State v. Collier

522 So. 2d 584, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 657, 1988 WL 15996
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 23, 1988
DocketNo. 87 KA 1094
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 522 So. 2d 584 (State v. Collier) 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. Collier, 522 So. 2d 584, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 657, 1988 WL 15996 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

SHORTESS, Judge.

Calvin Collier (defendant) was charged by bill of information with armed robbery. LSA-R.S. 14:64. He pled not guilty, and trial by jury commenced on October 28, 1986. Upon completion of the trial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict and advised the court that it was hopelessly deadlocked. The court declared a mistrial and reassigned the matter for a second trial which commenced on March 16, 1987. After completion of the second trial, defendant was convicted as charged by a 10-2 vote of the jury. Defendant received a sentence of 25 years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. He has appealed, urging fourteen assignments of error.

[587]*587FACTS

On October 22, 1985, Jeff Hornsby and Bennie Prejean, desk employees of La Quinta Hotel in Baton Rouge, were robbed by four unmasked black men, two of whom carried handguns. The robbery occurred around 6:30 p.m., when the robbers stormed into the office and demanded that Hornsby and Prejean give them cash. Two robbers held guns to their heads, while the other two gathered approximately $425.00 from the cash drawer in the front and the change fund located in a safety deposit box. The robbery took approximately two or three minutes, and the robbers fled through the same door they entered. Defendant was later arrested after Prejean identified him from a photographic lineup prepared after the police received an anonymous tip through the Crime Stoppers program.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

Defendant complains of the trial court's ruling ordering a mistrial at his first trial. According to defendant, that ruling, which was based upon the jury’s inability to agree upon a verdict, constituted an abuse of discretion, making it impossible for him to receive a fair adjudication at the second trial. In his argument on this error, defendant adds a second, quite different claim that is related to the first only tangentially, namely, that he was deprived of his right to due process when the trial court denied his request for the production of the transcript of the first trial. Defendant maintains that that transcript could have been used to impeach testimony of the state’s witnesses.

Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 775 authorizes a trial court to declare a mistrial when the jury is unable to agree upon a verdict. State v. Lang, 430 So.2d 1239 (La.App. 1st Cir.1983). The question of discharge of the jury because of the inability to agree on a verdict is within the sound discretion of the trial court, and exercise of such discretion is not ordinarily subject to review. State v. Rodman, 208 La. 523, 23 So.2d 204, 205 (1945).

The facts relevant to the present claim are set out in the minutes. According to the record, the jury retired for deliberation at 5:40 p.m. on the afternoon of October 29, 1986. At 8:05 p.m. that evening, the jury returned to the courtroom and informed the court that it was unable to agree upon a verdict. The court, however, refused to grant a mistrial at that point and, instead, instructed the jurors to continue their deliberations. Three hours later, at 11:05 p.m., the jury returned to the courtroom and advised the court that it was “hopelessly deadlocked.” Satisfied that the jury could not agree, the court then declared a mistrial. The propriety of a mistrial is to be determined by reference to the facts and circumstances evident at the time of the court’s decision. We find no error.

Defendant’s argument that prejudice from the granting of the mistrial could have been mitigated by the trial court’s ordering of a transcript of the first trial is also meritless. Defendant’s argument creates the impression that he moved for production of the transcript prior to the second trial. However, a review of the record reveals that while defendant did file a motion for the production of the transcript of the first trial, it was not done until after the second trial was completed. Accordingly, this assignment of error lacks merit. ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER TWO

Defendant alleges that the trial court improperly denied his challenge for cause of prospective juror John Wilder, whose brother was a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty.

Defendant’s argument is based on Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 797(2), which mandates:

The state or the defendant may challenge a juror for cause on the ground that:
*• * * # # *
(2) The juror is not impartial, whatever the cause of his partiality. An opinion or impression as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant shall not of itself be sufficient ground of challenge to a juror, if he [588]*588declares, and the court is satisfied, that he can render an impartial verdict according to the law and the evidence....

The facte developed during Wilder’s voir dire show that his older brother was a deputy sheriff who was killed during the Black Muslim riot in January, 1972, but that Wilder could be fair and impartial to defendant, who was only about eight years old at the time of his brother’s death. The trial court evaluated and weighed Wilder’s impartiality and ruled:

I’m going to deny the challenge for cause. Mr. Wilder has indicated he can be fair and impartial, and he did not hold anything against anybody else other than the individual that — whoever he might have been — that had caused the death of his brother. .

At this point, defendant exercised his first peremptory challenge to excuse Wilder. When the jury was empaneled, defendant had no peremptory challenges remaining.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has held that:

[S]ervice on a criminal jury by one associated with law enforcement duties must be closely scrutinized and may justify a challenge for cause, although such association does not automatically disqualify a prospective juror.

State v. Lewis, 391 So.2d 1156, 1158 (La. 1980). It is well settled that the mere relationship of a potential juror to a law enforcement officer is not of itself grounds for a challenge for cause. Rather, the question presented is whether the venireman could assess the credibility of each witness independent of his relationship with members of law enforcement. The trial court is afforded great discretion in making this decision, and its ruling will not be overturned absent an abuse of that discretion. State v. Heard, 408 So.2d 1247, 1249 (La.1982).

The particular principles espoused in regard to the relationship of a potential juror to a law enforcement officer apply also to the relationship between a potential juror and a victim of a criminal act.

A review of the Louisiana jurisprudence in this area shows that upon proper evaluation by the trial court, jurors with direct relationships to law enforcement officers and crime victims have been empaneled despite challenges for cause. In State v. Pettaway, 450 So.2d 1345, 1358 (La.App. 2d Cir.), writ denied, 456 So.2d 171 (La.1984), the trial court was found not to have abused its discretion in denying the defense’s challenge for cause although the juror had a relative who was a murdered law enforcement officer. In State v. Valentine, 464 So.2d 1091, 1095 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied,

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Related

State v. Collier
536 So. 2d 1226 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)
State v. Royal
527 So. 2d 1083 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
State v. McClinton
525 So. 2d 730 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
State v. Spears
525 So. 2d 329 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
522 So. 2d 584, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 657, 1988 WL 15996, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-collier-lactapp-1988.