State v. Scott

355 So. 2d 231
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided December 19, 1977·No. 60011·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

355 So.2d 231 (1977)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Randolph Wayne SCOTT.

No. 60011.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

December 19, 1977.
Rehearings Denied March 3, 1978.

*232 Scotty G. Rozas, Lake Charles, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frank T. Salter, Jr., Dist. Atty., Gregory D. Lyons, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

DENNIS, Justice.

Defendant Randolph Wayne Scott was convicted by a jury of manslaughter, La. R.S. 14:31, and sentenced to fourteen years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Defendant appeals his conviction, relying upon thirteen assignments of error.[1]

The victim, Anne Melancon, was found dead in her apartment at about 4:00 a. m. on October 16, 1975. Curtis Richards, the neighbor who discovered the body, ran to defendant Scott's apartment in the same complex and told him that something was wrong with Anne. The two men, along with Scott's wife Loretta, returned to the victim's apartment. The defendant picked up Anne Melancon's four-year old child, who was asleep on the dead woman's lap, and handed him to Loretta Scott, instructing her to call the police. The child remained with the Scott family for two days until the victim's family could be located out of state.

Richards and Scott waited for the arrival of the police, and Scott subsequently gave the police a statement. In this statement, which was exculpatory in nature, Scott admitted having gone to the victim's apartment, but he said he went there only to borrow some baking ingredients earlier in the evening. At the time of making his initial statement, defendant agreed to return to police headquarters at a later time to take a polygraph test.

Investigation of the killing by the police turned up no physical evidence which pointed to any individual as the perpetrator, but testimony adduced at the motion to suppress indicated that two deputies informed the investigating officers that they had seen the defendant or someone fitting his description leaving the victim's apartment on the night of the killing. Neither of the deputies testified at the motion to suppress hearing or at the trial. The second-hand recitations of their report by other officers leaves unclear the exact time the person left the apartment, the physical arrangement of the apartment in the complex, whether the person could have been leaving another apartment in the same building, and whether the deputies positively identified the defendant. The record does not explain why the two deputies did not testify or why the arresting officers did not act on the deputies' information sooner. Although the police were aware of the deputies' statement on the morning of the murder, no further action was taken until the defendant failed to appear at the police station to take a previously scheduled lie detector test nearly two days after the crime. In the interim, Curtis Richards and his brother, both initially considered suspects in the case, had been cleared in the opinion of the police. Again, however, the record does not disclose the reasons for the *233 removal of their names from the list of possible culprits.

When the defendant failed to appear at the police department for his polygraph test on October 18, the investigating officers began a search to ascertain his whereabouts. In the course of their investigation, they learned from the defendant's wife that she was going to leave him and that he was no longer staying in his apartment, from his employer that his job with a life insurance company had been terminated, and, from other sources, that his car had apparently been abandoned in the parking lot of a J. C. Penney's store. By questioning the personnel at Penney's, where defendant had worked nights as a maintenance man, the deputies learned that defendant had been seen in the company of one Calvin Pitre, a Penney's employee. The officers contacted Pitre, learned that defendant was staying in his apartment, and, with Pitre's permission, proceeded to his apartment and arrested the defendant on October 19, 1975, at about 9:00 p. m.

On the night of his arrest, after being advised of his rights, defendant was questioned from about 10:00 p. m. until 1:30 a. m. the next morning by Officers Landry and Smith at the Lake Charles City Police Department. At first, defendant gave statements exculpating himself; later, however, he confessed to the killing. Although a written statement was partially prepared on the 19th, it was not finished; no written statement was signed at that time. At 1:30 a. m., the interview was terminated by the officers and defendant was taken back to jail.

At 7:30 a. m. the next morning, October 20, the defendant was questioned again, this time by Officers Landry and LeJeune. After being given his rights, he gave a written statement in narrative form which implicated him in the murder. After the preparation and signing of the statement, defendant was taken by Officer Landry to see Dr. Cook, the coroner, for treatment of a headache.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 4

Defendant contends that the arresting officers lacked probable cause to arrest him for the charged offense, and that the State failed to prove that a subsequently obtained confession was voluntary and admissible.

Voluntariness of the Confession

The voluntariness of the confession is a threshold requirement of admissibility. Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416 (1975). The defendant contends that the trial judge should have suppressed the confession that he gave to the police, arguing that the statement was not given freely and voluntarily. Defendant, who testified that he was suffering from a severe headache, asserts that his physical condition and his depressed mental state so affected his comprehension that he was unable to give a wholly voluntary statement. Further, defendant argues that he signed the statement only upon a promise by the police that he would then be taken to a doctor for treatment of his headache.

Before a confession may be introduced into evidence, the State must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the inculpatory statement was freely and voluntarily made. La.C.Cr.P. art. 703(C); La. R.S. 15:541; State v. Glover, 343 So.2d 118 (La.1977). See also, State v. Cobbs, 350 So.2d 168 (La.1977); State v. Scott, 344 So.2d 1002 (La.1977); State v. McSpaddin, 341 So.2d 868 (La.1977). The admissibility of the confession is a matter for determination by the trial judge, and his conclusions as to the credibility of witnesses testifying as to voluntariness will not be disturbed unless unsupported by the evidence. State v. Cobbs, supra; State v. Schamburge, 344 So.2d 997 (La.1977); State v. Ross, 343 So.2d 722 (La.1977); State v. Hollingsworth, 337 So.2d 461 (La.1976).

In the instant case, the defendant's testimony at the hearing on the motion to suppress was directly contradicted by the testimony of the police officers conducting the investigation. The officers stated that, *234 while the defendant did complain of a headache, he was alert and able to understand the questions put to him. Further, the officers testified that no inducements, promises, or threats were made to the defendant before he signed the inculpatory statement. In fact, they asserted that defendant's rights were explained to him on at least three separate occasions, and that they volunteere

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