State v. Carlin

529 So. 2d 1365, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 1665, 1988 WL 79762
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 26, 1988
DocketNo. 87-KA-613
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 529 So. 2d 1365 (State v. Carlin) 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. Carlin, 529 So. 2d 1365, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 1665, 1988 WL 79762 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

GAUDIN, Judge.

Sixteen-year-old Errol J. Carlin, Jr. was found guilty of second degree murder by a jury in the 24th Judicial District Court. He had been charged with the June 2, 1986 fatal stabbing of Tobias Boteler after an argument over a radio.

On appeal, Carlin assigns four district court errors. He contends that the trial judge erred in:

(1) admitting his (Carlin’s) recorded statement into evidence,

(2) refusing to read a negligent homicide charge requested by the defense,

[1367]*1367(3) failing to change the verdict to manslaughter, and

(4) recharging the jury in his (Carlin’s) absence.

Finding no reversible error in any of these assignments, we affirm Carlin’s conviction and his sentence to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Also, we searched for errors patent and found none.

BACKGROUND

According to witnesses who testified at the trial, Carlin and Boteler, aged 21 years, argued on the day Boteler died. Boteler accused Carlin of breaking into his apartment.

Seymour Hampton overheard the argument. He said that Boteler told Carlin not to come back to his apartment, but Carlin said he would. When Boteler started walking toward the rear of the apartment complex, Carlin followed several minutes later.

Joseph Weisks was another witness. He stated that when he drove into the apartment complex’s parking lot, not long after Carlin had followed Boteler to the back of the complex, Boteler ran toward him saying “Help me, mister, I’ve been stabbed.”

Michelle Pate also testified at the trial. She said that she was driving by in an automobile when Weisks flagged her down and asked her to contact a hospital. She told the jury that Boteler was on the ground when Carlin approached. She said:

“He (Carlin) had the radio in his hands and he was shaking it, trying to get it to work, playing with the knobs and stuff. He pointed to this guy that was laying on the ground and said, ‘That mother fucker broke my radio.’ Then he took the radio and threw it in the dumpster, and called it a piece of shit.”

Carlin was later apprehended and taken to the First District police station on Me-tairie Road where, in due course, he gave a statement which was recorded.

ASSIGNMENT NO. 1

This assignment of error deals -with the recorded statements. On the second day of the trial, the defendant moved to suppress the statements. The motion, heard outside the jury’s presence, was denied.

Carlin submits that the statements made were given under duress and before he consulted an informed adult interested in his welfare. Carlin was in consultation with his mother, Mrs. Mary B. Carlin, at the police station but allegedly she was intoxicated.

Detective Bernard Wortmann testified at both the motion to suppress and during the actual trial. He said that Carlin’s rights, both as an adult and as a juvenile, were read and fully explained to him and his mother and that both Carlin and Mrs. Carlin signed all necessary forms.

The “Juvenile Rights Form” is signed by Mrs. Carlin, a 39-year-old high school graduate, and by Carlin, who, according to the form, completed the 9th grade.

Wortmann further testified that no force or pressure was used and that the statement Carlin made was free and voluntary.

Mrs. Carlin testified that she was “terribly emotional and confused” at the police station and that she had consumed “six to eight” beers and “one or two” Valium pills that day. However, under cross examination, Mrs. Carlin said she didn’t think she told Wortmann that she had taken one or two Valiums or that she had any problem understanding his questions. Further, Mrs. Carlin stated that Wortmann neither threatened nor struck her son.

Asked if she advised Wortmann that she had been drinking, Mrs. Carlin answered: “He was probably aware of that.” Wort-mann, however, said Mrs. Carlin was not intoxicated or under the influence of liquor or drugs.

Also, Mrs. Carlin testified that on at least two occasions she left the interrogation room with her son and spoke with him alone. Mrs. Carlin was asked whether her [1368]*1368son ever indicated that he did not want to make a statement. Her response: “I don’t think so.”

Wortmann said that Mrs. Carlin "appeared to be very competent” and that she read and indicated that she understood the forms.

On the “Juvenile’s Waiver of Rights” form, signed by Carlin, this question is asked: “Have any threats or promises been made to you or has any pressure of any kind been used to get you to answer questions or to give up any of your rights?” Carlin checked “Yes,” but he refused, Wortmann said, to provide any information regarding threats or promises. Wortmann testified that Carlin checked “Yes” in this instance merely because "... he was being belligerent.”

Other than this “Yes” on the form, the record is completely devoid of any suggestion that threats or promises were made or any pressure put on either Carlin or his mother.

In deciding that Carlin’s recorded statement was admissible, the trial judge said:

“I’m going to allow the statement. I’ll tell you why. I read your cases, by the way, Counsel. They’re before me as I sit here. I think the officer should be commended. He wrote down exactly what the man said. It’s a troublesome question, whether any force or coercion had been applied, and apparently the Defendant responded yes. The officer then redirected, he says, the question to the man in just the way you suggested he should, asking for the details, who did it. The man says: I don’t know. There isn’t even, at the beginning — well, let me skip that for a minute. The mother was present in the room. You suggested there should be another witness. There couldn’t be a better witness than the boy’s own mother. She’s present in the room. She detects nothing untoward going on. At least on two occasions, as I understand it, she was permitted to talk to her son without the presence of the officer. At no time did they indicate that they did not want the statement to go on. This Defendant was aware of the fact that he could stop the statement at any time, and chose not to do so. I think if you look at all of the particulars surrounding the statement, as you must, then you must arrive at the conclusion that it was voluntary. Therefore, I’m going to let the statement in.”

Before a confession can be placed in evidence, the prosecution must prove that it was freely and voluntarily given, that there had been no threats, promises, coercion, inducements or promises, that the accused was fully advised of his or her constitutional rights and that he or she knowingly and intelligently waived these rights. In the case of a juvenile, the record must further show that he or she had prior meaningful consultation with an attorney or competent adult interested in his or her welfare. If an adult other than an attorney was consulted, he or she must have been completely advised of the juvenile’s rights. See LSA-R.S. 15:451, State v. Sanchez, 462 So.2d 1304 (La.App. 5th Cir.1985) and many other cases with similar holdings.

Here, the record indicates that the trial judge properly allowed the confession to be submitted to the jury. See State v. Shepherd, 449 So.2d 1120 (La.App.

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Related

State v. Carto
167 So. 3d 836 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
529 So. 2d 1365, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 1665, 1988 WL 79762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-carlin-lactapp-1988.