State v. Guillot

470 So. 2d 360
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 13, 1985
Docket84-KA-675
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 470 So. 2d 360 (State v. Guillot) 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. Guillot, 470 So. 2d 360 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

470 So.2d 360 (1985)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Milton H. GUILLOT.

No. 84-KA-675.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

May 13, 1985.
Rehearing Denied June 17, 1985.

*361 John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., Dorothy A. Pendergast, Asst. Dist. Atty., Research & Appeals, Gretna, for plaintiff-appellee.

John F. Rau, Jr., Gretna, for defendant-appellant.

Before BOWES, CURRAULT and DUFRESNE, JJ.

CURRAULT, Judge.

Milton H. Guillot was found guilty of manslaughter in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:31. Thereafter, he was sentenced to twelve years at hard labor. It is from this conviction and sentence defendant now appeals. We affirm.

On May 5, 1983, the Guillot family was at home—Stella and Milton Guillot; their two-year old son, Jules; their sixteen-year old foster daughter, Cindy Barrow; and Stella's two children from her previous marriage to Manfred Strider, the victim in this case. At approximately 7 p.m., Milton left home in a good mood to go play in his weekly all night card game at the Tropic, a bar in Kenner, Louisiana. After he left, Manfred Strider and his girlfriend Maureen arrived at the Guillot residence. Stella asked whether Manfred had any drugs for her. Manfred mixed cocaine injections for them all, and he and Maureen then spent the night there.

The next morning about 8:00 a.m., Stella called Milton at the Tropic and said she owed Manfred Two Hundred Dollars ($200) for the drugs she had used and asked Milton if she should write a receipt crediting the Fourteen Hundred Dollars ($1400) in child support Manfred owed her. Milton did not want Stella to do this and said that Manfred should meet him at the Tropic and he would pay Manfred Two Hundred Dollars ($200) in cash. Manfred and Maureen then drove to the Tropic and Milton gave Manfred $200 cash for the drugs used by Stella. Milton also asked Manfred to stop bringing drugs to Stella and asked him to stay away from the house when he was not there. Manfred agreed; and, according to Maureen, it was also understood that Manfred would go back to Milton's house to get thirty quaaludes he had left there with Stella.

Maureen and Manfred then left the Tropic and went back to Milton's house. Maureen stayed in the van and Manfred went inside the house to retrieve the drugs left with Stella. However, Manfred had some trouble when he attempted to get the drugs back from Stella, and it was during this struggle when Milton walked in.[1]

Milton had left the Tropic within minutes after Maureen and Manfred had left. He went home and, upon seeing Manfred's van *362 parked outside, armed himself with a .38 caliber revolver (which he kept in his car), unlocked the door and entered his home. Seeing no one he walked to the bedroom, whereupon seeing Manfred with his wife amidst articles of drug paraphernalia, he became so enraged that he believed he saw Manfred advance towards him with a gun (which was not really there). He then shot and killed Manfred, firing three shots. The Kenner Police Department was called; and, shortly thereafter, the defendant was taken into custody, without a struggle, from his home.

Defendant, Milton H. Guillot, was indicted on May 27, 1983 with the crime of second degree murder in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30.1. Initially, defendant pled not guilty; but on August 18, 1983, defendant amended his plea to not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.[2] On January 12, 1984, the district court granted defendant's motion to suppress statements made by the defendant during his interrogation by the police.[3]

On April 9-12, 1984, the defendant was tried by a twelve-person jury and found guilty of manslaughter in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:31. Thereafter, on May 24, 1984, the court sentenced him to twelve years at hard labor. Defendant now appeals urging three of the five assignments of error filed below.

Assignment of Error 1

Counsel for defendant requested three special charges based upon the fact that sufficient evidence was introduced into the record for the jury to consider the application of paragraph 3 of Article 20 of Title 14 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, pertaining to justifiable homicide, which request was denied by the court, to which ruling counsel for defendant objected and had his objection noted for the record.

Defendant contends the trial court erred in refusing to include three special charges in the jury instructions. The three special charges requested by defense counsel were the provisions of LSA-R.S. 14:20(3)[4] (Justifiable Homicide), the definition of simple burglary,[5] LSA-R.S. 14:62, and the provision of LSA-R.S. 40:967, making the illegal possession of methaquolone or cocaine a felony. The trial court's given charge defining justifiable homicide, LSA-R.S. 14:20(1)(2) is as follows:

Section 20. Justifiable homicide

A homicide is justifiable:

(1) When committed in self-defense by one who reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life or receiving great bodily harm and that the killing is necessary to save himself from that danger; or
(2) When committed, for the purpose of preventing a violent or forcible felony involving danger to life or of great bodily harm, by one who reasonably believes that such an offense is about to be committed and that such action is necessary for its prevention. The circumstances must be sufficient to excite the fear of a reasonable person that there would be serious danger to his own life or person if he attempted to prevent the felony without the killing.

*363 Defendant argues his special instruction would have informed the jury that the state bears the burden to prove that justifiable homicide involving a burglar is not a justifiable homicide. The defendant contends that because he asserted that the killing was a result of the victim's allegedly unauthorized entry into his home (and his thinking that Manfred had a gun and was going to shoot him) that the instructions noted, supra, were pertinent. The state argues the evidence supports neither an inference that the defendant shot in self-defense nor that it was otherwise justifiable.

Special requested charges are governed by LSA-C.Cr.P. Article 807 which provides that a special charge shall be given by the court if it does not require qualification, limitation or explanation, and if it is wholly pertinent and correct. State v. Toomer, 395 So.2d 1320 (La.1981); State v. Telford, 384 So.2d 347 (La.1980).

In addition, LSA-C.Cr.P. Article 802 obligates the trial judge to charge the jury as to the law applicable to the case. Under these rules, the trial court is required to charge the jury, when properly requested, as to the law applicable to any theory of defense which the jurors could reasonably infer from the evidence. State v. Telford, supra; State v. Marse, 365 So.2d 1319 (La.1978). This charge must be supported by the evidence however. State v. Telford, supra; State v. Clement, 368 So.2d 1037 (La.1979); State v. Miller, 338 So.2d 678 (La.1976). For purposes of the present case, the determination of whether the trial court erred in refusing defendant's requested instructions noted, supra, depends upon whether the justification defense (involving a burglar) is fairly supported by the evidence.

Testimony at trial showed that the defendant's wife was a narcotics addict and that Manfred Strider supplied her with narcotics.

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Bluebook (online)
470 So. 2d 360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-guillot-lactapp-1985.