State v. Clark

638 So. 2d 225, 1994 WL 84250
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 16, 1994
DocketCR93-903
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 638 So. 2d 225 (State v. Clark) 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. Clark, 638 So. 2d 225, 1994 WL 84250 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

638 So.2d 225 (1994)

STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Christopher Duane CLARK, Defendant-Appellant.

No. CR93-903.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 16, 1994.
Rehearing Denied July 14, 1994.

*226 Monique Yvette Metoyer, Alexandria, for plaintiff-appellee State of LA.

Bridgett Brown, Alexandria, for defendant-appellant Christopher Duane Clark.

Before KNOLL and COOKS, JJ., and CULPEPPER[*], J. Pro Tem.

KNOLL, Judge.

This appeal arises out of the conviction after trial by jury of defendant, Christopher Clark, for second-degree murder of Sharon Jenkins in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30.1.[1]

FACTS

Defendant and Sharon Jenkins lived together with their two young children in Lecompte, Louisiana. On the evening of Sunday, May 24, 1992, Sharon arrived at the trailer home where she and the defendant resided. Defendant, apparently angry over her unexplained absence from home during the day, began arguing with Sharon outside of the trailer home. There was testimony indicating defendant physically accosted Sharon, pushing her to the ground, tearing her shirt and breaking her glasses. A friend of the defendant apparently intervened long enough for Sharon to retreat into the trailer. Soon afterwards, defendant entered the trailer with a large caliber handgun he had retrieved from his car. Defendant claimed it was not the argument that prompted his retrieval of the gun, but rather that he always brought his handgun in from the car at the end of the day as a matter of habit. Regardless of defendant's motive for bringing the gun inside the trailer, the argument continued and a within a few minutes, Sharon received a gunshot wound to the head. In an attempt to save her, defendant frantically drove Sharon to the hospital, but she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

No witness testified to seeing the actual shooting. Sharon's brother, Willie Jenkins, was in the trailer at the time of the shooting and testified that he had seen defendant point the gun at Sharon's head. However, *227 Willie also testified his attention was diverted away from the defendant and Sharon at the moment the actual shot was fired. Defendant claimed the shooting was unintentional. He asserted that during the argument, he threw the gun to the floor and upon hitting the floor, it fired, striking Sharon in the head.

The State countered this assertion with expert testimony that the handgun in question had safety features that would prevent it from firing in this situation and that there were powder burns around Sharon's wound indicating the gun had been within inches of her head when it fired.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

We address the defendant's assignments of error in the order in which they are briefed.

Assignment # 7

The defendant asserts the trial court erred in "failing and refusing to let counsel for the defendant make legal objections on the record and present legal arguments to the court contemporaneous with the objections." Instead of removing the jury from the courtroom each time the State and defendant presented arguments on an objection, the trial court had the counsels approach the bench and give their arguments in a tone of voice the jurors could not overhear. Apparently when this was done, the courtroom recording equipment could not record the arguments of counsel on the objections, nor the trial court's reasons for its rulings. Defendant has also pointed to some instances where the recording was stopped as soon as the objection was made, preventing even the grounds for the objection from being recorded. Defendant contends this alone should be grounds for reversal, citing State v. LeBlanc, 367 So.2d 335 (La.1979) and LSA-C.Cr.P. Art. 843.

First, we find defendant's reliance on LeBlanc misplaced. While LeBlanc does discuss a defendant's constitutional right to judicial review based upon a complete record of all evidence upon which a judgment is based, LSA-Const. Art. 1, sec. 19, it does not require the argument of counsel to be recorded. See State v. Johnson, 438 So.2d 1091 (La.1983), where the missing portion of the transcript consisted not of testimony, but of the argument of counsel. Johnson found such argument to be immaterial to an adequate review of the trial court's ruling.

Secondly, State v. Richardson, 529 So.2d 1301 (La.App. 3 Cir.1988), writ denied, 538 So.2d 587 (La.1989), presented almost exactly the same factual situation as the case sub judice. In finding Article 843 did not require reversal, the court stated:

"The defense counsel stated his objection and the basis therefor prior to approaching the bench ... On appeal, we can easily review the correctness of the rulings on each objection as the basis for the objection is on the record and the Trial Judge's ruling on each is stated. Hence, we feel that the missing arguments of counsel are an inconsequential omission, immaterial to a proper determination of the appeal. Also, defendant's trial counsel who made the objections certainly has knowledge of his own arguments made at the bench in support of his objections. The failure to record the arguments of counsel at the bench conference in no way interfered with or prejudiced the defendant's right to appeal."
Richardson, supra, at p. 1308.

While defendant correctly points out some examples in the record where the grounds for the objections were not recorded, he has in no way shown how this has prejudiced him. None of defendant's assignments of error relate to an objection where this court cannot clearly ascertain from the record what took place in the courtroom. For these reasons, we find this assignment to be without merit.

Assignments # 4 and # 5

These assignments concern the testimony of Ronald Jewel, who was qualified as an expert in firearms identification. Mr. Jewel first testified about the safety features of the defendant's handgun and its inability to accidently discharge if it had simply struck the floor as defendant claims. Concluding this line of questioning, the State began to question Mr. Jewel about the victim's gunshot wound and what this evidence related about *228 the distance of the gun from the victim when it fired. After defendant objected that this was beyond the witness's competence, the court allowed the State to establish Mr. Jewel as an expert in the field "to identify how far away the gun is fired." However, the trial court did not give the defendant the opportunity to traverse the witness on his qualifications in this field, rather the trial court simply noted the defendant's objection.

In assignment # 4, defendant asserts Mr. Jewel was not qualified to testify concerning the distance of the gun from the victim's head when fired. Assignment # 5 concerns the trial court not allowing defendant to traverse Mr. Jewel on his qualifications to testify on this subject.

It is a well settled rule that a trial judge is vested with wide discretion in determining the competence of expert witnesses. State v. Trosclair, 443 So.2d 1098 (La.1983). Mr. Jewel had worked in the State Police Crime Laboratory for 19 years in the area of firearms identification. Mr. Jewel related that he had conducted numerous examinations concerning the powder burns left on clothing when a gun is fired into clothing at close range. He estimated he had testified in court on this subject on approximately 50 occasions. On examining the photos of the victim's wound, Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
638 So. 2d 225, 1994 WL 84250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-clark-lactapp-1994.