State v. Crowley

475 So. 2d 783
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 19, 1985
DocketKA-2272
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 475 So. 2d 783 (State v. Crowley) 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. Crowley, 475 So. 2d 783 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

475 So.2d 783 (1985)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Lawrence R. CROWLEY.

No. KA-2272.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

August 19, 1985.

*785 William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Beryl M. McSmith and Julia S. Coley, Asst. Dist. Attys., New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellee.

M. Craig Colwart, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

Before GARRISON and ARMSTRONG, JJ., and HUFFT, J., Pro Tem.

GARRISON, Judge.

The defendant, Lawrence Crowley, was charged by grand jury indictment with the second degree murder of an unknown white male in violation of LSA-R.S. 14.30.1.[1] The defendant was found guilty as charged and was sentenced to serve life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. He now appeals his conviction and sentence.

On March 24, 1983, the police were summoned to an apartment building at 2619 North Robertson Street by the owner of the building, Elizabeth Williamson. Ms. Williamson explained to the police that she had received complaints from other apartment dwellers about the apartment occupied by the defendant. Ms. Williamson asked the police to instruct the defendant to vacate the premises as he was not the person to whom Williamson had rented the apartment.

According to testimony by Ms. Williamson and the two police officers who responded to the call, the police told the defendant to vacate the premises. The defendant then invited the three people inside because he wanted to collect some of his belongings. Once inside the apartment, the policemen noticed a dog hide and drops of blood in the bathroom. The officers also watched the defendant go into the kitchen and remove approximately thirty pounds of meat from the freezer. Noticing that this meat had a strange appearance, one of the officers commented to the other that he wondered what type of meat this was. The defendant volunteered that it was dog meat and that he ate it all the time. At that time, the police officers arrested the defendant for cruelty to animals.

The police department then contacted the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (S.P.C.A.) who immediately sent officers to the apartment to take photographs and to seize the meat. The meat was later transported to the coroner's office for analysis. An analysis of the meat indicated that some of the meat was from a human with Group-O blood type. Human blood was also found on a knife seized from the apartment but the quantity of blood was insufficient to determine a blood type. The defendant was then charged with second degree murder.

Dr. Richard Tracy, a pathologist in the coroner's office, examined the meat in question and identified some pieces as parts of a dog and other pieces as human ribs, breast bone, kidney, spleen, shoulder blade, and voice box. Some skin tissue attached to the voice box indicated that the victim was a male with very pale Caucasian pigmentation and a dark brown closely shaven beard. Dr. Tracy gave his opinion that the approximate age of this victim was between thirty and fifty. Dr. Tracy also estimated that the cause of death was stab wounds to the chest. This estimation was made in light of stab wounds on some of the tissue and indications of considerable bleeding before death.

Another witness, Elizabeth Watts, an anthropology expert, testified that she concluded that the skeletal remains examined belonged to a male who was approximately in his late thirties or early forties.

Testimony was then presented concerning Maurice Nolan, the renter of the apartment *786 from which the defendant was asked to vacate and from which the meat in question was seized. Nolan's sister-in-law testified that Nolan became forty years old in December of 1982. She stated that Nolan always kept in constant contact with her and her husband until his disappearance in early March, 1983. Nolan's neighbor, Darryl Jones, testified that he saw Nolan for the last time on Sunday, March 6, 1983 and that the defendant was living in Nolan's apartment after that date. A lab technician from a local plasma center testified that her records indicated that Maurice Nolan had an O-positive blood type.

A review of the record reveals that there are no errors patent.

By his counsel's only assignment of error and by his sixth pro se assignment of error, the defendant contends that the evidence in this case was insufficient to support a second degree murder conviction. Specifically, the defendant argues that it was error for the prosecution to argue to the jury that the dismembered remains found in the apartment were Maurice Nolan's even though no positive identification could be made.

According to our appellate standard of review, when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, it must be determined whether a rational juror could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). In this case, human meat was found in an apartment occupied by the defendant. The meat was analyzed and the physical characteristics of the victim matched those of the tenant of the same apartment, Maurice Nolan. Nolan had disappeared shortly before the defendant moved into the apartment and has never been seen since. Some of the meat indicated stab wounds that had been inflicted prior to the victim's death. This was concluded due to considerable bleeding near the wounds. At the time of his arrest, the defendant had in his possession several identification cards belonging to Nolan and two checks made payable to Nolan. Viewing all this evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the jury could have concluded that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of second degree murder.

Defendant's claim that the evidence in this case was insufficient because the State failed to positively prove the identification of the victim is without merit. The defendant was charged with the second degree murder of an "unknown white male"; therefore, no positive identification of the victim was required of the State.

The defendant's next contention is that errors were made in his appeal process. Defendant first claims that his counsel failed to file a brief in his appeal. However, because his counsel filed a brief on December 19, 1984, this claim is moot. Defendant additionally claims that his trial transcript was not prepared within the time allotted by the trial court. Because the defendant has shown no prejudice to him because of this delay, this claim is without merit.

The defendant also claims that he did not receive copies of the transcripts of his motion hearings and trial. Defendant's appeal counsel received all of the transcripts necessary for the preparation of defendant's appeal. Furthermore, the record does not indicate that the defendant requested the transcripts from the trial court and the defendant has not demonstrated a particularized need as required by U.S. v. MacCollom, 426 U.S. 317, 96 S.Ct. 2086, 48 L.Ed.2d 666 (1976). Therefore, this assignment of error is without merit.

In his second assignment of error, the defendant claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Specifically, he claims that his attorney was ineffective because he selected a tainted jury, did not ask for a change of venue and failed to bring out at trial the fact that the alleged victim was a homosexual.

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Bluebook (online)
475 So. 2d 783, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-crowley-lactapp-1985.