State v. Lucky

453 So. 2d 1234
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 26, 1984
Docket83 KA 1244
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 453 So. 2d 1234 (State v. Lucky) 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. Lucky, 453 So. 2d 1234 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

453 So.2d 1234 (1984)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Murry S. LUCKY, et al.

No. 83 KA 1244.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

June 26, 1984.

*1236 J. Kevin McNary, Asst. Dist. Atty., Covington, for plaintiff-appellee.

Salvador J. Liberto, Jr., Covington, for defendant-appellant.

Before LOTTINGER, EDWARDS and ALFORD, JJ.

LOTTINGER, Judge.

Defendant, Murray Stephen Lucky, was charged with an armed robbery which occurred on November 4, 1980, in violation of La.R.S. 14:64. He pled not guilty, and after a jury trial, was found guilty as charged. He was sentenced to ten years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. He appeals his conviction and sentence, alleging ten assignments of error as follows:

1. The Court erred in denying the Motion to Suppress the identification.
2. The Court erred in finding probable cause for the arrest of defendant.
*1237 3. The Court erred in not declaring a mistrial when witness Cook referred to the defendant as having been a suspect in previous burglaries or robberies.
4. The Court erred in refusing to permit the defense counsel to view the contents of a file from which the state's witness used material to refresh his memory.
5. The Court erred in admitting into evidence exhibits at the close of State's case in chief.
6. The Court erred in denying a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal.
7. The Court erred in not compelling the state to produce the composite drawing made at the direction of Mary Cittandino.
8. The Court erred in not granting a mistrial or even admonishing the jury to disregard statements made by the state that defense counsel would tell the people of Mississippi that all the people in Louisiana were stupid if they were to find the defendant not guilty.
9. The Court erred in denying the jury's request to view the transcript of a preliminary motion that had been admitted into evidence.
10. Because of error patent on the face of the record, the conviction should be reversed.

Assignment of error number 6 was withdrawn by defendant. Assignment of error number 10 was a request for a patent error check. No errors patent on the face of the record were found.

FACTS

On November 4, 1980 two men committed an armed robbery at the G & W Store in Slidell, Louisiana. The owner, James Wingerter, had just entered the store through the back door when he heard someone following him. As he turned around he fell down in the storeroom and saw a man holding a gun. This man told him to roll over and continue to lie on the floor. An employee, Mary Cittandino, was also in the store, preparing to close for the day. She saw the two men come through the back door and point a gun at the owner. One of the men forced her into the storeroom and told her to lie down.

Although in the next room, the owner and employee could hear the robbers breaking the locks on the cabinets containing narcotics. The robbers came back into the storeroom, tied the victims up with adhesive tape, and left. The victims were able to free themselves and call the police. They discovered that the robbers had broken into the narcotics cabinets and taken the drugs inside. A garbage can was also missing and apparently was used by the robbers to carry the drugs out. The robbers fled in the owner's truck, which was later found by the police.

A few days after the robbery, officers in Gulfport, Mississippi were told by a confidential informant that Steve Lucky and another man, Steve Touart, robbed a pharmacy in Louisiana. The Mississippi State Police also received a call from an anonymous person who said that a plastic garbage bag containing drugs could be found on a wooded path near an elementary school in Biloxi. After recovering the pills the Mississippi authorities contacted the Slidell police, who confirmed that G & W Drugs Store had been robbed.

After receiving this information, the Mississippi police attempted to put together a photographic line up. They did not have a picture of defendant on file, but obtained a 1974 yearbook from Gulfport High School, which contained defendant's picture. Phillip Ladner, an investigator with the Gulfport police, and Lionel Hicks and Bernell Lawrence of Slidell police department, met with Wingerter to obtain an identification of the robbers. Wingerter, who only saw one of the robbers, identified Touart from a photographic lineup display but was not shown the yearbook containing defendant's picture.

The police contacted the employee who identified defendant as one of the robbers. This identification was not from a photographic *1238 lineup, but rather, from the photos in the yearbook.

The employee also testified that, after the robbery, she gave police a description of defendant and a "composite drawing" was made. At the Motion to Suppress hearing defense counsel sought to have this drawing produced. Neither the prosecutor nor any of the officers who testified were aware of a photograph or a drawing made from this description.

A fingerprint expert testified that defendant's fingerprints were found on the pill bottles recovered in Mississippi. Defendant contends that another man who resembled him committed the robbery with Touart. Lucky testified that these two men approached him about buying some of the drugs. He stated that, although he looked at and handled some of the bottles, he did not buy any drugs.

After defendant was arrested he filed Motions for a preliminary examination and to suppress the identification. After a hearing, the trial judge ruled there was probable cause and denied the motion to suppress.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER 1

Defendant contends the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress the identification. He argues that the identification procedure was so impermissively suggestive that it violates due process.

A defendant attempting to suppress an identification must prove (1) that the identification was "suggestive" and (2) that there was a likelihood of misidentification in the identification procedure. State v. Burns, 441 So.2d 1294 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1983); writ denied 444 So.2d 1242 (La. 1984). The defendant has the burden of proving the ground of the motion to suppress, i.e. the suggestiveness of the procedure, La.Code Crim.P. art. 703(D), and, in reviewing the procedure, the trial court must look at the totality of the circumstances surrounding the identification. State v. Nathan, 444 So.2d 231 (La.App. 1st Cir.1983), writ denied 445 So.2d 1232 (La.1984). A lineup is unduly suggestive if the identification procedure displays the defendant so that the witness' attention is focused on the defendant. State v. Nathan, supra.

In the present case, the procedure was not suggestive. Mary Cittandino, an employee and victim of the robbery, was given a high school yearbook containing defendant's picture and asked if she could identify the robbers. The record indicates there was contradictory testimony as to the manner in which she was handed the yearbook. The officers stated the yearbook was closed when given to her and that no suggestion was made as to the pages she should examine. The witness stated that she was asked to look through specific pages in the yearbook.

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Bluebook (online)
453 So. 2d 1234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lucky-lactapp-1984.