State v. Thorne

503 So. 2d 760, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 8848
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 4, 1987
DocketNo. CR86-834
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 503 So. 2d 760 (State v. Thorne) 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. Thorne, 503 So. 2d 760, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 8848 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

DOUCET, Judge.

The defendant, Scott Allen Thorne, was charged by a grand jury on September 26, 1985, with attempted second-degree murder in violation of La.R.S. 14:27 and La.R.S. 14:30.1. On April 25,1986, a twelve person jury found him guilty as charged. Since the defendant was a multiple offender, on May 16, 1986, the trial court sentenced him to 55 years at hard labor. Defendant now seeks an appeal from his conviction and sentence.

FACTS:

On September 19, 1985, at approximately 4:00 P.M., Theresa Gillespie was driving on the Twin Bridge Road, a two lane road in Rapides Parish. She passed a beige Volkswagen with a bumper sticker on the trunk reading, “DON’T LAUGH, IT’S PAID FOR.” A few minutes later she noticed that the car was on the next lane and that the driver, whom she did not know, was indicating that she had problems with her tire. Since she had had trouble with her tire in the past, she pulled her car over to the side of the road. The driver of the other car also exited his car and approached Gillespie. As she was bending down to examine the tire and realized nothing was wrong, the man, who had been standing behind her, displayed a steak knife with a serrated edge. Although she volunteered to give him money or her car, he stated that he wanted her to go with him and would “cut” her throat if she screamed. As she tried to run from him, he grabbed her by her hair and dragged her towards his car. He then opened the door on the driver’s side and placed her on the driver’s seat with her feet hanging out of the car. When she started kicking him, [763]*763he attempted to stab her in the chest but because she moved, he stabbed her in the side. She continued to kick him and caused him to fall back and drop the knife on the road. She was then able to get out of the car and run down the road before tripping. As the assailant got into his car and drove away, she noticed part of the license plate number. The victim then got into her car and drove to a nearby store where an ambulance was summoned to transport her to a hospital.

The medical reports indicate the victim suffered a stab wound to the left lower lateral posterior chest. It appears that she received a life threatening wound, for she lost a large amount of blood and received blood transfusions.

Approximately an hour after the incident, Deputy Laughlin visited the victim in the hospital. She described the assailant as a white male in his mid-20’s, weighing 140 pounds, measuring 5*7” to 5’9”, and having light blond hair. She described the car as a light beige Volkswagen with damage to the left rear bumper, with a license plate partially reading “25 E” and with a bumper sticker on the trunk stating, “DON’T LAUGH, IT’S PAID FOR.”

A bulletin describing the car and the assailant was broadcast by the sheriff’s radio operator. On September 23rd, a report was made that the described car had been seen at Finley’s Restaurant approximately 15 miles from the scene of the crime. Officers Laughlin, Elias and Fairbanks proceeded to the restaurant and found the car whose characteristics matched those of the car described by the victim. The car at the restaurant was a light yellow Volkswagen with the license plate number 255E693, and with a bumper sticker on the trunk reading “DON’T LAUGH, IT’S PAID FOR.” Laughlin testified that the car had been recently painted in several spots. A registration check of the car indicated that it belonged to Scott Allen Thome, the defendant. The deputies entered the restaurant, asked for the defendant and placed him under arrest.

On September 25, 1985, Deputy Laughlin again visited the victim at the hospital and showed her five photographs, one of which was of the defendant. She chose the photograph of the defendant as the photograph of her assailant. At trial, the victim again identified the defendant as her assailant.

At trial, Pat Wojtkiewioz, a forensic scientist who analyzed the blood from the victim and the defendant, and blood found in the defendant’s car, testified that the blood in the car was in the same group as the victim’s blood. He further stated that out of a group of 100,000 people, 499 people other than the victim could have left the blood.

Susan Garr, the manager at Finley’s, testified that on the afternoon of the incident, the defendant left the restaurant at 4:00 P.M. and returned at approximately 4:30 P.M. According to Garr, he was perspiring, had no shirt, and claimed that he had problems with his car and had to push it. Harold Schumacker, who worked on the defendant’s car, testified that the car would not travel at 65 mph. The defendant also presented as a witness, J.P. Hickman, a mathematics teacher who testified that to travel from Finley’s to the scene of the crime and back after a ten minute delay, the car would have to travel at 70 mph. for 35 minutes.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1 IN BRIEF AND IN ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR FILED IN TRIAL COURT:

In this assignment of error, the defendant claims that the trial judge erred in assuming a prosecutorial function and commenting upon the evidence. The defendant complains of the exchange between the trial court and the state’s expert witness, Pat Wojtkiewioz, which incurred after cross-examination as follows:

“BY THE COURT:
Q. While it’s on my mind, Mr. Wo-jtkiewioz, Mr. Everett brought up the point that assuming for purposes of discussion that there were a hundred thousand people in Rapides Parish. Therefore, under your averaging here, it could have been five hundred people?
A. That’s correct.
[764]*764Q. Four hundred and ninety-nine other than Ms. Gillespie could have left the blood, right?
A. Again you’d have to say that .5 percent is basically on a Caucasian population. There would be nowhere near five blacks in a thousand that would have that blood type.
Q. All right, but if you reduced it, say, two to one down ...
A. It’d be more than that. It would ... you would be talking more in the neighborhood of one out of ten thousand blacks or maybe less than that would have that blood type.
Q. I see, but then even breaking it down there, you’d say that it could be conceivably several hundred possibilities, but does that mean that you’d have to have the whole hundred thousand people exposed to depositing that blood, is that correct?
A. That is correct. They’d have to be able to deposit that blood in that car to be part of the population that could have left it there.
Q. So, in other words, if you assume it’s possible that five hundred people, four hundred and forty-nine other than Teresa Gillespie could have left the blood that’s assuming that the whole hundred thousand people would have had to have ridden in that vehicle within the last month?
A. Or been exposed to it in some way. BY MR. EVERETT:
Your Honor ... Your Honor, I ... I do not want to be put in the position of objecting to the court but I do want to register an objection to the court examining the witnéss as a prosecutor.
BY THE COURT:
The court has authority to cross-examine expert witnesses.
BY MR. EVERETT:
I know that the court has the authority to ...

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Related

State v. Pitts
739 So. 2d 230 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
State v. Thorne
526 So. 2d 1227 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
503 So. 2d 760, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 8848, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thorne-lactapp-1987.