State v. Jones

516 So. 2d 396, 1987 WL 1986
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided November 9, 1987·No. 87-KA-153·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

516 So.2d 396 (1987)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Barry JONES.

No. 87-KA-153.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

November 9, 1987.

*398 George T. Oubre, La Place, for appellant.

John M. Crum, Jr., Dist. Atty., 40th Judicial Dist., Thomas Daley, George Ann Hayne Graugnard, Asst. Dist. Attys., Edgard, for appellee.

Before CHEHARDY, C.J., and GRISBAUM and GOTHARD, JJ.

CHEHARDY, Chief Judge.

On September 3, 1986, Barry Jones was convicted by a jury of violation of LSA-R. S. 14:62, simple burglary. On December 22, 1986, the district court found the defendant to be a habitual offender, pursuant to LSA-R.S. 15:529.1, and sentenced him to fifteen years at hard labor. The defendant has appealed.

The facts of the case are as follows:

On June 14, 1985, Lawrence Triche returned to his home on East 12th Street in Reserve. Upon returning to the house, some time between 11:30 p.m. and midnight, he discovered that the house's side door and patio door were open. He drove two blocks to a public telephone, from which he called the police, then returned to the house. When Detective Kenneth Smith of the St. John the Baptist Parish Police Department arrive at the scene, he discovered that the door had been broken and Triche's dog had been locked in the bathroom.

Several items had been taken from the house, including a 47-inch wide-screen television, a black-and-white television, a microwave oven, a yellow-gold Bulova watch, jewelry, food, and medication. Investigators lifted two fingerprints from the scene and sent these, together with a silverware chest that appeared to have been handled, to the State Police crime laboratory. No prints were ever identified, however.

On June 15, 1985, Triche's neighbor, Harold Richoux, informed Detective Smith that on the prior evening, around 9:30 p.m., he had noticed an old green pickup truck parked in front of Triche's house. Two black males were inside the house; a third black male was walking from the house to the truck.

On June 16, 1985, Detective Smith received a report of suspicious activity involving two black males and an old green pickup truck in the Belle Point subdivision. Detective Smith searched the area and located the truck and three black males, identified as Barry Jones, Charles Stuart, and Parnell Collins. Detective Smith brought them to the police station and interviewed each separately. Jones denied knowledge of the crime and Stuart refused to speak to Smith. Collins, however, admitted that the three had burglarized the Triche home and told Smith where some of the stolen goods could be found.

On the basis of Collins' information, Smith obtained a search warrant for the residence of Robert Taylor on East 26th Street. Several items from Triche's residence, including the wide-screen television, were found there.

At Jones' trial, Parnell Collins testified for the prosecution. He stated that on June 14, 1985, he, the defendant, and Charles Stuart went riding around in the pickup truck, "looking for a place to make a hustle." They went to a house on 12th Street and Stuart knocked on the front door. When no one answered, they moved the truck to the next street, then returned. Stuart kicked in the door, they entered the house, and Stuart locked the dog in the bathroom. The three men began taking things out of the house through a sliding glass door next to the kitchen and from *399 there to a grassy area. Next they drove the truck around and put the items inside. They made three trips to the house, one at 7:00 p.m., one at 7:30 p.m., the last between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m.

After either the first or second trip to the house, Collins said, and again after the last trip, they drove to the residence of Bobby Taylor, where Stuart sold the items to Taylor and divided the money among the three perpetrators. (Each man received approximately $150.)

Collins admitted on the stand that he had pleaded guilty to burglary.

Eileen Creecy testified as an alibi witness for the defendant. She stated that prior to Jones' arrest he resided with her at East 13th Street, Apartment 208A, in Reserve. On June 14, 1985, she said, the defendant was at a neighbor's house helping to repair a van; at around 8:30 p.m., he came over to Creecy's house and played with her children.

Although defendant raises numerous assignments of error, we find merit to only one. We shall discuss them in the order raised.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

The defendant asserts the trial court committed reversible error in failing to allow defendant (who appears in these proceedings as an indigent) funds to hire a private investigator to assist him and his counsel in the preparation for trial in this matter.

The right to a private investigator may in many cases be an adjunct to the right to counsel. State v. Madison, 345 So.2d 485 (La.1977). To obtain funds for such a purpose, however, an indigent defendant must make a showing that existing evidence is crucial to his defense and that he is without means to obtain that evidence. State v. McCabe, 420 So.2d 955 (La.1982); State v. Monroe, 397 So.2d 1258 (La.1981).

In State v. Simms, 465 So.2d 769 (La. App. 5 Cir.1985), this Court held that the trial judge correctly denied a motion for an investigator, where the motion demonstrated no special circumstances warranting the appointment of an investigator.

Here, the defendant's motion alleged the need for a private investigator to "interview numerous witnesses" and to "investigate the entire case," but made no showing that these witnesses had knowledge of evidence crucial to the case or that he could not otherwise obtain the evidence. Absent such a showing, we conclude the trial court properly denied the motion.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 2 & 3

These assignments alleged error in the exclusion of two prospective jurors; however, they were not briefed before this Court and are, therefore, deemed abandoned. Uniform Rules—Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-12.4.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 4

The defendant asserts the prosecutor committed reversible error by arguing to the jury that the defendant could have subpoenaed certain witnesses who were not present.

The prosecutor's statement was made after defense counsel asked the jury, in closing argument, to consider why the State had not called certain named witnesses. The prosecutor responded, on rebuttal, "When you ask why the State doesn't have them here, ask yourself why the defense doesn't have them here."

We find no merit to this assignment. The defendant did not object to the rebuttal statements at the time they were made or at the close of rebuttal. A defendant's failure to object to potentially prejudicial comments to a jury, to move for a mistrial, or to request an admonition to the jury from the judge constitutes a waiver of any error on appeal. State v. Mitchell, 412 So.2d 547 (La.1982). Further, the remarks were within the scope of LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 774. See State v. Robinson, 480 So.2d 329 (La.App. 3 Cir.1985), writ den. 498 So.2d 13 (La.1986).

*400 ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 5

The defendant asserts the trial court committed reversible error by denying his motion for new trial, which was predicated on newly-discovered evidence. The defendant alleged in his motion that he had found witnesses who could have proven that defendant was elsewhere at the time of the crime.

LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 851 provides that a new trial shall be granted, on motion of the defendant, whenever "new and material evid

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