State v. Fleeks

651 So. 2d 370, 1995 WL 80477
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 1, 1995
Docket26720-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 651 So. 2d 370 (State v. Fleeks) 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. Fleeks, 651 So. 2d 370, 1995 WL 80477 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

651 So.2d 370 (1995)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee
v.
David FLEEKS, Appellant.

No. 26720-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

March 1, 1995.

*371 Allan R. Harris, Asst. Indigent Defender, for appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., Paul J. Carmouche, Dist. Atty., Rebecca Bush, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.

Before NORRIS and WILLIAMS, JJ., and PRICE, J. Pro Tem.

WILLIAMS, Judge.

The defendant, David Fleeks, was indicted by a grand jury for the first degree murder of Latosha June, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30. The indictment was later amended to charge the defendant with second degree murder and second degree kidnapping, violations of LSA-R.S. 14:30.1 and 14:44.1, respectively.

After a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty as charged. The trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence for the second degree murder conviction and to serve an eight-year sentence at hard labor, two years of which must be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, for the second degree kidnapping conviction. Setting forth twelve assignments of error, the defendant appeals these convictions.[1] We affirm.

FACTS

In the early morning hours of August 16, 1991, the victim, Latosha June, allowed the defendant to enter the apartment where she lived with her mother and her siblings. June, who was 15 years old at the time of the murder, had previously dated the defendant. Upon entering the apartment, the defendant pulled out a gun and told June to unplug the telephones. After she complied with this demand, he forced her to leave the apartment and walk to a path in a nearby vacant lot. Defendant shot June in the back of the head and left her body on the path.

Defendant left the scene on a bicycle and rode to a friend's house. He told Michael Laney and James Jones that he had just killed a girl named Wanda. Laney and Jones saw the defendant take five bullets out of his gun which held six bullets. Defendant then called a cab and went home. The defendant was arrested on the same day and confessed to the murder.

DISCUSSION

Assignment of Error No. 1

By this assignment, the defendant contends the trial court erred in ordering him to be handcuffed and shackled to his chair during the trial.[2] He asserts there was *372 no evidence in the record to justify the trial court's order and the trial court should have held an evidentiary hearing prior to its determination that he should be physically restrained during trial. He argues the trial court based its decision to restrain him solely on the prosecutor's argument concerning his past behavior and the fact that another judge had previously ordered him to be restrained during pretrial proceedings. He contends he had not demonstrated any disruptive or violent behavior in court for almost two years.

A review of the record shows that four days before trial, December 2, 1993, the trial court, apparently after noticing the previously issued court order requiring the defendant to be restrained, raised the issue of whether the defendant should be restrained during trial and if so, the procedure to be followed in restraining the defendant.

The state argued that the defendant should be restrained because he had a history of violent behavior while he was in court. The state cited an instance where, on January 21, 1992, the defendant, while in court and wearing handcuffs, jumped on top of counsel table and lunged toward the then sitting judge and other courtroom personnel, before being restrained and removed from the courtroom. As a result of that incident, the trial judge hearing the pretrial motions ordered that the defendant be restrained to a chair when brought into court.

During a sanity commission hearing on February 10, 1992, the defendant, in compliance with the trial court's order, was physically restrained to a wheelchair. However, because the defendant began making loud noises and exhibited obstreperous behavior, he again had to be removed from the courtroom. Dr. Dean Robinson, a member of the sanity commission, testified at the sanity hearing that he had to terminate a February 7, 1992 interview with the defendant because the defendant had become violent and jumped across the table in his direction. Dr. James Phillips, another member of the sanity commission, testified that when he interviewed the defendant on January 31, 1992, the defendant became irate and threw a chair at him.

The trial court took judicial notice of the previous court order requiring the defendant to be restrained and a notation on the outside cover of the minute clerk's file showing the defendant was required to be in a jacket and iron cuffs. The trial court then concluded that, based on the defendant's past physical and verbal disruptions in court (in particular, his attack on the other judge), the defendant posed a security risk to all persons participating in the jury trial. The trial court ordered that the defendant be restrained to his chair in the least restrictive fashion. The trial court further ordered that the restraints be covered by a blanket or another "non-obnoxious looking" covering so the restraints would not be seen by the jury.

In State v. Calhoun, 554 So.2d 127 (La. App.2d Cir.1989), writ denied, 558 So.2d 601 (La.1990), this court explained the standards for judging the propriety of restraint in the courtroom:

Ordinarily a defendant before the court should not be shackled, handcuffed or garbed in any manner destructive of the presumption of his innocence or destructive of the dignity and impartiality of the judicial proceedings. However, exceptional circumstances may require, in the discretion of the trial court, the restraint of the prisoner for reasons of court room security or order or where the prisoner's past conduct reasonably justifies apprehension that he may attempt to escape. For a finding of reversible error, the record must show an abuse of the trial court's reasonable discretion resulting in clear prejudice to the accused.

State v. Calhoun, supra at 132 (citations omitted). See also State v. Plater, 643 So.2d 313, 316 (La.App.2d Cir.1994); and State v. Jeffers, 623 So.2d 882, 887 (La.App.2d Cir. 1993).

In the instant case, we are convinced the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering the defendant restrained to his chair during the trial. The defendant's past history of violent outbursts in the courtroom and his attacks on the members of the sanity commission were reasonable bases for the trial court's ruling that the defendant had to be restrained in some manner.

*373 Furthermore, the defendant has failed to show any prejudice. The trial court attempted to use the least obvious means of restraint. Instead of the "wheelchair" that had been used for previous court appearances, the trial court ordered the defendant to be handcuffed and shackled to a regular chair. In compliance with the trial court's instructions, the restraints were covered during the trial so they would not be visible to the jury.

There is nothing in the record to indicate that the jury either saw or was influenced by the restraints. In brief, the defendant contends he was prejudiced in that he was the only person in the courtroom who was unable to stand as the judge entered and left the room. Defendant has not shown that the jury was influenced in reaching its verdict by the defendant's failure to rise when the judge entered or left the courtroom.

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

Related

State v. Bell
106 So. 3d 295 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013)
State of Louisiana v. Robert W. Bell
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013
State v. Johnson
941 So. 2d 696 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
State of Louisiana v. Lisa Landry Johnson
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006
State v. Green
735 So. 2d 723 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
State v. Baker
720 So. 2d 767 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)
State v. Joe
678 So. 2d 586 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
State v. Hampton
670 So. 2d 1349 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
651 So. 2d 370, 1995 WL 80477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fleeks-lactapp-1995.