State v. Reed

324 So. 2d 373
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided December 8, 1975·No. 56691·Published·Cited by 33 cases

Opinion

324 So.2d 373 (1975)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Richard REED.

No. 56691.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

December 8, 1975.
Rehearing Denied January 16, 1976.

*375 Vincent Wilkins, Jr., Acting Director, Roland T. Huson, III, App. Counsel, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ossie Brown, Dist. Atty., Ralph L. Roy, James E. Boren, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.

CALOGERO, Justice.

Richard Reed was charged in an indictment with committing aggravated rape, a *376 violation of R.S. 14:42. He was tried by jury and found guilty of simple rape on January 12, 1973. He was sentenced to serve twenty years imprisonment at hard labor. On appeal, this Court reversed his conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. State v. Reed, 290 So.2d 835 (La.1974). This Court held that the introduction into evidence, on rebuttal, of a tape recorded statement given by a witness was erroneous. The taped statement was introduced to impeach that same witness' testimony from a preliminary hearing which had been introduced in transcript form by the defense. Because the witness had died before the case went to trial, no foundation could be laid by the state to prepare for the introduction of the impeaching, tape recorded statement as is required by La.R.S. 15:493.[1] Hence, the admission of the taped statement was held to be reversible error.

Reed was retried beginning on July 22, 1974 and again convicted by a jury of simple rape. On August 14, 1974 he was again sentenced to serve twenty years at hard labor, with credit for time served.

Reed now appeals this second conviction to this Court, relying on twenty-nine assignments of error. Seven of these assignments were not briefed and thus may be deemed abandoned. State v. Domingue, 298 So.2d 723 (La.1974). The remaining twenty-two assignments were consolidated in defendant's brief into six general classifications. These classifications include: 1) the jury selection; 2) the admission into evidence of an exculpatory statement made by defendant to the police; 3) the admission into evidence of defendant Reed's testimony at his prior trial on this charge; 4) alleged prejudicial remarks made by the prosecutor; 5) the denial by the trial judge of defendant's motion for a directed verdict; and 6) an alleged comment upon the evidence by the trial judge.

JURY SELECTION: Assignments of Error Nos. 1-4

The defendant assigns four errors relating to the selection of the petit jury which tried him. Defendant urges first that the Louisiana procedure which was in effect at the time of defendant's trial unconstitutionally discriminated against women. Defendant admits that his trial took place before the United States Supreme Court decision in Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S.Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975), which held that the Louisiana system of making women register in order to serve on juries was unconstitutional. In Daniel v. Louisiana, 420 U.S. 31, 95 S.Ct. 704, 42 L.Ed.2d 790 (1975), the United States Supreme Court held that the Taylor decision was not constitutionally required to be applied retroactively. Then, in State v. Rester, 309 So.2d 321 (La.1975), the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the Taylor holding would not be applied retroactively in Louisiana. This assignment is without merit.

Defendant further argues that the petit jury was unconstitutionally constituted because the state peremptorily challenged every prospective juror who was black.

In Swain v. State of Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965), the United States Supreme Court held that the fact that the prosecutor uses his peremptory challenges to strike every qualified member of the defendant's race from the jury panel does not constitute a denial of due process or equal protection, where there is no sufficient showing of a historical pattern of exclusion. The Court stated that "purposeful discrimination may not be assumed or merely asserted.. . . It must be proven . . . ." 380 U.S. at 205, 85 S.Ct. at 827. Defendant argues that Swain imposes an impossible burden of proof, and proposes a new *377 test for determining a historical pattern of exclusion. This proposed test is the number of lawsuits in which the issue is raised, and defendant cites seven cases in which the issue of systematic exclusion of blacks from jury service in East Baton Rouge Parish has been raised.

Defendant's argument is without merit. This Court adheres to the rule of Swain and will not overturn a conviction on the basis of systematic exclusion of blacks through peremptory challenges by the state absent proof of that systematic exclusion.

Defendant urges that the trial court erred when it denied defendant's motions that two prospective jurors be challenged for cause. One of the prospective jurors stated during his voir dire examination that he was a reserve deputy sheriff and had once ridden with a policeman who was to be a state witness.

Article 797 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure states in part that the state or the defendant may challenge a juror for cause on the ground that:

"(2) The juror is not impartial, whatever the cause of his partiality. An opinion or impression as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant shall not of itself be sufficient ground of challenge to a juror, if he declares, and the court is satisfied, that he can render an impartial verdict according to the law and the evidence;
(3) The relationship, whether by blood, marriage, employment, friendship, or enmity between the juror and the defendant, the person injured by the offense, the district attorney, or defense counsel, is such that it is reasonable to conclude that it would influence the juror in arriving at a verdict."

This article does not specifically include a relationship between a prospective juror and a witness, but the defendant argues that the article should be jurisprudentially extended to allow challenge for cause on the basis of the relationship. Although a juror's relationship with a witness is not specifically included in Section 3, it might be argued that the relationship could affect the partiality of the juror such that it is covered by Section 2 of Article 797. In the case before us, however, we do not find a reasonable basis to conclude that the relationship between the witness and this prospective juror could have caused the juror to fail to render an impartial verdict. The record before us reveals that the trial court questioned the juror, who asserted that he could be fair and impartial to the defendant, that he knew nothing of the facts of the case, that he could base his verdict solely on the evidence presented at trial, that he could afford the defendant the presumption of innocence and require proof beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. The prospective juror also declared that the fact that he had ridden on patrol with the witness one time several months prior to the trial date would have no effect on him when he heard the witness testify. Because the trial judge was thoroughly satisfied that the potential juror would be impartial, he did not err when he overruled defendant's challenge for cause. See State v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State v. Reed, 324 So. 2d 373 (La. 1975).

324 So. 2d 373 (State v. Reed) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State of Louisiana Versus Lucien Bazley
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2025
State Of Louisiana v. Kevin Abimael Guzman
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State of Louisiana v. El Jerico Jermiah Bartie
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2022
State of Louisiana v. Gerard Ladmirault
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019
State v. Langley
61 So. 3d 747 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
State of Louisiana v. Ricky Joseph Langley
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011
State v. Bazley
60 So. 3d 7 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
State v. Woods
830 So. 2d 559 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2002)
State v. King
760 So. 2d 540 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2000)
United States v. Henry Nash Riley
183 F.3d 1155 (Ninth Circuit, 1999)
State v. Bishop
734 So. 2d 674 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
State v. Graves
699 So. 2d 903 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)
State v. Galliano
696 So. 2d 1043 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)
State v. Crockett
583 So. 2d 593 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1991)
State v. Lindsey
543 So. 2d 886 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)
State v. Wiley
513 So. 2d 849 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
State v. Robertson
511 So. 2d 1237 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
State v. Grissom
448 So. 2d 757 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
State v. Brown
444 So. 2d 1346 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
State v. Parker
436 So. 2d 495 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)