State v. Prudhomme

819 So. 2d 443, 2002 WL 1203857
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 5, 2002
Docket99-2029
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 819 So. 2d 443 (State v. Prudhomme) 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. Prudhomme, 819 So. 2d 443, 2002 WL 1203857 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

819 So.2d 443 (2002)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Terry Charles PRUDHOMME.

No. 99-2029.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 5, 2002.

*446 Jimmy D. Long, Assistant District Attorney, Natchitoches, LA, for the Appellee State of Louisiana.

Paula C. Marx, Louisiana Appellate Project, Lafayette, LA, for the Defendant/Appellant.

Terry C. Prudhomme, La. State Penitentiary, Angola, LA, Appearing pro se.

Court composed of NED E. DOUCET, JR., Chief Judge, JOHN D. SAUNDERS and OSWALD A. DECUIR, Judges.

DOUCET, Chief Judge.

The Defendant, Terry Charles Prudhomme, seeks review of his 1981 conviction for second degree murder.

Lillian Revels was the Defendant's girlfriend. They had lived together and had a child, but at the time of the incident, they were separated. On January 7, 1980, Ms. Revels went to babysitter Clara Tonnas's house to pick up her baby. Ms. Revels put the baby in the front seat of her car. Ms. Tonnas was standing nearby. Ms. Tonnas saw the Defendant exit the passenger side of another car and run across the street with a gun in his hand. He jumped on the hood of the car and shot Ms. Revels. The Defendant then jumped off and "went across Robeline Road across the old McBride place." According to Dr. Carol Pierce, the victim sustained five gunshot wounds, the two to her head causing death.

The Defendant was indicted for second degree murder. Pursuant to the Defendant's application, a sanity commission was appointed. At the sanity hearing, Prudhomme was found capable of assisting in his own defense. At trial, the Defendant presented evidence that Prudhomme had used drugs and consumed alcoholic beverages prior to the incident. However, the jury convicted him of second degree murder. He was sentenced on March 2, 1981, to life in prison at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. See State v. Prudhomme, 412 So.2d 107 (La.1982). However, the supreme court ordered that Prudhomme be granted an out of time appeal in 1993. The case is currently before us on that out of time appeal.

The Defendant has raised seven assignments of error, as follows:

1. The reasonable doubt instruction given at Terry Charles Prudhomme's trial allowed a finding of guilt based on a degree of proof below that required by the due process clause.
2. The trial court erred in allowing the use of polygraph testing by the sanity commission to determine capacity to proceed.
3. The appointment of the coroner to the sanity commission constitutes reversible error in this case.
4. Despite the court's order, the sanity commission failed to determine Terry Charles' mental capacity at the time of the offense.
*447 5. The transfer of this case to a different division during the pendency of the sanity commission violates the laws of Louisiana and the United States.
6. The Defendant was denied his right to a fair trial as a result of improper comments by the court and the prosecutor.
7. The conviction in this case should be vacated due to ineffective assistance of counsel. The deficiencies in counsel's representation of Prudhomme are of such a degree as to undermine confidence in the outcome of the case.

INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

The Defendant claims he received ineffective assistance of counsel at all stages of his trial. Ineffective assistance of counsel claims are usually addressed in post-conviction proceedings, rather than on direct appeal. These issues may be addressed on appeal where the evidence needed to decide the issue can be found in the record. In this case, however, the arguments of ineffective assistance of counsel rest primarily on matters which cannot be effectively addressed on the record before us. The Defendant asserts numerous ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Although the record provides sufficient evidence to resolve some of those claims on appeal, it is not adequate to resolve all of the Defendant's claims. See State v. Deruise, 98-0541 (La.4/3/01); 802 So.2d 1224, cert denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 283, 151 L.Ed.2d 208 (2001). Therefore, in spite of the very lengthy time since the conviction is this case, all the claims that Defendant was deprived of effective assistance of counsel will be relegated to post-conviction relief.

JURY INSTRUCTION

Prudhomme asserts that the trial court gave the jury an incorrect instruction with regard to the definition of reasonable doubt, thereby violating the requirements of Cage v. Louisiana, 498 U.S. 39, 111 S.Ct. 328, 112 L.Ed.2d 339 (1990). The question arises whether Cage should be applied to this conviction, which predates it, and as to the effect of the failure of trial counsel to object to the instruction. However, we will not consider these questions because we find that the instruction does not violate the principals set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court. The trial court gave the following jury instruction with regard to reasonable doubt:

The State however is not required to prove this with an absolute certainty. It is sufficient if the State shall prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A reasonable doubt must be actual and substantial as distinguished from a vague apprehension and must arise from the evidence or from lack of evidence. It is a doubt founded on reason and not a mere conjecture and idle supposition unrelated to the evidence. In short, a reasonable doubt is such a doubt that reasonable men may entertain after a careful consideration of all things proper to be considered in the matter at hand.

The instruction at issue in the present case does not contain the "moral certainty" and "grave uncertainty" language found improper in Cage. However, the Defendant claims that the instruction given in the present case includes "the suspect phrase, `actual and substantial' and also interjects language which would allow a juror to find guilt on an unconstitutionally lesser degree of proof." The Defendant argues that "actual and substantial doubt" language used in the instruction at issue is distinguishable from the language found *448 permissible in Victor v. Nebraska, 511 U.S. 1, 114 S.Ct. 1239, 127 L.Ed.2d 583 (1994).

In Victor, the Supreme Court explained that the "proper inquiry is not whether the instruction `could have' been applied in an unconstitutional manner, but whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury did so apply it." Victor v. Nebraska, 511 U.S. at 2, 114 S.Ct. at 1243 citing Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 112 S.Ct. 475, 116 L.Ed.2d 385 (1991). Victor argued that "equating a reasonable doubt with a `substantial doubt' overstated the degree of doubt necessary for acquittal." Victor, 114 S.Ct. at 1250. Although it found the phrase was "somewhat problematic," the Court found that "[a]ny ambiguity... is removed by reading the phrase in the context of the sentence in which it appears: `A reasonable doubt is an actual and substantial doubt ... as distinguished from a doubt arising from mere possibility, from bare imagination, or from fanciful conjecture'." Id., 114 S.Ct. at 1250. The Court further stated that:

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Bluebook (online)
819 So. 2d 443, 2002 WL 1203857, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-prudhomme-lactapp-2002.