State v. Watkins

340 So. 2d 235
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedOctober 14, 1976
Docket57904
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 340 So. 2d 235 (State v. Watkins) 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. Watkins, 340 So. 2d 235 (La. 1976).

Opinion

340 So.2d 235 (1976)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Kenneth E. WATKINS.

No. 57904.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

October 14, 1976.
Rehearing Denied November 18, 1976.

*237 W. S. McKenzie and Frank W. Middleton, III, Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ossie B. Brown, Dist. Atty., Ralph Roy, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

CALOGERO, Justice.

A sixty-three year old nurse from a central placement service in Baton Rouge responded to a request for home nursing service and drove to defendant's home. Upon being admitted she was forcibly assaulted and raped. Thereafter she was placed in the trunk of her automobile and driven away. She was left in a wooded area, near a field, tied with a rope. She ultimately freed herself and was taken to the Sheriff's Office. She later identified defendant as her assailant.

Defendant was indicted for aggravated rape in violation of R.S. 14:42 and thereafter entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial jury found him guilty as charged and he has been sentenced to death.

Defendant appeals the conviction and sentence relying upon fifteen assignments of error.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1.

In assignment of error number one defendant alleges that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash based on the systematic exclusion of women from the grand jury. He urges this Court to reconsider its previous rulings on this issue.

This very defendant has previously raised this issue before this Court in an application for a writ of mandamus prior to the trial. We denied him relief. State ex rel. Watkins v. Lear, 309 So.2d 343 (La.1975).

The issue was before the United States Supreme Court in Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S.Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975). The Supreme Court held Louisiana's constitutional and statutory provisions excluding women from jury venire unconstitutional. However, in Daniel v. Louisiana, 420 U.S. 31, 95 S.Ct. 704, 42 L.Ed.2d 790 (1975), the Supreme Court ruled that the Taylor decision would not be applied retroactively as a matter of federal constitutional law. This Court has likewise held that Taylor v. Louisiana, supra., as a matter of Louisiana constitutional law, is not to be applied retroactively. State v. Gaines, 315 So.2d 298 (La. 1975); State v. Nero, 319 So.2d 303 (La. 1975); State v. Rester, 309 So.2d 321 (La. 1975); State v. Sonnier, 317 So.2d 190 (La. 1975).

As the grand jury indicted the defendant on December 17, 1974, one month before the *238 Taylor decision was handed down, Taylor is not applicable.

Assignment of error number one is without merit.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 2 AND 14.

Defendant complains that the trial court committed error in denying his motion to quash on the ground that the death penalty is unconstitutional under the constitutions of the United States and the State of Louisiana (assignment number two) and he contends that the death sentence imposed is unconstitutional (assignment number fourteen). The assignments have merit so far as imposition of the death penalty is concerned in light of the recently decided United States Supreme Court decision in Roberts v. State of Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325, 96 S.Ct. 3001, 49 L.Ed.2d 974 (1976).

In accordance with our decisions in State v. Lee, 340 So.2d 180 (La.1976) and State v. Craig, 340 So.2d 191 (La.1976), we find that the case must be remanded for resentencing of defendant to the most serious penalty for a lesser included offense at the time the crime was committed (December 10, 1974). At that time, attempted aggravated rape was punishable by imprisonment for not more than twenty years. La.R.S. 14:27(D)(1). Simple rape carried a penalty of one to twenty years. La.R.S. 14:43. The legislature obviously intended to impose the most serious penalty available under the law. In this case, although there is a range of from one to twenty years, the most serious penalty is twenty years at hard labor.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 3.

In assignment of error number three defendant, complains that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of events and alleged criminal acts which took place after the alleged offense was committed. He argues that his relevancy objection was improperly overruled.

The facts surrounding the alleged rape are:

The defendant called a central nurseplacing service requesting a nurse to sit with his elderly mother. The victim in this case, a nurse, accepted this appointment of service, drove to defendant's home, parked her automobile and entered defendant's residence at which time she was forcibly assaulted and raped. Her hands and feet were tied and she was placed in the trunk of her automobile and driven away. She was left in a wooded area tied with a rope securing her to the area. The defendant drove away. She freed herself and approached a farmer working in a nearby field and hysterically told him that she had been raped. She was taken to the local law enforcement authorities and subsequently got in touch with her family and was driven home.

LSA-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."

Connexity of evidence is a matter of fact for the jury to decide so long as the testimony or the objects introduced are shown to the satisfaction of the trial judge to have some relevancy; that is, some logical or rational connection with facts sought to be proved. State v. Lane, 292 So.2d 711 (La. 1974).

Testimony and physical evidence concerning the aforementioned events which took place after the rape and at locations away from the scene of the rape in this case were relevant and corroborative, and thus admissible.

Assignment of error number three is without merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 8.

In this assignment of error defendant complains of the trial court's permitting the state to offer as rebuttal evidence over his objection the tape of an oral inculpatory statement made by the defendant. We just recently had occasion to reverse *239 a conviction because, among other reasons, the prosecution waited until rebuttal to introduce a confession or inculpatory statement which in fact did not properly constitute rebuttal to the defendant's case. See State v. Turner and Glover, La., 337 So.2d 455 (La.1976). As we pointed out in Turner, the state may not reserve part of its case in chief for rebuttal after the defense has put on its case and when the defense can no longer present evidence to rebut the state's case, for among other reasons it is contrary to statute and to the rules of fair play.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Ferrell
656 So. 2d 739 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1995)
State v. Foster
510 So. 2d 717 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
State v. Robins
499 So. 2d 94 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
State v. Horton
487 So. 2d 602 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
State v. Watson
484 So. 2d 870 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
State v. Lee
395 So. 2d 700 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
State v. Santacruz
392 So. 2d 380 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1980)
State v. Jefferson
379 So. 2d 1389 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1980)
State v. Lighten
367 So. 2d 372 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
State v. Willie
360 So. 2d 813 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. Alexander
351 So. 2d 505 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)
State v. Bennett
345 So. 2d 1129 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)
State v. Brown
341 So. 2d 1 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
State v. Fletcher
341 So. 2d 340 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
State v. Clavo
339 So. 2d 727 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
State v. Landry
340 So. 2d 150 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
340 So. 2d 235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-watkins-la-1976.