State v. Thames

681 So. 2d 480, 1996 WL 551763
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 27, 1996
Docket95 KA 2105
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 681 So. 2d 480 (State v. Thames) 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. Thames, 681 So. 2d 480, 1996 WL 551763 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

681 So.2d 480 (1996)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Kevin Dane THAMES.

No. 95 KA 2105.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

September 27, 1996.

*482 Dan Grady and Cassandra Butler, Livingston, for State of Louisiana.

James P. Manasseh, Baton Rouge, for Defendant-Appellant.

Before SHORTESS and LeBLANC, JJ., and TANNER[1], J. Pro Tem.

SHORTESS, Judge.

Kevin Dane Thames (defendant) was charged by grand jury indictment with the second degree murder, La. R.S. 14:30.1, of his wife, Sonia Michelle Thames (the victim) on October 23, 1992. He pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. A sanity commission found he was competent to stand trial. After trial by jury, defendant was found guilty as charged and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the Department of Corrections without probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, with credit for time served. After the trial court denied defendant's motion for new trial, defendant appealed, urging eight assignments of error.

*483 FACTUAL BACKGROUND

According to defendant, his marriage to the victim was beset by financial and emotional difficulties. He testified his wife wrote checks on their joint bank account in excess of the balance to such an extent he was forced to have her removed as a signatory on the account. Defendant's brother-in-law, Steve Knox, characterized the victim as "mentally cruel" to defendant, as well as "lazy." Several witnesses testified defendant took care of the couple's two children and did most of the cooking and cleaning, although defendant worked and the victim did not.

On approximately October 11, 1992, the victim left the marital domicile, taking the two children with her. She filed suit for separation, and defendant filed forgery charges against her for signing his name on checks, resulting in overdrafts. The victim returned home on Monday, October 19, and through Wednesday their relationship was harmonious. On Thursday, October 22, the couple went before a notary public and signed documents "waiving" the separation. But when defendant came home from work that evening, the victim was gone. She returned about 9:30 p.m.

The only version of what happened thereafter is defendant's, which is as follows. The victim was drunk when she returned home. She said she had gone to a sign language class (defendant and their oldest child are hearing impaired) and then to a few bars. They practiced signing for a while, then had consensual sex. Immediately afterward, the victim went into the living room and began making a list of the property she intended to take when she moved out. Defendant was shocked and begged her not to leave. She then threatened to charge him with rape and child abuse.[2]

Defendant spent the rest of the night arguing with the victim and begging her not to leave. Finally she told him it was time for him to get ready for work. He got their daughter ready for school and put her on the school bus. He made his lunch, got his hard hat, gloves, drill, and extension cord from the bedroom, and went to his car. He placed everything in the car but the extension cord. He went back into the living room and again begged her to stay. She cursed at him and told him to leave.

He remembered nothing between that point and getting up off his knees. The extension cord was wrapped around her neck, and she was not breathing. He put the body in the trunk of the car and went to work. That night he called the victim's best friend and asked if she had seen her, and the following day he filed a missing person report in which he told police his wife had acted strangely and then left walking west on Highway 1019 toward the town of Watson. That afternoon he drove around for hours looking for her. He stopped at a store and called his father, who told him he was suspected of murdering his wife. He then remembered the body in the trunk. He deposited the body about twenty-five feet off Misty Lane in Livingston Parish, where it was discovered a few hours later. Defendant confessed to Denham Springs sheriff's deputies that night.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 1 AND 2

The State's first witness was Michael K. Lanier, the Livingston Parish sheriff's deputy who took the missing person report from defendant. Lanier testified without objection regarding the circumstances surrounding his taking the report and the information given to him by defendant. The State introduced the report itself into evidence over defendant's objection. Defendant then moved for a mistrial, which was denied.

Defendant contends the trial court erred in admitting the report and in failing to grant a mistrial because (1) the report was not produced in response to defendant's discovery request under Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 718, and (2) notice of intent to use the report, which defendant contends was inculpatory, was not given as *484 required by Code of Criminal Procedure article 768.

Upon the defendant's motion, the district attorney is required to permit the defendant to inspect and examine any documents which are intended for use by the State as evidence at trial. La.C.Cr.P. 718. Defendant moved for inspection of all documents intended for use at trial, by the State, but the missing person report was not produced.

Unless the defendant has been granted pretrial discovery, the State must give the defendant written notice prior to the State's opening statement that it intends to use an inculpatory statement made by the defendant. If such notice is not given, the inculpatory statement "shall not be admissible in evidence." La.C.Cr.P. art. 768. An "inculpatory statement" under this article is one made out of court after a crime has been committed, admitting a fact, circumstance, or involvement which tends to establish guilt or from which guilt may be inferred. State v. Quimby, 419 So.2d 951, 956 (La.1982); State v. Washington, 533 So.2d 989, 992 (La.App. 1st Cir.1988). Defendant contends the missing person report is an inculpatory statement because it tends to show guilty knowledge and an attempt to cover up the crime.

Failure of the State to comply with discovery procedures does not automatically command reversal. State v. Sweeney, 443 So.2d 522, 527 (La.1983). The purpose of giving a defendant sufficient notice of an inculpatory statement or any other evidence the State intends to use is to give the defendant a fair opportunity to meet the issue. If a defendant is misled by State responses relative to its possession of an inculpatory statement or other evidence, is lulled into a misapprehension of the strength of the State's case, and suffers prejudice when the evidence is subsequently introduced at trial, basic unfairness results, which constitutes reversible error. See State v. Jackson, 450 So.2d 621, 630 (La.1984); State v. Leagea, 95-1210 (La.App. 1st Cir. 5/10/96), 673 So.2d 646, 651. The court must review the entire record and determine whether any prejudice may have resulted from the noncompliance which caused the jury to reach the wrong conclusion. State v. Ray, 423 So.2d 1116, 1119 (La.1982).

The State clearly failed to comply with defendant's discovery request for any evidence the State intended to use at trial in violation of article 718. Assuming the report was inculpatory, the State also violated article 768. After reviewing the entire record, however, we find admission of the report was not prejudicial to defendant. Defendant did not object to Lanier's testimony regarding the substance of the report, and defendant himself testified he told police his wife was missing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
681 So. 2d 480, 1996 WL 551763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thames-lactapp-1996.