State v. Western

355 So. 2d 1314
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMarch 8, 1978
Docket60586
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 355 So. 2d 1314 (State v. Western) 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. Western, 355 So. 2d 1314 (La. 1978).

Opinion

355 So.2d 1314 (1978)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Revert WESTERN.

No. 60586.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

March 8, 1978.

*1317 Clyde D. Merritt, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise S. Korns, Sheila C. Myers, Asst. Dist. Attys., for appellee.

SANDERS, Chief Justice.

A grand jury indicted the defendant, Revert Western, for murder and aggravated rape, violations of LSA-R.S. 14:30 and 14:42. A jury found him guilty as charged. The court sentenced him to two consecutive life sentences.

The defendant appeals. He relies on twenty-one assignments of error for reversal of his convictions and sentences.

We adduce the following context facts:

The defendant and his accomplice gained access to Beelee Smith's car by thrusting a gun into the driver's window. The rape victim was Smith's passenger. They robbed Smith and held their victims at gunpoint. After dropping his accomplice off, the defendant drove to a wooded area and shot Smith four times in the head. Thereafter, he drove the rape victim to an apartment complex. While wielding a gun, he raped her.

The offenses occurred on January 15, 1972. The trial took place on May 13, 1976.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. 1, 2, 3, AND 5

The defense contends that the court improperly denied his motion to quash and his motion to elect. He advances three grounds in support of his contention.

Initially, he alleges that the grand jury venire did not include residents of a housing project and individuals who had not registered to vote. To support a challenge made to the composition of a jury venire, the defendant must demonstrate that there has been a systematic exclusion of a class of persons in the selection of the jury panel, or that the State has failed to comply with the statutory procedures for selection of the panel. State v. Taylor, La., 347 So.2d 172 (1977); State v. Haynes, La., 339 So.2d 328 (1976); State v. Jones, La., 332 So.2d 461 (1976).

As he offered no evidence of exclusion of the housing project residents, he has failed to sustain the burden of proof. The State and defense stipulated that, since February, 1975, the jury commissioner chose the venire from registered voters and a small number of volunteers. Other relevant evidence upon which counsel relies is a Loyola University Political Science Department poll which indicates that approximately 20% of Louisianians are unregistered voters; *1318 that an unregistered voter is "more likely to be under thirty years of age, poorly educated, low income, a city dweller, and a resident of the Orleans Metropolitan area"; and that blacks constitute a much higher proportion of unregistered voters than they do of the total adult population. Such evidence does not satisfactorily prove a historic or arbitrary discrimination of an identifiable segment of the community. See State v. Lawrence, La., 351 So.2d 493 (1977); State v. Daigle, La., 344 So.2d 1380 (1977).

Secondly, he contends that several amendments to Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 814 and 817 make it impossible to determine which verdicts were applicable to the prosecution, and thus the defendant was prejudiced in his trial preparations. The court gave counsel the verdicts during voir dire examination, prior to the taking of any evidence. The defendant did not then complain of the allegedly tardy announcement of verdicts or of the verdicts given by the court. As he has failed to establish prejudice, we reject his argument.

Thirdly, he avers that the State improperly joined the murder and aggravated rape charges because the offenses have different classifications and victims and occurred at different times and locations. He also contends that the application of Act 528 of 1975, an amendment to Code of Criminal Procedure Article 493, constitutes an ex post facto law.

That amendment controls the present prosecution and does not violate the prohibition against ex post facto laws. State v. Sepulvado, La., 342 So.2d 630 (1977). The article allows joinder when the offenses " . . . are based on the same act or transaction or on two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan; . . ."

The murder and aggravated rape were separate acts constituting parts of a common scheme. Moreover, the joinder did not prevent a fair determination of the defendant's guilt on each offense. See LSA-C. Cr.P. Art. 495.1. The State proved distinct and separate elements of each crime, and presented the evidence so the jury could easily distinguish the proof and the defendant's guilt of each. See State v. Proctor, La., 354 So.2d 488 (1977).

We hold that the court properly denied the motion to quash and the motion to elect.

These assignments of error are without merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 4

Prior to voir dire examination, the defendant orally moved for a continuance on the grounds that he wanted to take a polygraph test and wanted a line-up. He contends that the victim saw him while moving to a different courtroom, and, therefore, a line-up would insure a true identification of the assailant by the only eye-witness. The court denied the motion.

An oral motion for a continuance presents nothing for our review. LSA-C. Cr.P. Art. 707; State v. Walker, La., 344 So.2d 990 (1977); State v. Tennant, 262 La. 941, 265 So.2d 230 (1972). Assuming arguendo that he properly presents his contention, we conclude that the court properly denied the motion. Polygraph tests are inadmissible, and the defendant made no evidentiary showing that the victim saw or recognized him while changing courtrooms. See State v. Davis, La., 351 So.2d 771 (1977).

This assignment of error is without merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 6

The defense alleges that the court improperly selected the jury venire by calling them in the order listed on the jury list.

In State v. Hoffman, La., 345 So.2d 1 (on rehearing, 1977), we reversed because this procedure violated Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 784 which requires that the jury panel be drawn indiscriminately and by lot in open court. However, we gave our ruling prospective application only. As this jury panel was drawn prior to Hoffman's finality, we reject his allegation.

*1319 ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 7

Officer Knight testified that the victim described her assailant as wearing a long, dark overcoat, but that she was unable to describe his pants or shirt. When defense counsel asked if the victim described his shoes, the State objected to this "line of questioning" on the basis that the victim's testimony would be the best evidence of her description. Defense counsel countered that this information was necessary for him to test the victim's description on cross-examination. The court sustained the State's objection.

Assuming error, the defendant was not prejudiced. LSA-C.Cr.P. Art. 921; State v. Alexander, La., 351 So.2d 505 (1977). On recross, defense counsel elicited the very information which was the subject of the objection: the victim did not describe her offender's shoes. In addition, he learned that she told Officer Knight that he was a thin, black man with no facial hair, an afro haircut, and that he was five feet, eight inches tall.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 8

On direct, Officer Knight testified that two years after the offense Houston officers notified him that they had the defendant in custody.

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