State v. Mack

162 So. 3d 1284, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0625, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 926, 2015 WL 2127092
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 6, 2015
DocketNo. 2012-KA-0625
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 162 So. 3d 1284 (State v. Mack) 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. Mack, 162 So. 3d 1284, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0625, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 926, 2015 WL 2127092 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

DENNIS R. BAGNERIS, SR., Judge.

|TThe defendant, Samuel Mack, Jr., appealed his conviction and sentence for second degree murder, in violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. This Court reversed the defendant’s conviction, reasoning that the circumstantial evidence upon which defendant’s conviction was based was insufficient to convict.1 However, the Supreme Court reversed; reinstated the defendant’s conviction and sentence; and remanded the matter to this Court to address defendant’s remaining claims of trial error that were not considered in his original appeal.2 Finding that defendant’s [1286]*1286other errors lack merit, upon remand, we affirm defendant’s conviction and sentence.

DISCUSSION

In addition to claiming that the evidence was insufficient to convict, defendant’s other assignments of error argued that the trial court erred in admitting multiple gory crime scene photos wherein the probative value was substantially outweighed by their prejudicial effect; the trial court erred in denying defendant’s ^motion to declare La. C.Cr.P. art. 782(A) unconstitutional; and that defendant’s sentence was unconstitutionally excessive.3 We shall first consider defendant’s claim that the trial court erred in permitting the State to introduce into evidence multiple photographs of the victim’s body.

Introduction of Photographs

The Louisiana Supreme Court set forth the following applicable law in State v. Magee, 2011-0574, pp. 54-55 (La.9/28/12), 103 So.3d 285, 323, to determine the admissibility of photographs:

“Photographs are generally admissible if they illustrate any fact, shed any light upon an issue in the case, or are relevant to describe the person, thing, or place depicted.” State v. Sepulvado, 93-2692, p. 7 (La.4/8/96), 672 So.2d 158, 164. A district court’s ruling with respect to the admissibility of photographs will not be overturned unless it is clear the prejudicial effect of the evidence outweighs its probative value. State v. Maxie, 93-2158, p. 11 n. 8 (La.4/10/95), 653 So.2d 526, 532 n. 8.
Even when the cause of death is undisputed, the state is entitled to the moral force of its evidence and postmortem photographs of murder victims are admissible to prove corpus delicti, to corroborate other evidence establishing cause of death, as well as the location and placement of wounds, and to provide positive identification of the victim. State v. Koon, 96-1208, p. 34 (La.5/20/97), 704 So.2d 756, 776; State v. Watson, 449 So.2d 1321, 1326 (La.1984); State v. Kirkpatrick, 443 So.2d 546, 554-55 (La.1983). Photographic evidence will be admitted unless it is so gruesome that it overwhelms jurors’ reason and leads them to convict without sufficient other evidence. Koon, 96-1208 at 34, 704 So.2d at 776. The admission of “gruesome photographs is not reversible error unless it is clear that their probative value is substantially outweighed by their prejudicial effect.” State v. Broaden, 99-2124, p. 23 (La.2/21/01), 780 So.2d 349, 364, quoting State v. Martin, 93-0285, pp. 14-15 (La.10/17/94), 645 So.2d 190, 198.

In Magee, the Louisiana Supreme Court noted that the probative value of the photographs at issue in that case distinguished them from those in State v. Morris, 245 La. 175, 157 So.2d 728 (1963), which, the Court stated, had been “the only case reversed by this court on grounds of the improper introduction of gruesome | ^photographs.” Magee, 2011-0574, p. 55, 103 So.3d at 323. The court noted that Morris involved “the gratuitous introduction of ‘gruesome and ghastly’ photographs depicting the progress of an autopsy in an ‘increasingly grotesque and revolting manner.’ ” Id., quoting Morris, 157 So.2d at 730.

The prejudicial versus probative tension in the admission of evidence is set forth in La. C.E. art. 403, which states, in pertinent part, “[although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is [1287]*1287substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice,.... ” (emphasis added). “Unfair prejudice” as used in La. C.E. art. 403 means that “the offered evidence has ‘an undue tendency to suggest decision on an improper basis, commonly, though not necessarily, an emotional one.”’ Author’s Note (3), La. C.E. art. 403, Handbook on Louisiana Evidence Law, Pugh, Force, Rault & Triche, p. 380 (2011).

In the instant case, the record reflects that defense counsel objected to three of four photos on the ground that the three were duplicitous of one photo and only served to prejudice defendant. The State did not voice any response to defense counsel’s assertions. The trial court stated that it did not find that the prejudicial nature of the photos outweighed their probative value and overruled defendant’s objection.

Defendant argues that the probative value of the “multiple, virtually identical, gory crime scene photographs” in a weak circumstantial homicide prosecution served no probative purpose, and that the introduction of the multiple photos served “no other purpose than to prejudice the jury by appealing to their [sic] emotions.” Thus, defendant concludes that “it was error to admit multiple photographs.”

LHowever, at no point did defense counsel argue or suggest that any of the four photos was gory or gruesome; instead, counsel merely asserted that the three objectionable photos were duplicitous of the photo to which the defense lodged no objection. Defendant cites no authority for the proposition that duplicitous crime scene photos of a deceased victim, wherein the photos have not been deemed gory or gruesome, are unfairly prejudicial simply because they are duplicitous.

Defendant also does not cite any authority for the proposition that a photo of a deceased victim is per se gory or gruesome. This Court does not dispute that crime scene photos of a homicide victim can be unsettling and disturbing. Notwithstanding, even if we accept defendant’s argument that the objectionable photos were duplicitous and had minimal probative value, defendant does not show that the slight probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. In particular, defendant does not support that the admission of the photos had an “undue tendency” to suggest that the jurors convict defendant on an improper basis. Accordingly, we find no merit to this assignment of error.

Constitutionality of La.CO. P. art. 782(A)

In this assignment of error, defendant argues that La.C.Cr.P. art. 782(A)4 is unconstitutional under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution “to the extent that it allows for a non-unanimous verdict for second |r,degree murder.” In the present matter, defendant was convicted by a non-unanimous verdict of eleven to one. In support of this position, defendant calls Louisiana the “only place in the nation where a defendant can be sentenced to life without parole as a result of a conviction by a non-unanimous jury.” However, this specific issue — to declare La. C.Cr.P. art. 782(A) and La. Const, art. I, § 17(A) unconstitutional insofar as they provide for conviction in non-capital felony cases by a non-[1288]*1288unanimous jury verdict — was not raised as a ground in a written motion filed by defendant or the convicted shooter, Ortiz Jackson.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 So. 3d 1284, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0625, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 926, 2015 WL 2127092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mack-lactapp-2015.