State v. Cinel

660 So. 2d 887, 1995 WL 492683
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 18, 1995
Docket95-K-1723
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 660 So. 2d 887 (State v. Cinel) 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. Cinel, 660 So. 2d 887, 1995 WL 492683 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

660 So.2d 887 (1995)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Dino CINEL.

No. 95-K-1723.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

August 18, 1995.

*888 Harry F. Connick, District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Timothy J. McElroy, Assistant District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Val M. Solino, Assistant District Attorney of Orleans Parish, New Orleans, for State of Louisiana.

Arthur A. Lemann, III, New Orleans, and Edwin A. Stoutz, Jr., New Orleans, for Dino Cinel.

Before BARRY and CIACCIO and PLOTKIN, JJ.

PLOTKIN, Judge.

The issue in this writ application is whether a defendant who waives the attorney-client privilege to allow his attorney to testify at a hearing on a motion to quash can reassert that privilege at trial.

The background of this case has been recounted in detail by this Court in State v. Cinel, 619 So.2d 770, 771-75 (La.App. 4th Cir.), writ denied, 629 So.2d 369 (La.1993), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 1398, 128 L.Ed.2d 71 (1994). Briefly, however, the relevant facts for this dispute are as follows: Cinel was a resident priest assigned at St. Rita's Catholic Church in New Orleans from November 1979 through December 1988. While Cinel was on a trip to Italy in December of 1988, the pastor of St. Rita's, Father Tarantino, entered Cinel's room in the rectory to look for a spare set of keys to Cinel's car. During this search, Father Tarantino discovered a storehouse of various pornographic items, including commercially-produced pornography allegedly depicting juveniles engaged in sexual activity, as well as homemade materials involving Cinel and other men. The next day, Father Tarantino contacted the Archdiocese concerning his discovery; he was advised to box up the materials. The materials subsequently were turned over to the Archdiocese's attorneys, over Cinel's objection. Eventually, these materials made their way into the hands of the District Attorney's office.

On May 21, 1991, Cinel was charged with possession of commercially-made items of child pornography in violation of La.R.S. 14:81.1. He was arraigned on May 28th and pled not guilty. On October 25-26, 1991, the trial court heard various motions, including a motion to quash the bill of information. During the hearing on these motions, Cinel sought to prove that he was being prosecuted in contravention of an agreement that had been reached between the District Attorney's office and his then-counsel, William Campbell. In an effort to prove this agreement, Cinel's present counsel called Campbell to the stand.

After hearing this testimony, the trial court, on January 10, 1992, granted the motion to quash the bill of information; the *889 basis for the motion was the agreement between the District Attorney's office and the defendant's counsel, Campbell, that if Cinel proved that the individuals depicted in his homemade pornographic materials were not juveniles, then Cinel would not be prosecuted. This Court reversed the trial court. State v. Cinel, 619 So.2d 770 (La.App. 4th Cir.), writ denied, 629 So.2d 369 (La.1993), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 1398, 128 L.Ed.2d 71 (1994).[1]

On January 9, 1995, the State filed amended answers to discovery, indicating its intention to use certain statements made by the defendant at trial. The relevant statement for purposes of this writ application was described as an oral statement made by the defendant

to William Campbell, Esq., as testified to by Mr. Campbell in pre-trial hearings, October 25-26, 1991 after the defendant expressly waived his attorney-client privileges. (See page 69 of transcript of Motion Hearing, October 25,-26, (sic) 1991)

On March 21, 1995, the defendant filed a motion to suppress "any and all" statements made by him after September 1989 "on the ground that such statements were not made freely and voluntarily but rather were made as the direct result of defendant's belief that he had been granted transactional immunity." Of the statements listed in the State's amended discovery answers, only one, a videotaped deposition given by the defendant on August 9, 1990, in connection with a civil lawsuit, fell directly within the scope of the motion to suppress. Nevertheless, on August 4, 1995, the trial court granted the defendant's motion to suppress the communication between the defendant and his former attorney, Campbell. The State now seeks relief from that ruling.

The issue presented by this writ application is whether the defendant made an unlimited waiver of the attorney-client privilege when he permitted his former attorney to testify at the hearing on the motion to quash the bill of information. A review of the transcript confirms that an express waiver of the privilege was made when the defendant's counsel at the hearing stated "We—at this point, Dr. Cinel will waive the attorney-client privilege; Is that correct, Dr. Cinel?", and the defendant answered affirmatively. The waiver occurred because counsel had asked Campbell for what purpose the defendant had retained him. After the waiver, Campbell answered the question as follows:

When he first called me, Dr. Cinel asked me if I could help him recover some property of his that he had at one point in his apartment that was gathered together and removed from there by some member of the church, one of the priest[s] there, and turned over to the church's attorneys. And, the property generally described was adult material, magazines, books, photographs and videos and movies.

Later, during cross-examination, the State asked Campbell why the defendant approached him on January 18, 1989; Campbell again stated that it was for the purpose of getting his material back. The prosecutor specifically asked Campbell if the defendant "admitted that all the materials that were taken from the room were his," to which Campbell replied, "Yeah, I would say so. We didn't go through piece by piece, but he said the material that he had was taken out of his apartment and he wanted it back." It is this answer that is cited by the State in its amended answers to the discovery.

Defense counsel lodged no objection to this question. However, defense counsel attempted to reassert the attorney-client privilege shortly thereafter when the prosecutor asked Campbell for his notes; defense counsel explained that the waiver made earlier was only "in so far as he's testified and in so far as what he's produced." The trial court took the issue under advisement and subsequently held that the privilege had been *890 waived and that the State was entitled to the notes from Campbell's file. The court stated as follows:

The only way a privilege is not waived in this respect is if it's stipulated to ahead of time what it's going to be—what's the limitation of the privilege. If not, then once the waiver of the attorney-clients [sic] privileges waived, it's waived, and all communications can come in.

In the ruling at issue in the present writ application, the trial court held that the defendant waived the attorney-client privilege for the purposes of the motion hearing only. In other words, the trial court was of the opinion that Cinel's waiver at the motion hearing had been a limited waiver. The trial court also held that under La.C.Cr.P. art. 703, the testimony could not be used at the trial on the merits.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re Kelly
857 So. 2d 451 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2003)
State v. Buffington
731 So. 2d 340 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
660 So. 2d 887, 1995 WL 492683, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cinel-lactapp-1995.