State v. Troquille

493 So. 2d 686, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 7518
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 20, 1986
DocketNo. 17987-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 493 So. 2d 686 (State v. Troquille) 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. Troquille, 493 So. 2d 686, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 7518 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

FRED W. JONES, Jr., Judge.

After a jury trial the defendant Troquille was found guilty, as charged, of distribution of marijuana [La.R.S. 40:966(A)(1) ]. He was sentenced to serve six years in prison. The defendant appealed, reserving several assignments of error. Finding merit in none of them, we affirm.

On May 17, 1983 Troquille sold a bag of marijuana to an undercover officer, employed as a deputy by the Webster Parish Sheriff’s office, for $50. Another deputy sheriff testified that she observed the sale. Troquille’s defense was entrapment.

ENTRAPMENT

In this assignment of error, the defendant contends that the trial court erred when it prevented him from showing his lack of predisposition to commit the offense. In particular, the defendant sought to ask several of his witnesses whether [688]*688they had ever known the defendant to use or sell marijuana.

The record discloses the following: Joe Troquille, the defendant’s cousin, testified on behalf of the defendant. When defense counsel inquired if he had ever known the defendant to use or deal marijuana, he responded negatively. The court sustained the State’s objection on the basis of relevancy, even though the witness had already answered the question. Another cousin of the defendant, Willie Carl Troq-uille, testified on behalf of the defendant and the same ruling was made applicable to him. Following argument, the court made its ruling general as to all other witnesses who would have been called to testify on behalf of the defendant and State. The basis for the court’s ruling was twofold. The court found that the evidence sought to be elicited was character evidence which had not been placed at issue, and that the questions were pertaining to specific acts instead of general reputation. The court’s ruling was also made applicable to Raydell Branton and Dena Kelly. The defendant successfully testified that he had never sold marijuana to anyone before. The court then sustained the State’s objection based on relevancy when the defendant was asked by counsel if he had ever thought of selling marijuana before.

In State v. Cook, 460 So.2d 1075 (La.App. 2d Cir.1984), a panel of this court described the entrapment defense as follows:

An entrapment is perpetrated when a law enforcement official or a person acting in cooperation with such an official for the purpose of obtaining evidence of the commission of an offense solicits, encourages, or otherwise induces another person to engage in conduct constituting such offense when he is not then otherwise disposed to do so. State v. Batiste, 363 So.2d 639 (La.1978). When entrapment is at issue, the focal point of the inquiry is on the predisposition of the defendant to commit the crime at issue as well as on the conduct of the police. State v. Batiste, supra. For entrapment to exist, a defendant must be induced in some way to engage in criminal conduct which he otherwise would not be disposed to engage in. An entrapment defense will not lie if the officers or agents have merely furnished a defendant who is predisposed to commit the crime the opportunities to do so. State v. Moody, 393 So.2d 1212 (La.1981).

Further, in Cook, supra, this court held that the defendant has the affirmative burden of establishing the entrapment defense. Cook, at pages 1083, 1084.

The prosecution objected to the aforementioned questions on the basis of relevancy. La.R.S. 15:441 provides:

Relevant evidence is that tending to show the commission of the offense and the intent, or tending to negative the commission of the offense and the intent.
Facts necessary to be known to explain a relevant fact, or which support an inference raised by such fact, are admissible.

La.R.S. 15:479 and 15:480 allow for the accused to introduce evidence of his character. La.R.S. 15:479 states:

Character, whether good or bad, depends upon the general reputation that a man has among his neighbors, not upon what particular persons think of him.

La.R.S. 15:480 provides:

Evidence of the good character of accused is always admissible in his behalf, and must be considered in connection with and as part of the whole testimony and due weight be given it, but it can not destroy conclusive evidence of guilt; and such evidence must be restricted to showing character as to such moral qualities as have pertinence to the crime with which he is charged.

The State objected to the admissibility of the questions asked and the responses thereto on the basis of relevance. The trial court sustained the objection on the basis that the defendant’s character had not yet been placed at issue and, furthermore, that the questions sought to elicit improper character evidence.

[689]*689The assistant district attorney stated an incorrect basis for his objections to the questioning. As the questions (though self-serving and selective) were aimed toward the defendant’s propensity or lack thereof to commit the offense, they were relevant to the defense of entrapment. However, the questioning was inadmissible for the following reasons.

In State v. Frentz, 354 So.2d 1007 (La.1978), the Louisiana Supreme Court summarized the admissibility of “character” testimony as follows:

Testimony as to “character” (reputation) may be admissible for two distinct purposes, with differing rules and reasons:
(1) The credibility of a witness may be attacked “by showing that his general reputation for truth or for moral character is bad.” La.R.S. 15:490. In that event, “the inquiry must be limited to general reputation, and can not go into particular a. ⅛, vices or courses of conduct.” La.R.S. 15:491. If the accused takes the stand, he places his credibility at issue, and his credibility may then be attacked in the same manner, with the same limitations, as in the case of any other witness. La.R.S. 15:462, 486. The inquiry is, in this case, limited to general reputation for truth and character with regard to veracity; and the defendant may not advance affirmative proof of this character unless the state has, by cross-examination or otherwise, placed his reputation for credibility at issue.
See: State v. Muse, 319 So.2d 920 (La.1975), discussed at 37 La.L.Rev. 589-90 (1970); McCormick on Evidence, Section 44 (2d ed. 1972); cf., Pugh, Louisiana Evidence Law 22-23 (1974).
(2) The accused may also introduce evidence of his character to show he is not the type of person who would commit the particular crime charged; until he does so, his character (reputation) is not at issue; but, if he does so, the state may introduce rebutting reputation testimony only as to the aspects of reputation put at issue by the accused. La.R.S. 15:479, 480. The character evidence is limited to “the general reputation that a man has among his neighbors, not upon what particular persons think of him.” La.R.S. 15:479. The accused’s introduction of evidence for such purpose “must be restricted to showing character as to such moral qualities as have pertinence to the crime with which he is charged.” La. R.S. 15:480.
See: State v. Kelly, 237 La. 991, 112 So.2d 687 (1959); Michelson v. United States,

Related

State v. Tate
593 So. 2d 864 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)
State v. Troquille
501 So. 2d 200 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
493 So. 2d 686, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 7518, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-troquille-lactapp-1986.