State v. Green

484 So. 2d 698
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 26, 1985·No. KA 85 0863·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

484 So.2d 698 (1985)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Billie A. GREEN.

No. KA 85 0863.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 26, 1985.

*699 Bryan Bush, Dist. Atty. by Lou Daniel, Douglas Simmons, Asst. Dist. Attys., Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee.

*700 Brady Jones, Asst. Public Defender, Public Defenders' Office, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.

Before CARTER, SAVOIE and ALFORD, JJ.

SAVOIE, Judge.

Defendant, Billie Green, appeals his conviction and sentence for attempted manslaughter. We affirm.

Shortly after midnight on June 27, 1984, three L.S.U. students left the Bengal Lounge in Baton Rouge and were proceeding toward their car parked on Taylor Street. On the way there two of the students stopped to urinate in or near the defendant's yard. The defendant's girlfriend observed this activity and became involved in an argument with the students. Shortly thereafter, defendant became involved in the argument and a fight ensued. Several witnesses testified that the victim (one of the students) won the fight and then withdrew to his car. After starting his car and proceeding toward defendant's yard, the victim stopped, opened the door, and attempted to persuade his two friends to leave with him. At this point, defendant, who was supplied with a pistol, fired one shot into the hood of the victim's car. He then walked around to the driver's side of the car, busted the window with the butt of the gun, and shot the victim in the face at close range. The victim, struck in the jaw with the bullet lodging in his neck, was seriously injured and required hospitalization. The defendant then fled the scene, driving to New Orleans several hours later. The next day, after talking with an attorney, the defendant turned himself in to the police.

Conversely, defendant and his girlfriend testified that the students who urinated in their yard started the fight. They stated that one of the students produced a knife and cut the defendant's girlfriend on the wrist. They also testified that the victim struck the defendant with the car, forcing the defendant to shoot the victim in self-defense.

Defendant was charged by bill of information with one count of attempted second degree murder in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:27 and LSA-R.S. 14:30.1. At arraignment he pled not guilty and elected to be tried by jury. After trial, the defendant was found guilty of attempted manslaughter in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:27 and 14:31. At his sentencing, the state moved to enhance defendant's sentence pursuant to La.C.Cr.P. art. 893.1 and LSA-R.S. 14:95.2. As a result thereof, defendant received a sentence of five years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, to run consecutively with a sentence of two years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, suspension of sentence, or good time.

Defendant appealed alleging twelve assignments of error. However, having failed to brief Assignments of Error Numbers two, seven, nine, ten, and twelve, they are considered abandoned.[1] Uniform Rules—Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-12.4. As such, defendant now asserts that:

1. The trial court erred when it refused to quash the subpoena of the defendant's former attorney.
3. The trial court erred when it allowed the defendant's former attorney to testify as a state witness.
4. The trial court erred in overruling a defense motion for a mistrial.
5. The trial court erred when it overruled defense objection to irrelevant testimony.
*701 6. The trial court erred when it allowed state's exhibit S-1 into evidence over defense counsel's objection.
8. The trial court erred when it overruled defense objection to irrelevant testimony.
11. The trial court erred when it granted the state's motion to sentence the defendant under article 893.1.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NUMBERS 1. & 3.

Defendant asserts that the trial court erred in failing to quash a subpoena received by Mike Walsh, defendant's former attorney. He also argues that it erred in allowing Mike Walsh to testify as the State's witness. Based upon the following facts, we find that the trial court was correct as a matter of law in allowing the subpoena to stand and Walsh to testify.

Sometime after the shooting, defendant contacted Mike Walsh, a Baton Rouge attorney who handled an unrelated civil matter for the defendant. Walsh advised the defendant to return to Baton Rouge and turn himself in to the police. The defendant and his girlfriend went to Walsh's office to confer with him when they returned to Baton Rouge. Prior to leaving, defendant requested if he could leave a box of personal items in Walsh's office. After defendant had turned himself in to the police, Walsh noticed that there was a gun in the box. Walsh immediately turned the gun in to the police.

Subsequently, defendant obtained another attorney. At trial, Walsh was subpoenaed by the State to testify. He immediately filed a motion to quash the subpoena, asserting that as defendant's former attorney of record, to testify would violate the attorney-client privilege.

At the hearing on the motion to quash, the prosecutor, noting LSA-R.S. 15:475,[2] stated that no privileged communications would be questioned. The prosecution sought only to determine if Mr. Walsh ever represented the defendant and if he ever brought and delivered a weapon to the Baton Rouge Police Department. Walsh and defendant argued that answering such questions would violate the attorney-client privilege. The trial court, after reviewing the pertinent statute and jurisprudence, found that those questions alone would not violate the attorney-client privilege. It also noted that questions concerning privileged communications would not be permitted. At trial, when Walsh testified about his discovery of the gun and subsequent delivery of it to the police, defendant again noted his objection.

The record reflects that Walsh's testimony was confined to the fact that he represented the defendant[3], that the defendant left a gun in his law office, and that he turned the gun in to the police department. While the defendant argues vigorously that requiring his former attorney to testify constituted a violation of the attorney-client privilege, we find such allegation is without merit. In re Ryder, 263 F.Supp. 360 (E.D.Va.1967).

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER 6.

Defendant next argues that the trial court erred in admitting State's Exhibit S-1, the gun into evidence despite defense counsel's objection. Such argument has two bases. First, defendant argues that the trial court erred when it allowed Walsh to testify regarding his handling of the gun. Having previously disposed of this issue we need not address it here. Secondly, defendant contends that the trial court, *702 misinterpreting a stipulation between prosecution and defense counsel, erred in allowing the State to introduce the gun into evidence.

The record reflects that the defense and the prosecution entered into the following stipulation:

MR. BANKSTON: The stipulation is as follows: that the gun which has been marked as S-1, the two-spent Luger casings, which are S-9B and S-9A, and the spent copper jacket, which has been labeled as S-5, were submitted to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab. There, a man by the name of Ronald C.

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