State v. BrazleyState v. Brazley
Dwight M. Doskey, New Orleans, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.*
In this prosecution of defendant for fatally stabbing the current lover of his estranged girlfriend, Michelle Guy, the prosecutor revealed to the defense for the first time in his opening remarks to the jury that within minutes of the offense, the defendant had returned to the scene and confided to Gregory Guy, Michelle‘s uncle, that he had been “waiting to do this.” The defense moved “in the alternative” for a mistrial or exclusion of the statement on grounds that the prosecution had failed to provide notice of the statement required by
On appeal following the defendant‘s conviction for second degree murder, the Fourth Circuit found that exclusion of the statement did not cure a more fundamental and pervasive error: that as the result of its discovery violation, the state had impaired the defendant‘s right to prepare his defense by misleading him with regard to the strength of its case and undercutting his trial strategy “geared toward showing that the jilted lover [the defendant] may have killed because of jealousy and, that, because no one was present at the actual killing, there might have been provocation, or perhaps even selfdefense.”
We agree that the defense counsel‘s withdrawal of his discovery requests when he received a copy of the initial police report did not give the state a free hand to use Louisiana‘s discovery articles as a vehicle for misleading the defense with regard to the strength of its case. Louisiana‘s discovery rules “are intended to eliminate unwarranted prejudice arising from surprise testimony and evidence,” and when the defendant “is lulled into a misapprehension of the strength of the state‘s case through the prosecution‘s failure to disclose timely or fully,” basic unfairness may result. State v. Allen, 94-2262, p. 4 (La.11/13/95), 663 So.2d 686, 688 (citations omitted). In response to a timely discovery request, the state must therefore inform the defense of “the existence but not the contents” of any oral statement “of any nature” it intends to introduce at trial, “with information as to when, where and to whom such oral ... statement was made.”
In this case, defense counsel moved alternatively for sanctions under
Perhaps because he had already withdrawn all of his motions, or because his own private investigator had interviewed several of the witnesses, including Michelle Guy, whose prior volatile relationship with the defendant formed the core of the manslaughter defense, counsel did not ask for a more particularized response from the state before trial. While counsel suggested during trial that a more specific answer “would have been something we would have followed up on in an investigation,” he did not dispute the prosecutor‘s assertion that the defense investigator had already approached Gregory Guy. Apparently of his own accord and not at the instance of the District Attorney‘s Office, the witness had refused to speak with the investigator.
On this record, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that any failure by the state to comply with discovery had not so impaired preparation of the defense that a mistrial, as opposed to exclusion of the evidence, afforded the only adequate remedy under
Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the court of appeal, reinstate the jury‘s verdict of second degree murder and affirm the defendant‘s conviction for second degree murder and his sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF APPEAL REVERSED; VERDICT REINSTATED; CONVICTION AND SENTENCE AFFIRMED.
LEMMON, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
LEMMON, Justice, dissenting.
If the prosecutor‘s discovery responses required by
Once the prosecutor told the jury of the undisclosed statement allegedly made by defendant, the bell could not be unrung. Moreover, the alleged statement was critically damaging to defendant‘s claim that the crime had been committed in the heat of passion.
The prosecutor‘s reference to the undisclosed statement warrants a reversal of the conviction and a retrial with fair notice of the extremely damaging evidence.
NOTES
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Notes
Upon motion of the defendant, the court shall order the district attorney to inform the defendant of the existence, but not the contents, of any oral confession or statement of any nature, made by the defendant, which the district attorney intends to offer in evidence at the trial, with the information as to when, where and to whom such oral confession or statement was made. (emphasis added).