State v. Myers

438 So. 2d 1332, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9349
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 12, 1983
DocketNo. CR82-842
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 438 So. 2d 1332 (State v. Myers) 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. Myers, 438 So. 2d 1332, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9349 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

YELVERTON, Judge.

Defendant, Roger Claude Myers, was charged by bill of information with armed robbery. A jury found him guilty of simple robbery. The trial court sentenced him to seven years at hard labor. Defendant appeals his conviction and presents eight assignments of error.

FACTS

On December 15,1981, a man entered the City Savings Bank and Trust Company of DeRidder, Louisiana, and handed teller Theresa Durham a note which declared he was intent on robbing the bank and was armed with a gun. Ms. Durham complied with his request and handed him approximately $4,900 in cash. After warning her not to set off any alarms, the man left the bank and fled the scene. At trial, Ms. Durham identified defendant as the bank robber.

On January 2, 1982, defendant was arrested in Texas, on authority of an N.C.I.C. Teletype stating that he was wanted by the FBI in connection with the DeRidder bank robbery.

On January 4,1982, defendant was transferred by United States Marshalls to a federal district court in Beaumont, Texas, where he was arraigned and waived extradition. He was subsequently transported to the Calcasieu Parish Jail in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in federal custody. During his incarceration in Lake Charles he made an inculpatory statement and was identified in a lineup by eyewitnesses as the bank robber.

He was formally charged by the State of Louisiana by bill of information dated January 29,1982. From that time on he was in State custody. At the preliminary examination on February 26, 1982, defendant admitted to robbing the bank but claimed he was not armed. In June, defendant successfully petitioned the court to dismiss his court-appointed attorney. Defendant represented himself for the remainder of the proceedings. He was tried and found guilty of simple robbery on September 21, 1982.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 1 AND 8

By this assignment defendant contends that it was reversible error for the trial court to admit into evidence statements taken from defendant by the FBI, and a statement made by the defendant to the Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Department during his detention in Lake Charles.

LSA-R.S. 15:451 states:

[1334]*1334“Before what purports to be a confession can be introduced in evidence, it must be affirmatively shown that it was free and voluntary, and not made under the influence of fear, duress, intimidation, menaces, threats, inducements or promises.”

The State introduced into evidence only one inculpatory statement, that one made by the defendant to Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s deputies in Lake Charles on January 4,1982. In this written statement defendant confessed to robbing the City Savings Bank in DeRidder on December 15, 1981. Before making the statement defendant signed a standard form acknowledging he had been read his rights, and understood and desired to waive them. The three deputies who interrogated him stated that defendant’s confession was not the product of any promise, threat, duress or other form of coercion. Defendant’s argument that he gave the statement only because the deputies told him it would be used only for the purpose of “clearing their records,” is not supported by the record. We find that his statement was freely and voluntarily given. This assignment is without merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 2

Defendant argues that it was reversible error for the trial court to allow eyewitness testimony and identification of defendant at trial proceedings by witnesses who had made prior unconstitutional identifications from a mug shot and a subsequent lineup in Lake Charles on January 11, 1982, which was not supervised by counsel. He asserts that his request for counsel to supervise the lineup was denied by the Beauregard Sheriff’s deputies. He claims he was informed by a Calcasieu Parish Deputy Sheriff that supervising the lineup was not necessary as the “Feds” were maintaining jurisdiction, and if defendant got any time, it would be in one of those “Federal Country Clubs.” In addition, defendant contends that improper procedures were utilized by law enforcement officers in a “photo lineup.” According to defendant, the officers presented eyewitnesses with photos and asked them to pick out the one that most resembled the holdup man at the bank, an instruction he claims was prejudicial because of its suggestive nature.

An accused’s right to counsel does not arise until adversary judicial proceedings have been initiated against him. State v. McDonald, 387 So.2d 1116 (La.1980). A defendant does not have a right to counsel at a pre-indictment, pre-preliminary examination lineup. State v. King, 385 So.2d 223 (La.1980); State v. Frisco, 411 So.2d 37 (La.1982).

In the instant case the photographic lineup occurred on December 16, 1981, and the physical lineup on January 11,1982. As of these dates adversary judicial proceedings had not been instituted against him. The State formally charged him by bill of information on January 29, 1982, and his preliminary examination took place on February 26, 1982. Therefore, he had no right to counsel at either lineup. Additionally, we note that at the January 11th lineup, the deputies took the added precaution of obtaining a written waiver of counsel from defendant.

Nor do we find that the photo-lineup was conducted improperly. The officers’ instructions to the eyewitnesses to pick out any photo that resembled the person they saw rob the bank is not suggestive in nature. This assignment is without merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 3

Defendant contends that the trial judge erred in denying his motion for a speedy trial. He points out that he was arrested on January 2, 1982, but not tried until September 21, 1982.

In State v. Dewey, 408 So.2d 1255 (La.1982), the Supreme Court set forth the appropriate analysis for determining whether an accused has been denied his right to a speedy trial:

“The right to a speedy trial is guaranteed by the sixth amendment to the federal constitution and by article one, section sixteen of our state constitution. [1335]*1335The right attaches when an individual becomes an accused whether by formal indictment or bill of information or by arrest and actual restraint. United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 92 S.Ct. 455, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971); State v. Perkins, 374 So.2d 1234 (La.1979). Four factors must be considered in determining whether a defendant has been deprived of his right to a speedy trial: (1) length of delay, (2) the reason for the delay, (3) the defendant’s assertion of his right, and (4) prejudice to the defendant. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972). The initial inquiry is into the length of delay; if the delay is presumptively prejudicial, there will be an inquiry into the other factors. The length of delay that will provoke such an inquiry is dependent upon the peculiar circumstances of the case.”

In the case at hand, defendant was formally charged and arraigned on January 29, 1982. Prior to that time, he had been arrested and incarcerated only in connection with federal charges lodged against him. Therefore the earliest date at which defendant’s right to a speedy trial attached was •January 29, 1982.

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Related

State v. Williams
483 So. 2d 626 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
438 So. 2d 1332, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-myers-lactapp-1983.