State v. Jackson

548 So. 2d 29, 1989 WL 68674
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided June 16, 1989·No. 89-KA-114·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

548 So.2d 29 (1989)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Mark JACKSON.

No. 89-KA-114.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

June 16, 1989.

Martha E. Sassone, Indigent Defender Bd., Gretna, for defendant-appellant.

John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., James Weidner, Dorothy A. Pendergast, Asst. Dist. Attys., (Louise Korns, of counsel), Gretna, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before CHEHARDY, GAUDIN and GRISBAUM, JJ.

GRISBAUM, Judge.

This is a criminal matter relating to firstdegree murder. We affirm the conviction and sentence.

*30 PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 25, 1986 a grand jury indictment was filed charging the defendant, Mark Anthony Jackson, with a violation of La.R.S. 14:30, in that he committed first-degree murder of Lac V. Ngo while engaged in the perpetration of an armed robbery. An order appointing a sanity commission was signed on September 4, 1986. On October 2, 1986, following a hearing, the trial court found that the defendant lacked the mental capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist counsel in his defense. By an order signed October 6, 1986 the defendant was committed, pursuant to La.C.Cr.P. art. 648, to the custody of the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources.

On February 5, 1987, the trial court was informed that the defendant was competent to stand trial, and on March 12, 1987, another sanity hearing was conducted. After hearing, the court found the defendant competent to stand trial and to assist counsel in his own defense. The defendant was arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Another sanity hearing was held on May 21, 1987. After hearing, the court once again found the defendant legally sane and able to assist counsel in his own defense.

Following several continuances, the defendant was tried by a 12-person jury on September 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, 1988. The jury, on September 16, 1988, unanimously found the defendant guilty of second-degree murder. After waiving all legal delays, the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. After his motion for new trial was denied, the defendant appealed.

BASIC FACTS

On August 21, 1986, at approximately 11 a.m., the defendant, armed with a gun, entered the Tip-Top Grocery Store located at 3900 U.S. Highway 90 in Jefferson Parish. While in the process of robbing the store, the defendant shot and killed Lac Van Ngo, the owner of the Tip-Top Grocery.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

(1) Whether the jury erred in not concluding that the defendant was legally insane at the time of the commission of the offense;

(2) Whether the trial court erred in granting the State's peremptory challenge of three black jurors; and

(3) Whether error patent exists.

ASSIGNMENT NO. 1

Law

The pertinent analysis is to be found in State v. Claibon, 395 So.2d 770 (La.1981), to wit:

In Louisiana a defendant is presumed sane and the state is not required to prove sanity. R.S. 15:432.2 A defendant who wishes to negate the presumption must put forth an affirmative defense of insanity and prove his insanity by a preponderance of the evidence. C.Cr.P. art. 652; State v. Roy, 395 So.2d 664 (La. 1981). Legal insanity in Louisiana means that a defendant has a mental disease or defect which prevents him from distinguishing right from wrong with reference to the conduct which forms the basis for the criminal charge against him. R.S. 14:14. The determination of sanity is a factual matter reserved to the jury or other fact finder. Therefore, this Court traditionally did not review the rejection of an insanity defense where there was "some evidence" supporting the finding that defendant was not insane, because the Court is limited by the Constitution to review of questions of law. La. Const. of 1974, Art. 5, § 5(C).
Recently, however, the United States Supreme Court decided Moore v. Duckworth, 443 U.S. 713, 99 S.Ct. 3088, 61 L.Ed.2d 865 (1979), and rejected the "no evidence" standard of review when a state prisoner asserts a habeas corpus claim that the state convicted him with insufficient evidence after he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. According to the United States Supreme Court the proper standard for reviewing the conviction is that of Jackson v. Virginia, *31 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Following the dictates of Moore, this Court decided State v. Roy, supra, in which we adopted the Jackson standard of review when a defendant pleads the affirmative defense of insanity and claims that the record evidence does not support a finding of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Using the Jackson standard we must determine whether under the facts and circumstances of the case, any rational fact finder, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could conclude that defendant had not proved by a preponderance of the evidence that he was insane at the time of the offense.

2 In Leland v. Oregon, 343 U.S. 790, 72 S.Ct. 1002, 96 L.Ed. 1302 (1952), the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a similar presumption against a due process attack.

Id. at 772.

Additionally, the reviewing court properly looks to the expert and lay testimony and to the defendant's actions, for the fact finder's decision comprehends all these components of the case. State v. Heath, 447 So.2d 570, 575 (La.App. 1st Cir.1984), writ denied, 448 So.2d 1302 (La.1984). Factors pertinent to a review of expert testimony are wide-ranging. As revealed in prior cases grappling with this topic, they include whether lay testimony controverting the expert opinion was offered (State v. Claibon, supra, at 774; State v. Roy, supra, at 669), whether the experts specifically concluded that the defendant could not discern between right and wrong at the time of the crime State v. Noble, 425 So.2d 734, 737 (La.1983); State v. Claibon, supra), to what extent the expert testimony was premised on the self-serving revelations of the defendant (State v. Parker, 416 So.2d 545, 551 (La.1982)), to what extent the expert analysis is controverted by other expert analysis (State v. Heath, supra, at 576), the duration of the expert's contact with the defendant and whether he had interviewed the defendant previous to the offense (State v. Guidry, 450 So.2d 50, 52 (La.App. 3d Cir.1984), writ denied, 476 So.2d 344 (La.1985)), the chronological proximity of the expert examination to the offense (State v. Nealy, 450 So.2d 634, 639 (La.1984)), and whether the experts were treating physicians (Id.). Insofar as the defendant's actions, such factors as whether the defendant fled, disposed of evidence, and deliberately planned and executed the offense are pertinent. State v. Pravata, 522 So.2d 606, 613-14 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1988), writ denied, 531 So.2d 261 (La.1988).

Here, the expert testimony of Dr.

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