State v. James

431 So. 2d 1075
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 3, 1983
Docket15234-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 431 So. 2d 1075 (State v. James) 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. James, 431 So. 2d 1075 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

431 So.2d 1075 (1983)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Jiles Ray JAMES, Appellant.

No. 15234-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

May 3, 1983.
Rehearing Denied June 8, 1983.

*1077 Caddo Parish Indigent Defender Office by Frances Baker Jack, Shreveport, for appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara B. Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baton Rouge, Paul J. Carmouche, Dist. Atty., Robert W. Gillespie, Jr., Catherine M. Estopinal, Asst. Dist. Attys., Shreveport, for appellee.

Before PRICE, FRED W. JONES, Jr. and NORRIS, JJ.

PRICE, Judge.

Defendant, Jiles Ray James, was convicted of aggravated rape, (LSA-R.S. 14:42), aggravated kidnapping (LSA-R.S. 14:44), and armed robbery (LSA-R.S. 14:64). Subsequently, he was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment and one term of 99 years imprisonment at hard labor, all to be served consecutively, without benefit of parole or probation. Defendant now appeals on the basis of nine assignments of error.

FACTS:

On the evening of September 26, 1980, the victim, a young woman, was working at the Citgo Quick Mart at the corner of Line Avenue and Pierremont Road in Shreveport, Louisiana. At about 11:00 p.m., a man came into the store and bought gasoline and cigarettes.

The man left the store but returned minutes later. He asked the victim for change so that he could donate to a charity advertised in the store. The victim gave him some change. The man then left the store again only to return five or six minutes later. The victim, fearing a robbery, removed $100 from the cash register before the man entered the store. When the man entered, he revealed a small caliber pistol. He demanded some money from the register. After the victim had given the man $50 from the register, he ordered her to come out from behind the counter and to get into his car. She followed his orders.

Once inside the man's automobile, the man forced the victim's head into his lap, holding the pistol to her temple. They drove to a spot ten to fifteen minutes away from the store. The man stated that he did not feel that $50 was enough and that he felt he "deserved a little more." He ordered the victim to remove her pants. She tried to stall him, but finally stated that she wouldn't remove her pants until he put the pistol in the back seat. He complied with her request. The victim then removed her pants and the man had sexual intercourse with her.

According to the testimony of the victim, after the rape was completed the man stated that he "might as well kill her since he had robbed, kidnapped, and raped her." She talked the man out of killing her by promising to lie to the police. The man let the victim out of the automobile a few blocks from the Citgo station. Once released, the victim ran to a nearby house where she had the residents call the police. The police brought her back to the Citgo station, where the police were already there, having been summoned by a customer concerned about the unattended station.

The victim gave a description of the man to the police. Several days later she drew a composite sketch of the man. Shortly thereafter, a photographic lineup was shown to her and she identified the defendant as the man that robbed and raped her. The defendant was arrested several months later in California and was brought to Louisiana for trial. The victim identified the defendant once again at a live lineup.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1:

The defendant's original motion to suppress was directed at the alleged invalidity *1078 of his arrest by authorities in California for a minor offense which precipitated knowledge of his whereabouts to Louisiana authorities. Defendant contends that as the California arrest made it possible for Louisiana authorities to apprehend defendant under the warrant that had been issued in Louisiana in connection with the matters now under review, that the state in these prosecutions has the burden of proving that the initial California arrest was irrelevant to the instant proceedings which were initiated by a valid Louisiana warrant. We find no error in the trial court's ruling in this regard. There is no physical evidence, inculpatory statement, or other evidence which was discovered as a result of the California arrest which was used in these proceedings.

Furthermore, conceding that the state has such a burden in this instance and that the California arrest was found invalid, the second arrest under the Louisiana warrant is far too attenuated to be tainted by the prior arrest. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).

Also relevant by analogy to this issue is the fact that a few states have ruled that the illegality of the original arrest of a fugitive from justice from another state will not affect the validity of subsequent proper extradition proceedings. In Re Brown, 370 Mass. 267, 346 N.E.2d 830 (Mass.1976); In Re Saunders, 138 Vt. 259, 415 A.2d 199 (Vt.1980).

In his supplemental motion to suppress, the defendant contends that the lineup procedures used in identifying him as the perpetrator were impermissibly suggestive because he was the only person in either the live or photographic lineup with a facial tatoo. In her initial description of her assailant the victim had specifically mentioned that the man had a facial tatoo.

Testimony at both the hearing on the motion to suppress and the trial indicated that the tatoo was not readily apparent in the picture used at the photographic lineup. Our inspection of the photos used confirms this.

However, even if the tatoo had been visible, this would not necessarily invalidate either lineup. As the United States Supreme Court stated in Mason v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977):

... reliability is the lynchpin in determining the admissibility of identification testimony for both pre- and post-Stovall confrontations. Factors to be considered are set out in [Neil v.] Biggers, 409 U.S. [188] at 199-200 [93 S.Ct. 375 at 388, 34 L.Ed.2d 401]. These include the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime, the witness' degree of attention, the accuracy of his prior description of the criminal, the level of certainty demonstrated at the confrontation, and the time between the crime and the confrontation. Against these factors is to be weighed the corrupting effect of the suggestive identification itself.

Applying this analysis to the present case: the victim was with the man that robbed and raped her for at least thirty minutes. While they were in the store, the light was good so the victim had an excellent opportunity to view the subject. Being the victim of the crimes, her attention was certainly fixed upon the perpetrator; she was not a casual observer. The victim gave a description to the police on the day of the offense. She also drew a sketch of the man a few days later which resembled the defendant. At the photographic lineup, the victim immediately identified the man. At the live lineup, she again identified the defendant even though his appearance was slightly different from the photograph. The photographic lineup was conducted a few days after the incident, while the victims' memory was still fresh.

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Bluebook (online)
431 So. 2d 1075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-james-lactapp-1983.