State v. Porter

615 So. 2d 507, 1993 WL 57525
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 3, 1993
DocketCR92-850
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 615 So. 2d 507 (State v. Porter) 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. Porter, 615 So. 2d 507, 1993 WL 57525 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

615 So.2d 507 (1993)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Eric Dwayne PORTER.

No. CR92-850.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 3, 1993.
Rehearing Denied March 26, 1993.

*508 Morgan J. Goudeau III, Opelousas, for State of LA.

Thomas E. Guilbeau, Lafayette, for Eric Dwayne Porter.

Before DOMENGEAUX, C.J., and KNOLL and SAUNDERS, JJ.

DOMENGEAUX, Chief Judge.

The defendant, Eric Dwayne Porter, was convicted of forcible rape, a violation of La.R.S. 14:42.1, and simple kidnapping, a violation of La.R.S. 14:45. On the rape conviction, defendant was sentenced to 21 years at hard labor, seven of which are without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, and on the kidnapping conviction, defendant was sentenced to five years at hard labor, the two sentences to run concurrently. Defendant appeals his conviction and sentence, raising questions pertaining to jury selection, sentencing, the verdict form, and sufficiency of the evidence.

FACTS

The victim, a white female, along with her parents, fiancé, and 35 other people from the Houston area, attended the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana in 1990. During the festivities, the victim became separated from the rest of her party when she went off to investigate the landing of a helicopter near the festival grounds. There, the victim struck up a conversation with the defendant, Eric Porter, and his codefendant, Todd Aubrey. Both defendants are black males. After approximately 15 minutes of conversation, the defendants told the victim that they were going to a store to buy beer and asked her if she wanted to go with them. She agreed to go with them in Porter's car. Once in the car, they passed several stores and continued driving through back road areas until it became dark. At that time, the victim began to feel uncomfortable and asked to be taken back to the festival. The defendants refused, and instead, they took her to a field located in St. Landry Parish and forced her to engage in vaginal intercourse and oral sex.

*509 These activities continued for some time, both in the field and in the car, until the victim pleaded with the defendants to stop. They dropped her off at a unspecified location in Lafayette Parish, keeping with them her jewelry and some of her clothes. The victim then ran to a nearby house and reported the offense.

Defendant has not denied that he engaged in sexual activities with the victim. Rather, the defense of consent was urged at trial by his counsel and counsel for Todd Aubrey. Aubrey appealed his conviction and an opinion by this court was rendered on December 9, 1992, affirming the conviction. See State v. Aubrey, 609 So.2d 1183 (La.App. 3d Cir.1992).

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

In his first assignment of error, defendant contends the trial court erred in conducting voir dire proceedings 24 days in advance of trial, and then did not question the jurors on the day of trial to determine if prejudicial knowledge about the case was gained in the interim.

Trial was held in St. Landry Parish, which jurisdiction utilizes the central jury pool authorized in La.C.Cr.P. Art. 409.3, as well as its own local rules. The jury was selected on April 1, 1991, for a trial scheduled and conducted on April 25, 1991. During this interim period, on April 19, 1991, a hearing was conducted on defendant's motion for a mistrial and change of venue based on possible bias caused by pretrial publicity. Defendant's motions were denied.

On appeal, defendant argues that the failure of the trial judge to requestion the jury on the morning of trial prejudiced him because the 24 day interim period allowed for the possibility of jury contamination. However, defense counsel did not object to the court's failure to requestion members of the jury about possible contamination and did not request a polling of the jury on this specific subject. According to La.C.Cr.P. Art. 841, an irregularity or error at trial cannot be availed of after verdict unless the party makes known his objection and the grounds for it. Accordingly, this assignment of error lacks merit.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 2 AND 7

Defendant contends the trial court erred in failing to use a random selection method in the impaneling and selection of the jury, and in permitting juror Elizabeth Guillory, who lacked residency qualifications, to be seated as an alternate when the selection of the 12 person jury had not yet been completed.

According to La.C.Cr.P. Art. 532, the proper method to allege that the general venire or petit jury venire was improperly drawn, selected, or constituted is through a motion to quash. In the present case, the defendant filed no motion to quash. In fact, the record contains nothing pertaining to these assignments of error except for questioning by defense counsel of juror Elizabeth Guillory about her residency, and no other action was taken by defense counsel on this issue.

La.C.Cr.P. Art. 535, provides that when a motion to quash is not urged prior to trial, any objection to the jury venire is waived. For this reason, these assignments of error have no merit.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 3 AND 4

Defendant next contends the jury did not represent a fair cross section of the community, and the prosecution used its peremptory challenges in such a way as to systematically exclude members of the black race from the jury.

In brief, defendant argues that a jury comprised of eleven women and one man in a case involving an alleged rape does not represent a fair cross section of the community. First, defendant did not comply with the requirement of La.C.Cr.P. Art. 841 by making an appropriate objection to the jury composition at the time of selection. Second, defendant's reliance on Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S.Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975), for the proposition that a jury's representative function *510 requires that it be selected from a "fair cross section of the community," is misplaced. The Taylor case involved the systematic exclusion of women from jury venires, which was found to be unconstitutional. But the court pointed out that defendants are not entitled to a jury of any particular composition. Accordingly, claims of gender discrimination are reviewed, but have been found to be without merit in State v. Adams, 533 So.2d 1060 (La.App. 4th Cir.1988), writ denied, 540 So.2d 338 (La.1989), State v. Morgan, 553 So.2d 1012 (La.App. 4th Cir.1989), writ denied, 558 So.2d 600 (La.1990), and State v. Collins, 588 So.2d 766 (La.App. 4th Cir.1991). In the case before us, the voir dire transcript does not reflect any impropriety in the ultimate selection of 11 women to serve on this jury. Further, the defendant does not suggest any factual basis supporting such a finding by this court.

Defendant also argues that there was a systematic exclusion of blacks from the jury. This argument was previously addressed by this court in the appeal of defendant's codefendant, Todd Aubrey. There, we held that the defendant's objection based on Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), was both untimely and invalid. As the present question is identical to the issue thoroughly considered in State v. Aubrey, supra, an excerpt from this court's opinion is set forth below:

"Before we turn to the merits of defendant's Batson

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
615 So. 2d 507, 1993 WL 57525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-porter-lactapp-1993.