State v. Grayson

106 So. 3d 1168, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 563, 2012 WL 6603661, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1667
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 18, 2012
DocketNo. 12-KA-563
StatusPublished

This text of 106 So. 3d 1168 (State v. Grayson) 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. Grayson, 106 So. 3d 1168, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 563, 2012 WL 6603661, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1667 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

ROBERT A. CHAISSON, Judge.

|2Pefendant, Alton Grayson, challenges the trial court’s denial of his motion to quash the bill of information. For the reasons which follow, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s ruling.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On September 26, 2011, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant with aggravated flight from an officer, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:108.1(C). The bill specifically alleged that defendant “did intentionally refuse to bring a vehicle to a stop, under circumstances wherein human life was endangered, knowing he had been given a visual and audible signal to stop by Deputy Aaron Savoie when the officer had reasonable grounds to believe that Alton Grayson had committed an offense.” At his October 11, 2011 arraignment, defendant pled not guilty.

On November 30, 2011, defendant filed a motion to permit independent print analysis of the vehicle he was allegedly driving at the time of the offense. In 13the motion, defendant requested that William Bailey, the fingerprint expert he hired, be permitted to examine any and all latent prints lifted in connection with this case and to review any analysis performed on those prints, including crime lab reports, bench notes, and charts. Defendant further requested that the seized vehicle be made available to his expert to conduct independent fingerprint lifting and analysis. On December 1, 2011, the trial court granted defendant’s motion. Over two months later, the defense expert went to the Kenner Police Department to examine the vehicle. At that time, the defense expert was advised that the car was no longer in the possession of the police department. Defense counsel subsequently learned that the vehicle had been turned over to a private company that sold the car to an unknown third party on December 16, 2011.

Thereafter, on February 17, 2012, defendant filed a motion to quash the bill of information alleging that the State destroyed exculpatory evidence which could have proved that he was not the driver of the vehicle. Defendant further alleged that the State acted in bad faith and in violation of a court order when it failed to preserve the vehicle for fingerprint analysis.

The trial court conducted a hearing on the motion to quash on March 12, 2012. At the hearing, defendant re-urged the arguments presented in his motion to quash, adding that there was no information that the Kenner Police Department could provide regarding the areas of the vehicle dusted for fingerprints, and that the only fingerprints provided were two partial prints taken from the front and rear license plates.

In response to defendant’s arguments at the hearing, the State responded that the vehicle was dusted twice for fingerprints, once at the scene of the incident on September 1, 2011, and then four days later at the Kenner Police Department. At that time, the Kenner Police Department rendered a report stating that no usable Uprints were recovered. The State also acknowledged receiving the December 1, 2011 court order, which was not served on the Kenner Police Department. Thus, two weeks after the order, the vehicle was sold in accordance with Louisiana law governing wrecker services. At the hearing, the State further brought to the judge’s attention that the defense expert waited five months after the incident to attempt to conduct testing on the vehicle and further mentioned that the trial court never ordered the preservation of the vehicle, and [1171]*1171only ordered that the vehicle be made “available for testing.”

After verifying from the State that no reports had been destroyed, the trial court denied defendant’s motion to quash finding a lack of bad faith. The trial court noted that if the Kenner Police Department was not served with the order, and thus did not know of its existence, it could not have acted in bad faith when it sold the vehicle two weeks after the order was issued.

Following the denial of his motion to quash, defendant, on March 13, 2012, withdrew his prior not guilty plea and entered a plea of no contest under North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970).1 Pursuant to the plea agreement, the trial court sentenced defendant to two years in the Department of Corrections. On the same date, the State filed a multiple offender bill of information, alleging that defendant was a second felony offender under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 15:529.1. After defendant was advised of his rights and admitted to allegations contained in the multiple offender bill, the trial court vacated defendant’s original sentence, and imposed an enhanced sentence of two |5years imprisonment at hard labor, without the benefit of probation or suspension of sentence.2 Defendant now appeals.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

In his sole assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash based on its finding that there was no bad faith on the part of the State. On appeal, defendant argues that the State did, in fact, act in bad faith when it failed to notify the Kenner Police Department of the trial court’s order to preserve the vehicle for independent fingerprint testing by his expert. Defendant asserts that because the Kenner Police Department was never notified of the order, the vehicle was sold; thus, any possibility of finding fingerprint evidence to exonerate defendant as the driver of the vehicle was destroyed. For the reasons that follow, we find no merit to defendant’s arguments.

Due process requires that the State provide a defendant with any exculpatory evidence in its possession which is material to defendant’s guilt or punishment, regardless of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecutor. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 1196-1197, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Where a defendant claims that his due process rights have been violated due to the State’s failure to preserve potentially useful evidence, the defendant has the burden of showing that the State acted in bad faith. Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 58, 109 S.Ct. 333, 337, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988); State v. Horton, 09-250 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/27/09), 28 So.3d 370, 378. In California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 488-89, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 2534, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984), the United States Supreme Court explained:

Whatever duty the Constitution imposes on the States to preserve evidence, that duty must be limited to evidence that might be expected to play a significant role in the suspect’s |fidefense. To meet this standard of constitutional materiality, ... evidence must both possess an exculpatory value that was apparent be[1172]*1172fore the evidence was destroyed, and be of such a nature that the defendant would be unable to obtain comparable evidence by other reasonably available means.

In State v. Horton, supra, the defendant argued that he was denied the right to a fair trial because the State suppressed Brady evidence through its mishandling and ultimate destruction of exculpatory evidence.

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
North Carolina v. Alford
400 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1970)
California v. Trombetta
467 U.S. 479 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Arizona v. Youngblood
488 U.S. 51 (Supreme Court, 1989)
State v. Crosby
338 So. 2d 584 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
State v. Harris
892 So. 2d 1238 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2005)
State v. Weiland
556 So. 2d 175 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1990)
State v. Horton
28 So. 3d 370 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
State v. Lynch
441 So. 2d 732 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Schexnayder
685 So. 2d 357 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
State v. Collins
30 So. 3d 72 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
State v. Guilleard, 2010-0101 (La. 9/3/10)
44 So. 3d 696 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2010)
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Bluebook (online)
106 So. 3d 1168, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 563, 2012 WL 6603661, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grayson-lactapp-2012.