State v. Thornton

309 So. 2d 266, 85 A.L.R. 3d 533, 1975 La. LEXIS 5143
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 24, 1975
DocketNo. 55195
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 309 So. 2d 266 (State v. Thornton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Thornton, 309 So. 2d 266, 85 A.L.R. 3d 533, 1975 La. LEXIS 5143 (La. 1975).

Opinions

CALOGERO, Justice.

The defendant, Wanda Gayle Thornton, was charged by Bill of Information with knowingly and intentionally distributing a controlled dangerous substance, marijuana, in violation of La.R.S. 40:966(A). She was found guilty after a jury trial and was sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor for eighteen months.

The defendant reserved and perfected eighteen Bills of -Exceptions but elected to proceed with only Bill No. 8. The other bills are thus abandoned. State v. Edwards, 261 La. 1014, 261 So.2d 649 (1972).

Bill No. 8 was reserved when the trial court refused a defense request to order the State’s principal witness, Michael DeSalvo, an undercover narcotics agent of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, to reveal his residential address during cross-examination.

The witness had, during direct examination, identified the defendant as the person who, with another subject, had sold him a “brick” of marijuana for $170.00. He related the facts surrounding the transaction and the tests he ran of the substance sold him.

[267]*267The residential address refusal colloquy was as follows:

“Q: Now Agent DeSalvi, when you first took the stand, you gave your residence as 3828 Veterans Highway, is that right?
“A: I did not, that is not my residence address.
“Q: What is your residence address ?
“A: I prefer not to give it out.
“MR. O’NEIL: May It please the Court, at this time I would ask the Court that the witness be told to give his resident address.
“THE COURT: What is the relevancy of that?
“MR. O’NEIL: Your Honor, the relevancy of this is a United States Supreme Court decision that goes hack to 1832, in which the denial of confrontation in cross-examination, if there be no residence address, so I can check his background, his surroundings and his neighborhood and without this information, I have no right to cross-examination in checking his character.
“THE COURT: The Court is going to overrule the objection.” (Emphasis added)

The defendant cites and relies upon Alford v. United States, 282 U.S. 687, 51 S. Ct. 218, 75 L.Ed. 624 (1931) and Smith v. Illinois, 390 U.S. 129, 88 S.Ct. 748, 19 L.Ed.2d 956 (1968), in support of her assertion that it was reversible error to disallow the residence inquiry on cross-examination.

Alford was a prosecution for using the mails to defraud. Cross-examination questions seeking to elicit the address of a government witness were disallowed when the government objected. The witness, a former employee of the defendant, gave damaging testimony against the defendant on direct examination. The defendant there argued that answers to the questions were necessary in order to inform the jury as to “who the witness is, where he lives and what his business is.” Additionally he argued that he had cause to believe that the witness was in the custody of Federal authorities and that eliciting this information was proper in his effort to show bias and prejudice.

The Supreme Court, reversing the conviction, said that the questions were proper to identify the witness with his environment and to show possible bias or prejudice resulting from his custodial status. The Court acknowledged that the right of the trial court to regulate the extent of cross-examination when the subject has been exhausted, and the duty imposed on the trial judge to protect the witness from “questions which go beyond the bounds of proper cross-examination merely to harass, annoy or humiliate,” permissible limitations on cross-examination, were not involved.

Smith was a prosecution for an illegal sale of narcotics. There the principal witness against the defendant identified himself as “James Jordan.” He testified that the defendant sold him heroin in a restaurant. Police officers corroborated his testimony except for the crucial events inside the restaurant, which they did not witness. The witness admitted on cross-examination that the name he gave was not his real name. The trial court refused to order him to reveal his real name and address.

The Supreme Court found that the actions of the trial court “emasculated the right of cross-examination itself.” Quoting extensively from Alford, the Court held that the defendant had been deprived of his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Court did acknowledge however, that the trial court has a duty to protect the witness from questions which harass, annoy or humiliate.1

[268]*268In a recent case similar to the one before us, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the refusal of a District Court to order a government witness, an undercover narcotics agent, to reveal his residential address. United States v. Alston, 460 F.2d 48 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 871, 93 S.Ct. 200, 34 L.Ed.2d 122 (1972). The Court there said:

“It is true, as Alston urges, that both Alford and Smith reversed criminal convictions because the home address of a witness was not divulged. But it appears to us that the purpose of Alford/Smith was to safeguard the opportunity for a meaningful and open cross-examination, not to require that a witness always divulge his or her home address.”

The critical question according to the Fifth Circuit is whether or not the defendant was given sufficient “opportunity to place the witness in his proper setting.”

“Thus, while a witness would normally be required to answer all questions regarding his or her background, there are exceptions to that requirement. The witness should have the opportunity to demonstrate to the trial judge that his or her home address does not constitute information necessary ‘to place the witness in his proper setting.’ Put another way, the witness should have the opportunity to demonstrate to the trial judge that the defendant’s solicitation of his or her home address constitutes only an attempt to ‘harass, annoy or humiliate.’ We think that a reasonable interpretation of this area of exception, acknowledged by Smith and Alford, to the usual requirement that the witness divulge background information would include an instant in which the physical safety of the witness or his family might be endangered by disclosure. [Citations omitted] The spectrum of cross-examination is wide and long but it is not infinite in scope. The trial court must have some authority to armor a witness agaihst extra-judicial weaponry.” 460 F.2d at 52.

In the case before us the witness testified that he was an agent with the narcotics division of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and that he had been employed for seven years by the Sheriff’s Office. Counsel for defendant on cross-examination extracted all information he sought except the witness’ residential address. Defendant was not denied the opportunity to place the witness in his proper setting. Nor has he shown any other relevant pursuit or area of inquiry which was thwarted by the Court’s refusal to permit the question.

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Bluebook (online)
309 So. 2d 266, 85 A.L.R. 3d 533, 1975 La. LEXIS 5143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thornton-la-1975.