State v. Martin

550 So. 2d 568, 1989 WL 105126
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided September 12, 1989·No. 87-KA-1438·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

550 So.2d 568 (1989)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Darryl MARTIN.

No. 87-KA-1438.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

September 12, 1989.

*569 William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Jack Peebles, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Dwight Doskey, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, for defendant-appellant.

WATSON, Justice.

Darryl Martin was convicted of first-degree murder for the rape and killing of Donna Ann Scioneaux.[1] On the basis of aggravating circumstances, the jury unanimously imposed a death sentence. This is the direct appeal of Martin's conviction and sentence.[2]

FACTS

After meeting at Danny & Clyde's, a neighborhood convenience store in Jefferson Parish, Darryl Martin and Harry Scioneaux had become friends. Darryl Martin lived in a small trailer next door to Danny & Clyde's. Martin and Scioneaux saw each other frequently. Scioneaux often allowed Martin to use his shower because there were no shower facilities in Martin's trailer. Residing with Scioneaux were his thirteen-year old daughter, Donna Ann, and his six-year old son, Harry, Jr.

On the evening of May 12, 1982, 26-year old Martin went to the Gretna apartment of Scioneaux. The two men left the Scioneaux residence at approximately 11:30 P.M. to go to Danny & Clyde's. Before leaving, Scioneaux checked all the doors and made sure they were locked. The outside light was turned on over the front door and Scioneaux told Donna Ann to lock the dead bolt. Donna Ann had been instructed on what to do if anyone came to the house when her father was gone. After looking out her bedroom window to ascertain who was there, she was to tell friends that her father was at the convenience store. She was not to admit any strangers.

While at Danny & Clyde's, the two men drank beer and spoke to various people. Harry Scioneaux met a woman. After telling *570 Martin he was leaving, Scioneaux departed with the woman.

Scioneaux returned home between 5:30 and 6:00 A.M. the following morning. The front door was unlocked and he heard Donna Ann's alarm clock ringing. When he shut off the alarm, he discovered that she was missing. After he and various neighbors searched in vain for the missing girl, a report was filed with the Jefferson Parish authorities.

On May 16, 1982, Donna Ann Scioneaux's body was found in the Donner Canal, clad only in her nightgown. Donna Ann was 4 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 81 pounds. An autopsy disclosed that she had been brutally raped before her death, both vaginally and anally. There was severe bruising on her inner thighs. The vaginal opening, which should have been one-half inch in diameter, was stretched to a one-inch diameter and torn in three places with lacerations of up to one and one-half inches. The membrane of the vaginal canal was abraded, indicating repeated penetration. Her rectum was stretched to three or four times its normal size and the lining of the rectum was rubbed away by repeated penetration.

Donna Ann sustained forceful injuries to her head and back; her chest and hips were extensively bruised. The cause of death was asphyxiation by drowning between 1:00 and 2:30 A.M. on May 13, 1982.

Because Donna Ann drowned in the Donner Canal, which is entirely in Orleans Parish, the investigation of her murder was undertaken by the New Orleans Police Department. On June 2, Detective Ronald Brink, who had no suspects, drove Darryl Martin around the French Quarter in a police vehicle to retrace Martin's reported activities. Detective Brink thought Martin might have mentioned to someone that Harry Scioneaux was not at home. Brink's theory was that the person could have gone to burglarize the Scioneaux apartment and found Donna Ann. Before returning Martin to his place of employment, Brink had to complete a report. As Brink wrote his notes, his police car began to overheat, and Brink suggested that they move to the air conditioned detective bureau. Martin agreed.

While Brink questioned Martin about his movements that night, Martin began to cry and murmured, "You know, don't you?" At that point, Brink stopped the conversation, advised Martin of his Miranda[3] rights, and informed him that he was a suspect in the murder of Donna Ann Scioneaux. Detective Brink then asked Detective Bernadine Kelly of the rape division for assistance in questioning Martin. Brink again advised Martin of his Miranda rights. Detective Kelly also read Martin his Miranda rights and explained them. Martin signed a waiver of rights form, which was witnessed by Detectives Kelly and Brink.

Detective Thomas Woodall of the homicide division was summoned, Detective Brink again read Martin his Miranda rights, and Martin signed another waiver of rights form witnessed by Detectives Woodall and Brink. The police officers then took a recorded statement from Martin.

In his statement, Martin admitted that he went back to the Scioneaux apartment after Harry Scioneaux left Danny & Clyde's. When Donna Ann looked out the window, Martin told her that her father needed her at Martin's trailer, which did not have a phone. Donna Ann, in a nightgown and slippers, walked with Martin to his trailer. When Martin opened the trailer door, he pushed Donna Ann inside and covered her mouth as she started screaming. Although she begged for her release, Martin said he couldn't let her go home because she would tell her father. Martin admitted slapping her and hitting her head. Although he admitted raping Donna Ann, Martin also made contradictory statements, denying that he ever penetrated her, and maintaining that he only ejaculated over her unconscious body. Believing Donna Ann to be dead, and fearing discovery, Martin dressed her in her nightgown and carried her a few hundred feet through some *571 woods to the Donner Canal. On the way he crouched down on the levee to avoid the headlights of passing cars. At the canal, Martin slid Donna Ann's body into the water so that it wouldn't make noise. He threw her underwear and slippers into a dumpster near his trailer, returned to Danny & Clyde's and then visited some French Quarter bars.

After Martin was indicted for the first degree murder of Donna Ann Scioneaux, a sanity commission decided that Martin might be mentally retarded. Martin told the psychiatrists that he had ingested beer, whiskey, marijuana and pills on the night of the murder. Since its initial tests were limited, the commission recommended further testing at the Feliciana Forensic Facility in Jackson, Louisiana, and declared Martin incompetent to stand trial. At Jackson, Martin was diagnosed as an alcoholic, anti-social personality. Some of the people treating him described him as a malingerer. Extensive testing ruled out mental retardation. In May of 1983, Martin was found competent to stand trial by a second sanity commission. Martin entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

At trial, the defense presented the testimony of Dr. Kenneth Ritter, a psychiatrist who had served on both sanity commissions. Dr. Ritter testified that excessive alcohol could have made Martin unable to discern right from wrong or merely irresponsible.

In rebuttal, the state called Dr. Ignacio Medina, Jr., another psychiatrist who had served on both sanity commissions. Dr. Medina believed that Martin's detailed confession showed he knew the difference between right and wrong. One example of guilty knowledge was Martin's crouching down on the levee while a car passed.

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State v. Martin, 550 So. 2d 568, 1989 WL 105126 (La. 1989).

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