State v. Eastin

419 So. 2d 933
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedSeptember 7, 1982
Docket81-KA-2928
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 419 So. 2d 933 (State v. Eastin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Eastin, 419 So. 2d 933 (La. 1982).

Opinion

419 So.2d 933 (1982)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
William B. EASTIN.

No. 81-KA-2928.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

September 7, 1982.

*934 William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., J. William Pucheu, *935 Dist. Atty., Richard W. Vidrine, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Preston N. Aucoin, Ville Platte, for defendant-appellant.

FRED C. SEXTON, Jr., Justice Ad Hoc.[*]

Defendant William B. Eastin was charged by a bill of information with the offense of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:62.2. After a trial in July of 1981 in which the defendant was found guilty as charged, he was sentenced to seven years at hard labor. He appeals originally asserting eleven assignments of error, seven of which he now argues. Those assignments not argued are considered abandoned. State v. Edwards, 261 La. 1014, 261 So.2d 649 (1972).

FACTS

The defendant was arrested on April 5, 1980, in connection with the break-in and resulting theft at the residence of Jimmy Reed a neighbor and contemporary of the defendant. After arrest Mr. Eastin signed a permission to search an automobile which he had been using and the area surrounding his residence. During this search two pieces of stereo equipment belonging to the complainant were located.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 1 AND 2

In these two separate assignments of error the defendant apparently complains of the fashion in which the defendant was charged, and also complains of the court's denial of a request for a continuance when the prosecutor refused to indicate which of several charges he planned to try the defendant on.

The first assignment of error asserts that the state failed to elect which of several separate charges filed against the defendant would proceed to trial until the morning of the trial. Assignment of error number two complains that there were two separate bills of information pending charging the defendant with the same burglary (one for simple burglary and one for burglary of an inhabited dwelling) which somehow prejudiced the defendant.

Originally, after the defendant's arrest, the District Attorney filed a bill of information (or indictment) charging the defendant with seven separate offenses in the same information. Contained therein were three simple burglaries and three thefts related to each of the burglaries, as well as a weapons charge. The District Attorney subsequently filed three additional bills of information. Each of these new bills charged a separate burglary and the theft related thereto. Additionally the burglaries were now alleged to have been burglaries of inhabited dwellings. Also the weapons charge was contained in one of the other two bills, not the subject of these proceedings.

On July 10, 1981, the minutes indicate that the matter came up for hearing on motions previously set on June 30. It is not clear from the colloquy or the minutes which specific motions came on for hearing on that date. As the hearing got under way it became apparent that while both counsel thought the previous seven count information had been dismissed, that this information was still pending. As a result of this confusion the case was continued until July 13 at which time a motion to quash on behalf of the defendant was allowed. The defendant urged the court that since the original information had not been dismissed it superceded the others and acted as a sort of criminal lis pendens barring prosecution on the subsequent three bills. After considerable discussion the trial court on its own motion dismissed the original seven count information over defense objection. Assignment of error number two, then, refers to this objection.

Defense counsel plainly stated on at least two separate occasions to the court that he had assumed that the original information *936 had been dismissed and it was his understanding that the District Attorney was of the same view. He has cited no prejudice resulting from these circumstances, and we are unable to perceive of any. This assignment lacks merit.

Assignment number one specifically asserts error because of the District Attorney's refusal to state which one of the seven offenses which the defendant was alleged to have committed would be called to trial first;[1] and further asserts error in the denial of a continuance filed July 21, the morning of the trial. The main thrust of defendant's argument is that he was prejudiced by having to prepare so many cases for trial at one time. He cites no specific instance of prejudice, however, other than to contend that having to prepare for these seven cases on the same day resulted in "prejudice."

These matters had been pending for a significant period of time. The record indicates that the preliminary examination occurred on June 20, 1980, and that the seven count information had already been filed at that time. This trial occurred on July 21, 1981. Thus, there was ample time for counsel to be prepared. Likewise, the state was in the same boat as the defense in having to be prepared on all counts. We know of no authority, nor have we been cited any, which would require the state to elect in advance of the date of trial which of several pending offenses which are set on the same date it plans to call first. The orderly administration of justice requires that the state's discretion in calling cases for trial not be interferred with absent a clear showing that such discretion has been abused so as to cause some specific prejudice to the defendant. No such specific prejudice has been shown here.

This assignment of error lacks merit.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 3 AND 5

By assignment of error number three defendant contends that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to quash the jury venire. At the trial of the motion defendant showed that the venire was taken strictly from the voter registration rolls. He asserts that this method of selection systematically excludes a certain class of persons, i.e. non-voters. State v. Daigle, 344 So.2d 1380 (La.1977), is fatal to defendant's position in the context of this record. Daigle expressed concern over the propriety of using voter registration lists as the only source from which a venire was compiled, but went on to state that using such a list was satisfactory unless the defendant could show that such use discriminated against a class of people to the extent that it "did not represent a fair cross section of the community." Daigle, supra, at p. 1390 (emphasis added).

The defendant has made no showing that the exclusion of non-voters resulted in racial or class discrimination, or that the venire did not represent a reasonable cross section of the community.

By assignment of error number five the defendant complains of the failure of the trial judge to entertain his motion to quash the jury panel selected for the trial after the completion of that panel, citing State v. Bias, 354 So.2d 1330 (La.1978).

This reliance on Bias is misplaced. Bias involved a contention of systematic exclusion of blacks in the process of jury selection itself by the use of peremptory challenges. In this case the defendant made no contention that a class of persons available for selection to the panel were systematically excluded by the prosecution's use of peremptory challenges, which could be the only basis for such a motion. He was still complaining about the failure to include non-voters in the general venire, therefore resulting in their exclusion from the petit jury panel itself.

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Bluebook (online)
419 So. 2d 933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-eastin-la-1982.