State v. Martin

233 So. 2d 898, 255 La. 961, 1970 La. LEXIS 3765
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMarch 30, 1970
Docket49986
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 233 So. 2d 898 (State v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Martin, 233 So. 2d 898, 255 La. 961, 1970 La. LEXIS 3765 (La. 1970).

Opinion

SUMMERS, Justice.

Defendants rely upon five bills of exceptions to support this appeal from their conviction and sentence for armed robbery.

Shortly before 11:00 p. m. on December 5, 1967, three men drove into a Billups service station just north of Gonzales on the Airline Highway. Two of the men went to the rest room and the third stayed with the car while the victim, Walter Vernon, serviced the automobile. Vernon had ample opportunity to observe all three men and to notice the car as he serviced it. When the two men left the rest- room they returned to the car. After Vernon *966 finished servicing the car, one of the men pulled a gun and forced Vernon to turn over the money in the cash register. The robbers then fled the scene, going north on the Airline Highway.

Vernon notified the police almost immediately and a bulletin was broadcast by police radio describing the vehicle and dress of at least one of the holdup men. About 11 o’clock the pilot of the Plaquemine Ferry heard the police bulletin over his police radio. At approximately 11:15 p. m. a vehicle resembling the wanted car boarded the ferry, and the pilot called the sheriff’s office. As a result of this call, defendants were apprehended on the west bank of the river as their vehicle left the ferry.

Bill No. 1 was reserved to the Court’s denial of a motion to quash filed just prior to the selection of the jury on the day of trial. The motion alleges three grounds tj nullify the bill of information under which defendants were being prosecuted: (1) that the arresting officers failed to inform defendants of their intention, authority or the cause for the arrest as required by Article 218 of the Code of Criminal Procedure; (2) at the time of their arrest defendants were not warned of their right to remain silent or that what they said could be used against them ; they were not informed of their right to counsel, or that counsel would be appointed to represent them if they were indigent, as required by Article 230 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the rules announced in the jurisprudence, and, (3) defendants were exposed to confrontation for identification without counsel.

The answer to the first ground alleged as a basis for the motion to quash is found in Article 218 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This article requires that a peace officer making an arrest shall inform the arrested person of his intention, his authority and the cause of the arrest, but the requirement by the very language of the article does not apply if the accused is being pursued or flees immediately after the commission of a crime. As the brief recitation of facts dramatically illustrates, these defendants were fleeing the scene of the crime; and the requirement that they be informed of the intention, authority and cause under which the arresting officers acted is inapplicable.

The second ground embodies a complaint that the Miranda warnings were not given. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). This failure, if it be conceded, does not absolve the crime. The Miranda warnings must be established as a necessary prerequisite to the admission of confessions obtained since that decision. Since no confessions or statements of the defendants were introduced into evidence, this ground of the motion to quash is not well-founded.

*968 The third ground alleged is that defendants were exposed to confrontation for identification without counsel. To support this contention defendants rely upon United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967); Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S.Ct. 1951, 18 L.Ed.2d. 1178 (1967) and Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed. 2d 1199 (1967). Failure to furnish a defendant with counsel at line-up or confrontation for identification out of court furnishes a basis for objecting to the in court identification of that defendant, but it does not furnish a valid basis for dismissing the prosecution or quashing the bill of information. We have been informed in brief that no objection was made to the in court identification of defendants. This ground of the motion to quash is therefore without merit.

Moreover, no evidence was taken upon the trial of this motion to quash because it was filed too late, although the trial judge gave defense counsel thirty days within which to file pleadings. Since there is no evidence to support the motion to quash and because it was filed too late, the trial judge properly denied the motion.

Bill of Exceptions No. 2

Prior to the commencement of trial when the bill of information was read, defendant’s counsel objected that the bill of information against Duane Dickerson was defective in that Dickerson’s name was not shown in the body of the information. Defense counsel’s motion that the court release Dickerson was denied and the district attorney was permitted to amend the information to cure the defect. Defense counsel objected and reserved this bill.

The omission was clearly a clerical error since Dickerson’s proper name appears on the reverse of the bill and he had, with benefit of counsel, previously appeared in court and pled to the charge. Article 487 of the Code of Criminal Procedure vests broad discretion in the trial court to permit the amendment of an information prior to trial. La.Code Crim.Proc. art. 934(6). We find that the accused Dickerson suffered no prejudice in his trial by the amendment. La.Code Crim.Proc. art. 921.

Bill No. 3 was reserved when, immediately prior to the trial, the District Attorney moved the Court to amend all three bills of information to show that the crime was committed on December 5, 1967 instead of December 6, 1967 as originally shown. Defense counsel objected that the amendment would be prejudicial to their defense of alibi. The Court overruled the objection and permitted the amendment.

Defense counsel made no motion for a continuance, and there is no showing that defendants were taken by surprise. The amendment was properly allowed under the *970 authority .of • Article 487 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. -

Bill No. 4 is adequately disposed of by the per curiam of the trial judge, which we quote in full:

There is no merit to this Bill.
After the jury had returned their verdiet of guilty as charged, counsel for the accused then moved for a mistrial on the grounds that one of the jurors was -seen taking notes at sometime during the trial. The motion was denied for the reason that neither the Court nor the State observed any juror taking notes. Even if this had occurred, the objection came too late, particularly after the jury had been charged by the Court and had rendered their verdict.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
233 So. 2d 898, 255 La. 961, 1970 La. LEXIS 3765, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-martin-la-1970.