State v. Lindsey

844 So. 2d 961, 2002 La.App. 4 Cir. 2363, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1070, 2003 WL 1858143
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 2, 2003
DocketNo. 2002-K-2363
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 844 So. 2d 961 (State v. Lindsey) 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. Lindsey, 844 So. 2d 961, 2002 La.App. 4 Cir. 2363, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1070, 2003 WL 1858143 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

1MICHAEL E. KIRBY, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On October 20, 1988, a twelve-member jury found relator guilty as charged of second-degree murder. He was sentenced on May 11, 1989 to serve life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole. [962]*962This Court affirmed. State v. Lindsey, 90-1602 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1/13/94), 631 So.2d 486, writ denied 94-0612 (La.6/28/96), 675 So.2d 1106.

This Court subsequently granted a writ of mandamus pertaining to an application for post conviction relief and ordered the trial court to conduct an evidentiary hearing on relator’s claim that the State withheld Brady material. State v. Lindsey, 98-1064 (La.App. 4 Cir. 6/3/98), 715 So.2d 544. Following some delays an evidentia-ry hearing was held on August 20, 2002; the relator was represented by Loyola Law Clinic which had been appointed to represent him. After hearing testimony and argument, the court reset the matter. On September 6, 2002 additional argument was heard. On September 19, 2002 the trial court issued a written judgment denying relief.

| STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

The facts of this case as set forth in the appeal opinion are as follows:

On December 1,1986, Lindsey lived at the home of his girlfriend, Zena Julien, and her family. On that date Zena took her one-year-old daughter Jovan to a clinic. Lindsey, a merchant marine, had come home after being away at sea. State witnesses testified that Lindsey was not intoxicated, and the family was not drinking that evening. After dinner, everyone was sitting around the table laughing and telling jokes when Zena told everyone about how Jovan had started a fight with another child at the clinic. Lindsey then grabbed Jovan and spanked her forcefully. Zena objected and told Lindsey so. After Lindsey grabbed her arm and twisted it, Zena then told him to leave. Lindsey went into the bedroom and began packing his things.
Zena’s mother, Joan Julien, told her not to put Lindsey out and to go and talk to him. Zena went to the bedroom where he was packing, but returned to the living room because Lindsey was using vulgar language and would not talk to her. She sat down on the living room sofa and, hugging her mother, said “Mom, I think that boy is going to get the gun.” Lindsey then came into the living room and pointed a gun at the two of them. They begged him not to shoot but he shot anyway, fatally wounding Joan Julien. Lindsey then put the gun into his pants and said “Now.”
Zena ran to get help. Officers Edward Perkins and Sherman Joseph responded to the call, observed the victim and sent for an ambulance. Zena pointed out Lindsey, who was standing near the rear side of his car, as the person who shot her mother. Officer Joseph placed Lindsey under arrest and advised him of his rights. Lindsey told the officers, “I did shoot her and the gun is in the trunk.” He then advised Officer Joseph which key opened the trunk, and the officer retrieved a .38 caliber gun from under a suitcase.
Rhonda Madine, a friend who lived in the house with the Juliens, and Zena Julien both testified relative to the events which led to the shooting, although Ms. Madine fled the living room when Lindsey came in with the gun and did not see the actual shooting. Cory Carter, the victim’s 12-year-old son and Zena’s younger brother, witnessed the shooting and his testimony was essentially |3the same as Zena’s except that he could not testify as to what transpired while Zena and Lindsey were in the bedroom.
Dr. Paul McGarry performed the autopsy and testified that, although the victim lingered to the extent that the entrance and exit wounds healed, the effects of the gunshot were continuing [963]*963and were the cause of death. He testified that the path of the bullet was consistent with the victim being seated and the shooter being at least two to three feet away. Officer Alvin Flint, a crime lab technician, identified photos and evidence, particularly two bullets and one spent casing found on the ground near the scene. Officer John Treadway, a firearms examiner for the crime lab, testified that the spent casing was the same type as the bullets found in the gun, but that the markings after firing one of the bullets were insufficient to determine whether the weapon retrieved from Lindsey’s trunk was the one which fired the spent cartridge found on the ground.
The defense put forth a combined theory of intoxication and accidental shooting. Gregory Evans, a seaman and Lindsey’s friend, testified that he and Lindsey got off a ship that morning and had each drunk a twelve-pack of beer at the union hall between noon and 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. On cross-examination, Evans testified that they split a twelve-pack. Lindsey testified that he and Evans talked and drank a twelve pack at the union hall the morning of the shooting. Lindsey further testified that he left the union hall around noon, went to his sister’s house where he drank some hard liquor and beer, and went home around 3:30 p.m. Lindsey further testified that he had made two or three trips to the car with his things and that the gun went off accidentally on his way to the car when the victim’s son Cory grabbed him.

Lindsey, pp. 2-3, 631 So.2d at 488-89.

DISCUSSION

The claim asserted in the relator’s application for post conviction relief was discussed at length by this Court when it ordered an evidentiary hearing:

In his application, relator asserts that he is entitled to a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. Specifically, relator asserts that the state withheld favorable and | ¿material Brady evidence from relator thereby violating relator’s constitutional right to a fair trial. Relator states that he obtained a copy of the district attorney’s file on August 6, 1997, whereupon he discovered that the statements of Rhonda Madine and Zena Ju-lien which were given to the police on March 20, 1987, contained exculpatory evidence essential to his defense of intoxication. He asserts the statements contradict the witnesses’ trial testimony relative to his intoxication at the time of the shooting. He argues that if he had been provided with the statements he could have impeached the witnesses’ trial testimony.
The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires the disclosure upon request of evidence which is favorable to the accused when the evidence is material to guilt or punishment. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). This rule has been expanded to include evidence which impeaches the testimony of a witness where the reliability or credibility of the witness may be determinative of guilt or innocence. Giglio v. U.S., 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972). The Brady rule is based on due process of law. “[T]he prosecutor is not required to deliver his entire file to defense counsel, but only to disclose evidence favorable to the accused that, if suppressed, would deprive the defendant of a fair trial, that is, evidence favorable to the defendant which is material to guilt or punishment.” State v. Rosiere, 488 So.2d 965, 970 (La.1986).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
844 So. 2d 961, 2002 La.App. 4 Cir. 2363, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1070, 2003 WL 1858143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lindsey-lactapp-2003.