State v. Savoie

982 So. 2d 119, 2008 WL 588899
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 5, 2008
DocketKA 07-914
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 982 So. 2d 119 (State v. Savoie) 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. Savoie, 982 So. 2d 119, 2008 WL 588899 (La. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

982 So.2d 119 (2008)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Joseph Thomas SAVOIE, aka Joseph Tommy Savoie aka Joseph Thomas Savoy.

No. KA 07-914.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 5, 2008.

James Edward Beal, LA Appellate Project, Jonesboro, LA, for Defendant/Appellant Joseph Thomas Savoie.

Michael Harson, District Attorney, Fifteenth Judicial District Court, Lafayette, LA, for Appellee State of Louisiana.

Joseph Thomas Savoie a/k/a Joseph Thomas Savoy, Angola, LA, pro se.

Court composed of BILLY HOWARD EZELL, J. DAVID PAINTER, and JAMES T. GENOVESE, Judges.

EZELL, Judge.

On January 26, 2005, the Defendant, Joseph Thomas Savoie, a/k/a Joseph Tommy Savoie, a/k/a Joseph Thomas Savoy, was indicted with aggravated rape, a violation of La.R.S. 14:42. Following a bench trial, the Defendant was found guilty of attempted aggravated rape on October 10, 2006. He was sentenced on December 18, 2006, to serve twenty years at hard labor, with credit for time served, to run consecutively to any sentence he was serving at that time. A motion to reconsider the Defendant's sentence was not filed.

On March 12, 2007, the Defendant filed a pro se motion for an out-of-time appeal *120 which was subsequently granted. The Defendant is now before this court on appeal, asserting that his conviction should be overturned based on one assignment of error filed by appellate counsel and two pro se assignments of error.

FACTS

On the morning of October 7, 1994, an employee of Borden Milk Company was making deliveries on the route where the elderly victim, seventy-six years old, lived. He knocked on the victim's door and entered the home to find the victim with her hands tied behind her back and laying of the floor, her blouse removed. The delivery man called 911, and the police arrived shortly thereafter. The victim reported to the responding officers that she heard a knock on the door and allowed the Defendant to enter her home, believing he was a census taker. Once the Defendant was inside, he forced her to perform oral sex and vaginally raped her. A rape kit was obtained from the victim, and her blouse, which was found next to where she was laying on the floor, was recovered.

The crime remained unsolved but was assigned for follow-up, almost ten years later, in September of 2004. At that time, detectives learned that the victim had passed away. However, the victim's blouse that had been recovered at the scene was processed, and a semen fluid stain was found on the blouse. A DNA profile was generated from the semen stain which was placed into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) where a preliminary match to the Defendant was made. A search warrant to draw blood and other samples from the Defendant was obtained, and the samples were delivered to the Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory (Acadiana Crime Lab). A DNA profile generated from the Defendant's blood sample was compared to the DNA profile from the semen stain on the victim's blouse, and the two DNA profiles matched. The Defendant was subsequently indicted with aggravated rape.

ERRORS PATENT

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed by the court for errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record, we find there are no errors patent. However, we note one issue worth discussing.

Court minutes from a pretrial hearing held October 9, 2006, indicate defense counsel was present, but the Defendant presented arguments on his motion to quash, suggesting that he may have represented himself for at least a portion of the proceeding. We reviewed the transcript to first determine whether the Defendant had the right to counsel at this proceeding. Because the Defendant did not have the right to counsel at this hearing, it is unnecessary to further consider whether the Defendant was in fact represented, and if not, whether he waived the right to representation.

In State v. Haider, 00-231, pp. 3-6 (La. App. 3 Cir. 10/11/00), 772 So.2d 189, 191-93, this court, in its error patent discussion, addressed the defendant's lack of representation at the hearing to determine his capacity to proceed to trial. In doing so, this court discussed the right to counsel and at which proceedings it exists:

Article 514 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires the minutes of court to "show either that the defendant was represented by counsel or that he was informed by the court of the defendants' right to counsel, including the right to appointed counsel, and that he waived such right." In State v. Carter, 94-2859 (La.11/27/95); 664 So.2d 367, 372-373, the Louisiana Supreme Court stated the *121 following regarding a defendant's right to counsel:
As correctly noted in Hattaway, the Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches only after the commencement of adverse judicial criminal proceedings. In the plurality opinion of Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U.S. 682, 689, 92 S.Ct. 1877, 1882, 32 L.Ed.2d 411 (1972), the Supreme Court held the right to counsel does not attach prior to the "initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings—whether by way of formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment."
* * *
Even though the Sixth Amendment right to counsel may have attached, however, it does not exist to protect the defendant at all post-attachment proceedings. The right exists only during those post-attachment, pre-trial confrontations which can be considered "critical stages." In United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 224, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 1931, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967), the Court described a critical stage as a "critical pretrial confrontation[ ] where the results might well settle the accused's fate and reduce the trial to a mere formality." See also United States v. Gouveia, 467 U.S. 180, 189, 104 S.Ct. 2292, 2298, 81 L.Ed.2d 146 (1984) (A "critical stage" is a pretrial proceeding where "the accused [is] confronted, just as at trial, by the procedural system, or by his expert adversary, or by both.") (quoting United States v. Ash, 413 U.S. 300, 310, 93 S.Ct. 2568, 2574, 37 L.Ed.2d 619 (1973)).
. . . .
In Carter, the supreme court summarized the necessary analysis in determining whether a proceeding is a critical stage. It stated:
This determination involves an analysis of `whether potential substantial prejudice to defendant's rights inheres in the particular confrontation and the ability of counsel to help avoid that prejudice' and includes `any pretrial procedure occurring after the attachment of the right to counsel in which a meaningful defense or a fair trial could potentially be impaired if an uncounselled defendant were subjected to a confrontation by the state.' Hattaway, 621 So.2d at 802 and 809.
Carter, 664 So.2d at 371.
Under this analysis, we find the hearing to determine the Defendant's competency was a critical stage in the proceedings against him. Because the Defendant's competency is in question, his ability to represent himself is also highly questionable.

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

Related

State of Louisiana in the Interest of S.F..
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State ex rel. L.D.
139 So. 3d 679 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State in the Interest of L. D.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014
State v. Bivens
74 So. 3d 782 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
State of Louisiana v. Luke Matthew Bivens
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
982 So. 2d 119, 2008 WL 588899, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-savoie-lactapp-2008.