State v. Hammler

312 So. 2d 306
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedApril 24, 1975
Docket55639
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 312 So. 2d 306 (State v. Hammler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hammler, 312 So. 2d 306 (La. 1975).

Opinion

312 So.2d 306 (1975)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Allen HAMMLER and Milton Holmes.

No. 55639.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

April 24, 1975.

*307 Robert Glass, New Orleans, for Milton Holmes.

Ronald J. Rakosky, New Orleans, for Allen Hammler.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

BARHAM, Justice.

Allen Hammler and Milton Holmes were charged by bill of information with the armed robbery of the owner of the Caffin Food Store in Orleans Parish. After a joint trial by jury, each was convicted and sentenced to serve twenty-five years imprisonment at hard labor. Upon their appeal to this Court, they rely on seven specifications of error for reversal of their *308 convictions and sentences. We find reversible error in several of the specifications, and we will address ourselves to each of these in an attempt to insure that the errors not be repeated when the case is retried.

SPECIFICATION OF ERROR NUMBER 2

The principal error upon which we base our reversal of these convictions and sentences is found in specification of error number 2. The defendants complain that they were irremediably prejudiced by the trial judge's numerous intemperate remarks in the presence of the jury. Upon a review of the entire record, we find the defendants' complaints justifiable. Examples of the trial judge's remarks, which continued throughout the course of the trial, can be found in the Appendix to this opinion. In his per curiam, the judge states that his comments were necessitated by the repetitious questions and the disruptive trial strategy of the defense attorneys, and that he was merely "attempting to keep the proceedings within the bounds of propriety."

In State v. Simpson, 247 La. 883, 175 So.2d 255 (1965), this Court recognized the duty of a trial judge to control the argument of counsel pursuant to law, and held that even threatening to jail a defense counsel might be warranted by continued improper conduct on the part of counsel. We also held in Simpson that even if a judge's remarks are improper, they do not constitute reversible error unless they were so prejudicial that they could have influenced the jury or contributed to the verdict. We have reviewed the record in the instant case and find that while defense counsels' remarks and questions may have been somewhat repetitious occasionally, their conduct clearly did not merit or justify continuous reprimands of such severity.

The following language from Bursten v. United States, 395 F.2d 976, 983 (5th Cir. 1968) is pertinent:

"It is well known, as a matter of judicial notice, that juries are highly sensitive to every utterance by the trial judge, the trial arbiter, and that some comments may be so highly prejudicial that even a strong admonition by the judge to the jury, that they are not bound by the judge's views, will not cure the error.
"To be sure, admonition of counsel in hotly contested cases, * * * sometimes becomes requisite, even essential. Cf. United States v. Sacher, 182 F.2d 416 (2d Cir. 1950). It is preferable, of course, that such corrections be made outside of hearing of the jury, but, for such conduct to constitute ground for reversal, it must appear that in some way the judge's conduct operated to deprive the defendant of his right to an impartial trial, such as to deprive him of effective assistance of counsel, or adversely influencing and prejudicing the jury. If a trial court continually intervenes so as to unnerve defense counsel and throw him off balance, in a supposedly fair trial, and causes him not to devote his best talents to the defense of his client, then this is ground for reversal, no matter what counsel's experience and equipoise may be. Even if there is a basis for some criticism of overpartisanship, of defense counsel, this does not justify unwonted and unnecessary continuous interruption. A trial judge must strive for total neutrality and complete circumspection, in the eyes and minds of the jury." (Emphasis here and elsewhere supplied.)

We find that the many interventions by the trial judge in this case deprived the defendants of the fair trial to which they were constitutionally entitled. The cumulative effect of the judge's remarks was highly prejudicial to the defense, very possibly to the extent that the jury may have been given the impression that the judge considered the defendants' case to be of little substance. See United States v. Coke, 339 F.2d 183, 185 (2d Cir. 1964).

*309 We note that there was not even any attempt on the part of the trial judge to cure the prejudice engendered by his remarks. He consistently refused to admonish the jury upon request of defense counsel, and he also denied several requests by defense counsel to send the jury out of the room. Moreover, the remarks appear to have been directed solely at the defense, as no comparable criticism of the prosecution counsel can be found in the record. For these reasons, we find the remarks so prejudicial as to warrant reversal of the defendants' convictions and sentences and remanding of the case for a new trial.

SPECIFICATION OF ERROR NUMBER 3

At the December 13, 1972 hearing on the defense motion to suppress identification, one of the State's witnesses to the alleged robbery testified that he had been directed by the assistant prosecutor not to speak to any lawyers for the defense. On December 14, 1972, defense counsel filed a motion for an order to compel the witnesses to speak with the defense, seeking corrective action by the court. The motion alleged that defense counsel had attempted to speak with the two principal State witnesses and that both had refused, pursuant to instructions from the prosecutor. It was alleged that these instructions constituted violations of due process. The motion was denied. During the trial, defense counsel called the prosecutor to the stand and verified his instructions to the two witnesses. The prosecutor testified that the reason for his instructions to the witnesses was that he had received reports of harassment of the victims and witnesses by either friends or representatives of the defendants. However, he was unable to connect these charges directly to either of the defense attorneys.

It is our opinion that the prosecuting attorney's conduct in advising the witnesses not to speak to defense attorneys significantly interfered with the defendants' constitutionally guaranteed right to effective counsel because their counsel were denied the opportunity to adequately prepare a defense. This issue was before the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals in Gregory v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 140, 369 F.2d 185 (1966), and that court held that an instruction by the prosecutor to government witnesses not to speak to defense attorneys unless a prosecution attorney was present mandated a reversal of the defendant's conviction. The court held that the defendant had been denied due process and also that the prosecution's conduct constituted a violation of the defendant's right to information favorable to him which was secured by Brady v. Maryland,

Related

State of Louisiana v. Markus O. Andrews
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State v. Harper
53 So. 3d 1263 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2010)
State v. Weathersby
29 So. 3d 499 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2010)
State v. Casey
775 So. 2d 1022 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2000)
State v. Borne
691 So. 2d 1281 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)
State v. Hidalgo
668 So. 2d 1188 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
State v. Maize
655 So. 2d 500 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1995)
State v. Parker
581 So. 2d 314 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1991)
State v. Jamison
565 So. 2d 1080 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1990)
State v. Poullard
532 So. 2d 327 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
State v. Hamilton
481 So. 2d 135 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1985)
State v. Turner
440 So. 2d 834 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1983)
State v. Johnson
438 So. 2d 1091 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
State v. Willis
438 So. 2d 605 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1983)
State v. Smith
430 So. 2d 31 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
Ledet v. Continental Grain Co.
380 So. 2d 655 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1980)
State v. Harris
367 So. 2d 322 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
State v. Doucet
359 So. 2d 1239 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. May
339 So. 2d 764 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
State v. Gallow
338 So. 2d 920 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
312 So. 2d 306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hammler-la-1975.