conducted the photographic line-up in which Louise Kates identified Paul Butler. Kates was still hospitalized and had to communicate through nods, but she was conscious. He later conducted a photographic line-up containing a picture of Thomas Butler, and Kates identified him in the same way. McCord later took statements from Donald Clark and Thomas Butler.

Emma Sykes, nurse to Louise Kates, testified Kates was on antibiotics and steroids at the time she made the identification. She said valium and morphine had been authorized, but that Kates had not taken any that day.

Dr. Monroe Samuels, pathologist, testified he conducted the autopsy on Mary Antoine and she suffered twelve blunt injuries to the head and eleven skull fractures and that she died of those injuries. He said she had a cut on her hand consistent with an attempt to defend herself from a knife, and another cut on her head behind her ear. The head wounds were consistent with having been hit by a hammer, a pipe, or a crowbar. Her blood type was “0”.

Reverend Elizah Polk, 2702 Josephine Street in New Orleans, testified Paul Butler came to his house between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m. and washed his hands. Butler told him he had been jogging, but Polk had never seen him jog, although he had known him for ten to fifteen years. He said he saw Paul Butler at Mary Antoine’s on the Sunday before the crime. He said Antoine told him Paul Butler had rented one of her rooms for Thomas Butler. He said it was commonly known that Antoine kept money in her house.

Lloyd Smith, 2014 Magnolia Street in New Orleans, testified he saw Paul Butler at Polk’s house between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. on the afternoon of the crime. He said Butler was shirtless and sweating and had his shirt covering his hands. Butler went into the bathroom. He reported he had been jogging, but Smith had never seen him jog, though he had known him for years.

Robert Seabrook said he saw Paul Butler outside Polk’s house at 2:30 p.m. and that he was shirtless and sweating.

Beatrice Washington said she saw Paul Butler running down Josephine Street to Polk’s house. His shirt was wrapped around his right hand. She said she knew Antoine was expecting a disability check that day or the next.

Wendy Coleman, daughter of Washington, said she saw Paul Butler in Polk’s yard. She said she saw a Gold Seal milk truck in the neighborhood for about an hour around noon with someone sitting in the truck.

Officer Michael Spazido said he presented two photographic line-ups to Kates and [474]*474that she chose Paul Butler out of the first set and Thomas Butler out of the second.

Donald Clark said he spoke with Detectives Pierce and McCord at the Gold Seal plant on May 2, 1985. He told them he and Thomas Butler stopped by the victim’s house around 3:00 p.m. on the afternoon of the crime, after making a delivery to the westbank and before they returned to the plant so that Thomas could pay his rent. He said he didn’t see any police, but that there was a crowd at the house and he could see blood on the sidewalk. Thomas Butler returned to the truck and showed him a receipt for the rent. Clark also admitted that he was later arrested as an accessory after the fact to this crime.

Louise Kates testified that Antoine knocked on the common wall of their home with a stick. She went to Antoine’s and saw Paul Butler kneeling. He had taken Antoine’s money and gun. Thomas Butler grabbed her and said, “Bitch, what you have to do with it?” Antoine told her she had been arguing with the men over money. Thomas Butler then beat Kates.

Detective Charles Crone testified some blood samples from the scene revealed type “A” blood and the other samples revealed type “B” blood. He said Thomas Butler has type “A” blood, and Paul Butler has type “B”.

The defense called Salvador Sentini, vice-president of Gold Seal, who testified Thomas Butler and Donald Clark left the plant between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to make a delivery on the Westbank.

Connie Lee, mother of Paul Butler’s children, said he did not leave her house until 2:30 or 3:00 p.m., and he left to go jogging. He returned at 3:00 or 3:15 p.m., wearing the same clothes. There was no blood on him.

Stacy Jones, mother of Thomas Butler’s children, testified Thomas was living with her at the time of the crime.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

In the first assignment of error the defendants contend that the trial court erred in denying their motion for a new trial.

The defendants .sought the new trial on the basis that the State failed to provide them with certain requested discovery materials, including but not limited to certain exculpatory evidence.

Under the United States Supreme Court decision of Brady v. Maryland, the State, upon request, must produce evidence that is favorable to the accused where it is material to guilt or punishment. 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).

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Related

State v. Graves
699 So. 2d 903 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)
State v. Talley
573 So. 2d 1192 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1991)
State v. Butler
566 So. 2d 394 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
557 So. 2d 471, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 276, 1990 WL 13496, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-butler-lactapp-1990.