State v. Griffin

438 So. 2d 229, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9098
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 15, 1983
DocketNo. 15455-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 438 So. 2d 229 (State v. Griffin) 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. Griffin, 438 So. 2d 229, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9098 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

PRICE, Judge.

On March 8,1982, defendant was charged by a grand jury indictment with the offense of incest of his 14-year-old daughter, in violation of La.R.S. 14:78. He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to serve nine (9) years at hard labor. It is from this conviction and sentence that defendant appeals alleging eight assignments of error. FACTS:

The facts of the case are essentially that defendant and his daughter, while hunting in the woods behind their home in Winn Parish in the fall of 1980, engaged in sexual intercourse.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR No. 1

Defendant contends the trial court erred in not sustaining the challenge for cause of prospective juror Carl Womack after he made a prejudicial remark concerning the penalty for the crime charged. On voir dire Womack was asked certain questions concerning the crime of incest and the penalties involved. He expressed his opinion that the punishment “wasn’t rough enough.” When questioned further about his opinion he admitted he had no knowledge of the penalty for incest and further made the statement “just shoot him and be done with it.” Defendant’s challenge for cause was overruled by the court. Defendant used a peremptory challenge to excuse [231]*231Womack and as his remaining 12 challenges were exhausted prior to completion of the panel, he may properly complain of the court’s ruling under La.C.Cr.P. Art. 800. See also State v. Sugar, 408 So.2d 1329 (La.1982).

Defendant contends that the statement made by the prospective juror was a ground for which a challenge for cause should have been sustained. The issue in this assignment is whether or not the statement “just shoot him and be done with it” in light of the entire questioning on voir dire was enough to be considered a challenge for cause such that failure to do so would constitute an abuse of the trial judge’s wide discretion. “The trial judge is vested with broad discretion in ruling on challenges for cause, and only where it appears, upon review of the voir dire examination as a whole, that the judge’s exercise of that discretion has been arbitrary or unreasonable, resulting in prejudice to the accused, will this Court reverse the ruling of the trial judge.” State v. Passman, 345 So.2d 874 (La.1977).

Before determining whether the challenge for cause should have been sustained, the voir dire examination of Womack must be considered as a whole. Womack made the prejudicial statement in regard to the penalty of one found guilty of the crime of incest. It did not directly relate to the prospective juror’s impression of guilt as to this particular defendant. In fact, when asked by the district attorney whether he could be a fit juror, he said he knew of no reasons why he could not.

Looking at the entire testimony on voir dire, it appears that the prospective juror’s prejudicial remark referring to the penalty was not prejudicial to the guilt of this defendant. He stated that he could be a fair juror and as such it was not error for the trial judge to overrule defendant’s challenge for cause. See also State v. Heard, 408 So.2d 1247 (La.1982). Defendant’s allegation of error therefore lacks merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 2

Defendant contends in this assignment of error that it was improper for the trial judge to limit his examination of prospective juror, Donald Turner. On voir dire, the defense attorney asked Mr. Turner whether he would require testimony of the accomplice to be corroborated by other evidence. The prosecuting attorney objected to this question as being a misstatement of the law and misleading. The trial court sustained the objection.

The scope of the voir dire examination is within the discretion of the Court, as expressed by La.C.Cr.P. Art. 786:

The court, the state, and the defendant shall have the right to examine prospective jurors. The scope of the examination shall be within the discretion of the court. A prospective juror, before being examined, shall be sworn to answer truthfully questions asked him relative to his qualifications to serve as a juror in the case.

State v. Robinson, 404 So.2d 907 (La.1981), defines the discretion given a trial judge on voir dire examinations as follows:

Voir dire examination is designed to test the competency and impartiality of prospective jurors and may not serve to pry into their opinions concerning evidence to be offered at trial.
It is well-established that the scope of voir dire examination is within the sound discretion of the trial judge and his rulings thereon will not be disturbed in the absence of clear abuse of discretion.
Undoubtedly, the defense is entitled to wide latitude in examining prospective jurors. This right is, however, to be exercised within the discretion of the trial judge who determines the scope of the examination under the prevailing facts and circumstances. And when the question arises whether voir dire examination has been unduly restricted, the disallowance of a proper question is not automatically reversible. In evaluating the fairness of the ruling, the entire examination must be considered, (citations omitted) 404 So.2d 907 at pp. 911, 912.

As a prosecution for incest normally involves two persons only and they often have [232]*232no other witnesses to corroborate the testimony of the two persons involved, there is no requirement that other testimony be adduced in order for guilt to be found. In the case at hand, the defendant’s daughter was the only witness to the crime. Defendant misstated the law in implying that the victim’s testimony be supplemented by other testimony. The trial court was correct in disallowing the question and as such no merit can be found in defendant’s second assignment of error.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 3

Defendant contends that it was error for the trial court to allow the age of the victim to be introduced into evidence. He contends that it was error to introduce such evidence as it was prejudicial and irrelevant.

When a jury is told by a 16-year-old that at the age of 14 she was having sexual intercourse with her father, it may very well inflame the jurors. Yet, that alone would not make it error for the trial court to allow the victim’s age to be introduced at trial. In evaluating the testimony of witnesses, it is advantagéous to the jury to allow the age of a witness to be expressed. The witness’ credibility is at issue so the more the jury can learn about the witness’ personal history such as age, education, occupation, etc., the more easily the jury can establish what weight it will give to the witness’ testimony. In light of this rationale, it is apparent that defendant’s third assignment of error lacks merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 4

The defendant contends that the trial judge erred in refusing to allow the defense attorney to ask the witness, defendant’s daughter, whether it was true that on an occasion she ran off with a truck driver. When the question was asked, the prosecutor objected to the statement as being irrelevant, and the objection was sustained.

The following colloquy took place at trial:

Q ..., this ... do you have any idea as to the dates that you are trying to tell us that you had the relations with your father?
A It was about in ...
Q Well, let me ask you this. It ...

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Related

State v. Wiley
614 So. 2d 862 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1993)
State v. Mitchell
475 So. 2d 61 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
438 So. 2d 229, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9098, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-griffin-lactapp-1983.