State v. Thibodeaux

190 So. 3d 426, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 723, 2016 WL 1445932, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 697
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 13, 2016
DocketNo. 15-723
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 190 So. 3d 426 (State v. Thibodeaux) 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. Thibodeaux, 190 So. 3d 426, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 723, 2016 WL 1445932, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 697 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

PETERS, J.

| ]The defendant, Mark Wayne Thibo-deaux, appeals his conviction of two counts of second degree murder, violations-of La. R.S. 14:30.1, and one count of. attempted second degr.ee murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:27 and ’«L&R.S. ,14:30.1. For the following reasons, we affirm his convictions in all respects. . .

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD.

This marks the -second time this matter has come before, this court on .these offenses. We previously remanded this matter to the trial court with specific instructions. to consider certain, pretrial motions which had not been ruled on before trial. State v. Thibodeaux, 14-1002 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/11/15), 162 So.3d 665. " In that remand, we summarized the factual and procedural history of this case and incorporate that history by reference herein. In the remand, this court instructed that the trial court . . .

order the Clerk of Court (as custodian of .the records), the .defendant,- and/or the state to.,produce the missing motions to quash and motion to suppress, or copies thereof at a hearing which the trial court shall schedule within thirty days of the release of this opinion. If the Clerk of Court, the defendant and/or the state cannot produce, the missing motions or copies thereof, the trial court shall make a record of such failure to produce them at the evidentiary hearing and shall give the defendant fifteen days in which to refile the , missing motions. If the motions or copies thereof are produced, at .the evidentiary hearing, the-trial court shall conduct another evidentiary hearing within thirty days of the date they are produced and rule on the motions. If the motions are-not'produced, and if the defendant refiles the niotions within the fifteen day period provided, the trial ■court shall conduct another evidentiary hearing within thirty days after thby are filed and rule on the motions.

Id, at 674.

. The trial court, complied .with our instructions, and the matter is now before us on the merits. On remand, the . missing motions were not. recovered, but the, defendant “reconstructed] his motions to the best of his recollection!,]” .and on April 16, 2015, filed his reconstructed mption to quash, motion to quash | ¿indictment, and motion to suppress. The trial court heard [429]*429and rejected the reconstructed motions on July 9, 2015. Thereafter, the defendant perfected the appeal now before us. In his appeal, we have two briefs. One is filed by the defendant’s appellate counsel and contains four assignments of error. The other brief is filed pro se and contains eight assignments of error. The assignments of error (emphasis removed) filed by the defendant’s appellate counsel read as follows:

I. The evidence is insufficient to support the guilty verdicts of second degree murder in this case.
II. The state failed to establish that Mark Thibodeaux intended to kill Joseph Newman; therefore, the state failed to meet its burden of proving Mark Thibodeaux is guilty of attempted second degree murder.
III. The trial court erred in failing to hold a hearing and rule on the pro-se motions prior to commencement of trial in this case, to the prejudice- of Mark Thibodeaux.
IV. The trial court erred in denying the pro-se motion to suppress the identification by Joseph Newman.

The pro se assignments of error (emphasis removed) (citations omitted) read as follows:

1. Denial' (insidiously constructive) of the constitutional right to “assistance of counsel”... proceedings of pretrial ... trial, 1-9-12 thru [sic] 2-10-14, and evi-dentiary hearing ... 4-16-15 thru [sic] 7-9-15. Conflict of interest ... ,.
2. Court erred ... and was an [sic] substantial abuse of discretion ... in denying defendant’s pro se motion to suppress ..; (1) seizure of irrelevant (non-probative value) items (knife, wig) of undue prejudice and unrelative [sic] (no nexus of probative material value) to case matter, and (2) the purporting of inadmissible hearsay (hooded-sweatshirt, cell phone) never verified nor substantiated identity of owner extremely undue prejudicé-and-substantial and injurious effect ... influential upon the determination of jury’s verdict ... Brecht standard .. and (3) the court erred in failing to suppress the impermissible suggestive post-indictment identification ... in light of Joseph Newman[’s] usage , of crack-cocaine and alcohol ... state of delirium ...
|s3. The court renunciated [sic] and relinguished [sic] its incumbent .constitutional duty to comport to fair and impartial procedure ... denying, the defendant’s constitutional right of “due process”... substantial irreparable injury ... both pretrial and trial, and ev-identiary hearing ...
4. Court, erred in denying defendant’s pro se motion to. quash indictment ... inherented [sic] on grounds of insufficiency ... failing to allege with sufficient clarity .... .unequivocally statement of specific essential elements of material facts of identification constituting the offense charged. And cannot be left to inferences ... essential facts ... no indictment can be valid which does not bear the signature of the foreman of the grand jury ...
5. The evidence was insufficient to the finding of guilty as charge[d], LSA-R.S. 14:30.1, two (2) counts ...
6. The evidence was insufficient to the finding of guilty as charge[d], LSA-R.S. 14:27/30.1, one (1) -count ...
7. The court has .erred and fail[ed] to comply with federal and state constitutions .... statutory laws ... and rules of court procedure ... being in violation of the “confrontation clause”...
■8. The. court has erred and.fail[ed] to comply with federal and state constitutions ... statutory laws ... and rules of [430]*430court procedure .., being in violation of the “Brady rule”...

OPINION

Some of the assignments of error' overlap, and we will address those which do overlap together.

Insufficient Evidence to Convict the Defendant

In these assignments of error, the defendant alleges, through counsel and pro se, that there was insufficient evidence at trial to convict him of two counts of second degree murder and one count of attempted second degree murder. The defendant asserts that the convictions on all three counts should be vacated.

Second Degree Murder Convictions

The defendant argues that the state had no direct evidence to support the charges of the second degree murders of Bridget Tillman Pryor and Carla Yvette LeDoux, because no murder weapon was recovered, the defendant’s DNA did not Dmatch any of the tested’ DNA, the defendant exhibited no injuries, and Mr.' Newman’s testimony only placed the defendant in Ms. Pryor’s room and then leaving that room with a knife. The defendant argues that this is all circumstantial evidence.

“The rule as to circumstantial evidence is: assuming every fact to be proved that' the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.” La.R.S.. 15:438. The defendant argues that a reasonable hypothesis of innocence is that the victims, Ms. Pryor and Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
190 So. 3d 426, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 723, 2016 WL 1445932, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 697, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thibodeaux-lactapp-2016.