State v. Harris

924 So. 2d 1184, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 420, 2006 WL 473955
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 1, 2006
DocketNo. KA 05-1362
StatusPublished

This text of 924 So. 2d 1184 (State v. Harris) 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. Harris, 924 So. 2d 1184, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 420, 2006 WL 473955 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

EZELL, Judge.

The Defendant, Lekeithen Harris, was charged by bill of information on August 14, 2002, with one count of attempted second degree murder in violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and La.R.S. 14:30.1. The Defendant subsequently waived formal arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty on August 16, 2002. The trial court thereafter denied the Defendant’s request for release on bond but later set his bond at $250,000.00. On August 18, 2003, the Defendant filed a motion to appoint a sanity commission, which was granted by the judge. Following a sanity commission hearing on December 1, 2003, the trial court adjudged the Defendant competent to proceed with his trial.

The Defendant’s trial took place on June 22, 2005, following jury selection the previous day. The jury found the Defendant guilty of attempted second degree murder. The Defendant subsequently filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied on July 18, 2005. At the same hearing, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to serve fifty years without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

The Defendant now appeals, asserting the following assignments of error:

1.
The Honorable District court [sic] committed error when it refused to permit defendant, on motion of counsel, to change his plea to not guilty and not guilty by reason [of in] sanity.
2.
The Honorable District Court committed error when it refused to continue the trial even though defendant’s DNA expert had not completed its testing, and thus would not be able to participate in trial.
[1187]*11873.
The Honorable District Court committed error when it refused to continue the trial because of the lack of availability of defendant [sic] D.N.A. expert, even, though the court had paid for same, and defendant had relied on the case not being ready for trial, and did not have his alibi witness available.
4.
The Honorable District Court committed error when it denied defendant[’]s challenge for cause to a juror who not only knew the prosecutor, but had worked with him in the prosecution of a murder case.
5.
The Honorable Trial court committed error when it refused to order prosecutor to give a race neutral reason for striking “Black” jurors, when the only black jurors who were retained had either directly or through a family member been the victim of criminal activity.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Blaine Buchanan testified that on March 26, 2002, he was at home in Glenmora, Louisiana with his girlfriend, Brandy Fo-gel. He stated that shortly after 9:30 p.m., Brandy Fogel answered a knock at the door. Both Mr. Buchanan and Brandy Fogel testified that they recognized the person at the door as the Defendant, who was their neighbor; he was wearing a black trench coat and a sock hat. Mr. Buchanan stated that the Defendant requested permission to take an aquarium from a scrap pile he had cleaned from his yard the previous day. Mr. Buchanan testified that when he and the Defendant did not see the item in the scrap pile in the front of the house, the Defendant suggested that they look behind the house.

Mr. Buchanan stated that while looking behind the house, he was struck three times in the head. He testified that he turned around and saw the Defendant holding a hammer and that the Defendant then told him to get on his knees and face away from him. After hearing that, Mr. Buchanan says that he attempted to run toward the front of the house; and reached the street that passed in front of the house. Mr. Buchanan stated that the Defendant followed him to the street and continued to hit him approximately four more times in the head with the hammer.

Brandy Fogel testified that she had heard a commotion and Mr. Buchanan’s screams and went out to her front porch, where she first saw the Defendant in the street standing over Mr. Buchanan and swinging at him. She ran into the house to get her cellular phone and went to the street, where she heard the Defendant tell her that if she phoned the police, he would kill Mr. Buchanan. Brandy Fogel screamed for help and laid on top of Mr. Buchanan in an attempt to shield him from additional blows from the hammer.

Brandy Fogel’s grandmother, Myrldene Fogel, who lived directly across the street from Mr. Buchanan and Brandy Fogel, heard the commotion in the street and went outside into her own front yard. Myrldene Fogel testified that she recognized the Defendant, who she had known for four or five years as a resident of the neighborhood and a customer in her pet supply store. Myrldene Fogle stated that, upon seeing the Defendant standing over the couple with a hammer and hearing her granddaughter’s screams, she yelled for the Defendant to stop. Myrldene Fogle testified that the Defendant then began to approach her, and she called out for her husband to call the police and bring his gun outside. She said that the Defendant [1188]*1188walked away from the scene soon after she yelled for her husband, and Brandy and she took Mr. Buchanan inside and waited for assistance.

Assistant Chief Gene Johnson of the Glenmora Police Department testified that during a subsequent search of an abandoned lot in the area, officers found “a black trench coat, a maroon sock hat, a pair of brown gloves and a metal hammer.” The Defendant was arrested at his home and was brought to the scene, where he was identified by Brandy and Myrldene Fogel. He was subsequently charged with attempted second degree murder.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

For his first assignment of error, the Defendant asserts that the trial court erred in denying his request to change his not guilty plea to not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. In support of this argument, the Defendant argues that the attorney who had filed the not guilty plea later withdrew from the case due to a conflict, and his trial counsel should have been allowed to enter a new plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Additionally, the Defendant points out that the case was not scheduled for trial at the time the change of plea motion was denied and was not actually tried until a year after that time.

Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 561 governs the change of a plea of “not guilty” to a plea of “not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity” and provides the following:

The defendant may withdraw a plea of “not guilty” and enter a plea of “not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity,” within ten days after arraignment. Thereafter, the court may, for good cause shown, allow such a change of plea at any time before the commencement of the trial.

“ ‘Good cause’ within the meaning of this statute has been found where evidence indicated a defendant was suffering from a mental disorder such as schizophrenia or was undergoing psychiatric treatment.” State v. Whiticar, 487 So.2d 514, 516 (La.App. 4 Cir.1986) (citing State v. Taylor, 254 La. 1051, 229 So.2d 95 (1970); State v. Delpit, 341 So.2d 876 (La.1977)). The Louisiana State Supreme Court has reviewed claims regarding “good cause” utilizing an abuse of discretion standard. See Taylor, 229 So.2d 95; Delpit, 341 So.2d 876.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Batson v. Kentucky
476 U.S. 79 (Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Givens
776 So. 2d 443 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2001)
State v. Taylor
229 So. 2d 95 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1970)
State v. Burgess
876 So. 2d 263 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2004)
State v. Duncan
802 So. 2d 533 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2001)
State v. Delpit
341 So. 2d 876 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)
State v. Melbert
546 So. 2d 948 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
State v. Savage
575 So. 2d 478 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1991)
State v. Rexrode
536 So. 2d 671 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
State v. Whiticar
487 So. 2d 514 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
State v. Love
594 So. 2d 1076 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)
State v. Anderson
714 So. 2d 766 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
924 So. 2d 1184, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 420, 2006 WL 473955, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-harris-lactapp-2006.