State v. Reeves

696 So. 2d 226, 96 La.App. 3 Cir. 1186, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 1517, 1997 WL 292716
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 4, 1997
DocketNo. Cr96-1186
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 696 So. 2d 226 (State v. Reeves) 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. Reeves, 696 So. 2d 226, 96 La.App. 3 Cir. 1186, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 1517, 1997 WL 292716 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinions

JiSULLIVAN, Judge.

Defendant, Ronald Reeves, was convicted of second degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1, and sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor. He appeals, arguing that (1) the trial court erred in not suppressing a confession and statements that he made while in police custody and (2) the jury’s verdict is contrary to the law and evidence.

Facts

On November 2, 1994, a caretaker found the body of Arnold Keith Davis, a thirty-five year old black male, in the LeBleu Cemetery near Iowa, Louisiana. Davis had been shot once in the back of the head.

On November 3,1994, three of defendant’s friends, John White, Carl Tucker, and Joseph Smith, presented the Calcasieu Parish Violent Crimes Task Force with a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun and told detectives that defendant confessed to | 2shooting someone in the cemetery. Additionally, White had seen defendant with a black male on the evening of November 1,1994.

The police also questioned Davis’ friend, Donna Easton, who saw defendant and Davis together in the early morning hours of November 2, 1994 at the convenience store where she worked. Easton knew that Davis was a homosexual, and she assumed that Davis and defendant were lovers.

[228]*228On November 4, 1994, Detective Donald DeLouche, director of the Violent Crimes Task Force, arrested defendant at a trailer where he had been staying. At the trailer, defendant signed a waiver of rights form as well as a form permitting the police to search the residence. Defendant did not make any statements, nor did he request an attorney, en route to the Task Force headquarters.

At the Task Force office, Detective Denise Hughes, the lead investigator on the case, reviewed a rights form with defendant. Although defendant signed the form, he requested an attorney as Detective Hughes explained the waiver section of the form to him. Detective Hughes concluded the interview and handed the form to Detective De-Louche, who wrote that defendant requested an attorney at 1:53 p.m.

Detective Hughes then told defendant he would not have another “opportunity” or “chance” “to tell us his side of the story.” She also gave him a copy of the arrest warrant and the affidavit of probable cause, although she did not know that the affidavit was attached to the warrant. After reading these papers, defendant said, “Wait a minute, I didn’t shoot anybody in the back of the head. I want to tell y’all what happened.” Hughes reminded defendant that she could no longer discuss the case because he requested an attorney. Defendant replied that he had changed his mind. Detective De-Louche noted on the form that at 1:54 p.m. defendant agreed to speak with them.

13At 2:09 p.m., the detectives began videotaping defendant’s statement. Defendant initially claimed that he shot Davis in self defense when Davis attempted to rob him at knife point. After further questioning, defendant said that he shot Davis because Davis had been making unwelcome sexual advances to him all evening.

Deputy Harold Brady booked defendant into the Calcasieu Parish jail that evening. Deputy Brady later testified that the following exchange occurred as he fingerprinted defendant:

[H]e was just coming in the jail and I asked him why he came in, why he was here. And then he stated if I remember right, that he had killed somebody. And I said, “You killed somebody?” He said, “Yeah, I killed him.” I said, ‘Well why did you kill him?” He said, “Because he’s a faggot and I don’t like faggots.” And I said, “You killed one faggot to come into a jail where they have literally hundreds of 'em?” And he didn’t say anything. And then he said, ‘Well, if he wouldn’t of messed with me, I think at my sister’s grave, or my mother’s grave, that I wouldn’t have killed him.”

Deputy Michael Soileau and Deputy Kenneth Higginbotham, who were also working at the jail that evening, overheard defendant state, “I killed the guy because he was a faggot” and “he kept messing with me.”

The next day, defendant requested to speak to a detective. Detectives Hughes and DeLouche met defendant at the correctional center where they again advised him of his rights. Defendant then told them that he was sorry, that he didn’t mean to do it, but that he had shot the man because he was scared.

Defendant was initially charged with first degree murder, but the grand jury returned a true bill for only second degree murder. Prior to trial, the trial court denied defendant’s motion to suppress his videotaped confession, the statements made to Officer Brady, and the subsequent statements to Detectives Hughes and DeLouche. The trial court found that Detectives DeLouche and Hughes concluded the interview when defendant requested an attorney and that Detective Hughes further reminded |4defendant that she could no longer discuss the case with him, when defendant indicated that he wished to speak with them. The trial court did not consider Hughes’ remarks to be interrogation, nor did the court find error in her handing defendant a copy of the arrest warrant and affidavit. The trial court concluded that defendant reinitiated contact with the officers after he decided to give a free and voluntary statement.

Assignment of Error No. 1

In this assignment, defendant argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the statements and confession made to the Violent Crimes Task Force. He ar[229]*229gues that Detective Hughes’ conduct of stating that this was his only opportunity to tell them his side of the story, combined with handing him the affidavit and arrest warrant, constituted impermissible interrogation after he invoked his right to counsel.

To protect the privilege against self-in-erimination, the police must terminate interrogation of an accused in custody if the accused requests the assistance of counsel. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Once an accused has expressed his desire to deal with law enforcement officials only through counsel, he “is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police.” Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 1884-85, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981).

“When an accused invokes his Miranda right to counsel, the admissibility of a subsequent confession or incriminating statement is determined by a two-step inquiry: (1) did the accused initiate further conversation or communication; and (2) was the purported waiver of counsel knowing and intelligent under the totality of the circumstances.” State v. Koon, 96-1208, p. 7 (La.5/20/97); — So.2d -, - [1997 WL 261370], With guidance from Koon, we frame the issue in this case as follows: did the |5detectives continue to interrogate defendant such that his further statements cannot be deemed an initiation of further conversation “because the interrogation never ended.” Id. at p. 8; — So.2d at-.

In Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 300-01, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 1689-90, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980), the Court extended the Miranda

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
696 So. 2d 226, 96 La.App. 3 Cir. 1186, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 1517, 1997 WL 292716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-reeves-lactapp-1997.