State v. Taylor

143 So. 3d 1248, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0151, 2014 WL 2779259, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1589
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 18, 2014
DocketNo. 2014-KA-0151
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 143 So. 3d 1248 (State v. Taylor) 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. Taylor, 143 So. 3d 1248, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0151, 2014 WL 2779259, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1589 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

PAUL A. BONIN, Judge.

|)Kevin Taylor previously appealed his conviction and sentence to this Court. See State v. Taylor, 12-0114 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/28/12), 104 So.3d 679. In a prior opinion, we affirmed Mr. Taylor’s conviction and sentence but reversed the trial judge’s ruling which summarily denied his motion for new trial. See id., 12-0114, p. 13, 104 So.3d at 688. Because the record was devoid of evidence with which to review the trial judge’s ruling on Mr. Taylor’s motion for new trial, we remanded the matter to the district court for an eviden-tiary hearing. See id., 12-0114, pp. 12-13, 104 So.3d at 687-688.

On remand, Mr. Taylor introduced, without objection, unauthenticated copies of two news articles, which were attached to his memorandum in support of the motion, to substantiate his allegations. No testimony or other evidence was elicited or introduced during the evidentiary hearing. The trial judge again denied his motion for new trial; Mr. Taylor again appealed to us. Because the trial judge Rclearly articulated her findings on the record, we hold that the trial judge did not abuse her discretion in denying this motion and, accordingly, affirm her ruling.

I

A

We begin by describing the proceedings which resulted in our opinion on Mr. Taylor’s earlier appeal.

Following his conviction for possession of cocaine and his adjudication as a fourth felony offender, but before his sentencing, Mr. Taylor timely filed his Motion for New Trial for Newly Discovered Evidence. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 853. Mr. Taylor attached his own affidavit in support of the motion. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 854. In his affidavit, Mr. Taylor claimed that evidence regarding the credibility of Officer Joshua Hunt, an arresting officer in this case, was newly-discovered and swore that his own testimony and that of Officer Hunt could establish that the district attorney had filed a bill of information alleging that Officer Hunt committed perjury while testifying as a witness for the prosecution in another case. See id. No other grounds were urged by him nor did he request to supplement his motion. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 856. Mr. Taylor contended that if this evidence were introduced at trial, the guilty verdict rendered by the jury would likely have been different. See La.C.Cr.P. art. 851(3). The trial court summarily denied this motion without holding an evidentiary hearing; Mr. Taylor timely appealed this judgment.

In his briefing for that earlier appeal, Mr. Taylor expanded the scope of his assertions, arguing that the trial judge erred in denying his motion for three reasons |anot raised in his motion: (1) his conviction was based upon the hearsay testimony of Officer Hunt, (2) his conviction was obtained with Officer Hunt’s perjured testimony, and (3) the prosecution failed to disclose impeachment evidence that Officer Hunt was under investigation for lying on a police report in regards to his whereabouts during a January, 2011 drug arrest. See Taylor, 12-0114, p. 8, 104 So.3d at 685.

In reviewing Mr. Taylor’s assertions, we first held that his appeal regarding the admission of hearsay evidence was waived because his briefing failed to identify any overruled objections by defense counsel to the admission of hearsay testimony or evidence. See id., 12-0114, pp. 8-9,104 So.3d at 685.

[1252]*1252We next addressed his second claim that the district attorney violated his due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by failing to disclose material impeachment evidence that Officer Hunt had committed perjury during the trial. See id., 12-0114, pp. 9-10, 104 So.3d at 685-686. Mr. Taylor specifically identified two instances of alleged perjured testimony: first, the discrepancy in Officer Hunt’s testimony at a motions hearing and later at trial as to whether he viewed contraband in Mr. Taylor’s vehicle and, second, Officer Hunt’s testimony at trial discussing the unavailability of Officer Sean West, his partner, to testify at the time of trial. We held that Mr. Taylor’s contentions about perjury during the trial warranted no relief. See id., 12-0114, p. 10, 104 So.3d at 686. As to the discrepancy in Officer Hunt’s testimony, we found that the differences were known to Mr. Taylor and that his counsel cross-examined Officer Hunt on this Rmatter at trial. Thus, we found that the prosecution did not withhold or suppress this material information from Mr. Taylor such that it would prejudice him and undermine confidence in the outcome of that trial. See id. We also found that the record did not substantiate Mr. Taylor’s allegation that Officer Hunt falsely testified about the reason that Officer West was unavailable to testify. See id. In support of this contention, Mr. Taylor attached an unauthenticated news article, showing that a complaint filed with the New Orleans Police Department Public Integrity Bureau had accused Officer West of pointing a gun at the head of a kitchen employee at a restaurant as part of a prank. Because, however, this article was not presented to the district court, we did not consider it as part of the appeal. See id., 12-0114, p. 9,104 So.3d at 685 n. 5. We further held that whether Officer Hunt lied about Officer West’s whereabouts was likely irrelevant and immaterial to Mr. Taylor’s guilt or innocence at trial and would not sufficiently undermine Officer Hunt’s credibility so as to create a likelihood of a different result at trial. See id., 12-0114, p. 10,104 So.3d at 686.

In addressing Mr. Taylor’s final claim— that the prosecution failed to disclose other impeachment evidence against Officer Hunt — we found the record on appeal to be insufficient to substantiate his allegation. See id., 12-0114, pp. 10-11, 104 So.3d at 686-687. Mr. Taylor attached to his brief a news article, stating that Officer Hunt was under investigation for lying in a police report documenting a January, 2011 drug arrest, resigned in early June, 2011, was charged on June 27, 2011 with multiple offenses stemming from that incident, and pleaded guilty on 1 fiSeptember 23, 2011 to perjury and malfeasance in office in exchange for a suspended sentence, probation, and a fine. Mr. Taylor also attached an Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Docket Master, which indicated that a bill of information was filed on June 27, 2011, charging Officer Hunt with violations of La. R.S. 14:123 (perjury), La. R.S. 14:126.2 (false statements concerning denial of constitutional rights), La. R.S. 14:133 (filing or maintaining false public records), and La. R.S. 14:134 (malfeasance in office). These materials, however, were also not considered on appeal because they were not included in the record from the district court. See Taylor, 12-0114, p. 8,104 So.3d at 685 n. 4. As such, we held that no relief could be granted based upon that argument at that time.

Lastly, returning to the actual motion for new trial filed by Mr. Taylor, we held that the trial judge’s rationale for summarily denying Mr. Taylor’s motion — that [1253]*1253an adequate remedy existed on appeal— was legally erroneous. See id., 12-0114, p. 11, 104 So.3d at 687. We noted that, without a hearing, Mr. Taylor was prevented from fully establishing an evidentiary record to meet his burden of proof and the trial judge could not make a proper determination under Article 851(3). See id., 12-0114, p. 12,104 So.3d at 687. Although we affirmed Mr. Taylor’s conviction and sentence, relying upon our earlier decision in State v. Perron,

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Bluebook (online)
143 So. 3d 1248, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0151, 2014 WL 2779259, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-taylor-lactapp-2014.