Clyde STEWART
v.
STATE of Louisiana.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Laurie A. White, Anne T. Turissini, for Applicant.
Riсhard P. Ieyoub, Attorney General, Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Jack Peebles, Asst. Dist. Atty., for Respondent.
BLEICH, Justice.[*]
In State v. Hattaway,
On October 14, 1977, Anthony Alexander and Anthony Green were walking home together when they were stopped by two men in an automobile and ordered into the car at gunpoint. They were robbed and driven to Eаst New Orleans, where Green was forced to lie on the ground for between 10 and 30 minutes. He was then told to get back into the car, and Alexander was orderеd out of the car. A fight ensued between Alexander and the passenger who dropped the gun he was holding. Green and the driver scrambled out of the car, and the driver succeeded in retrieving the fallen pistol. Green was *88 shot while fleeing. He heard three gunshots, and when he returned to the scene found Alexander dеad of gunshot wounds.
That night, police showed Green mugshots, but Green was unable to identify either of the two assailants. Thirteen months later, police informed Green that they had a suspect and summoned him to the station to view a photographic lineup. According to Green, he examined the photographs for 1-2 hours before identifying the defendant, Clyde Stewart, as the passenger/assailant. Stewart was subsequently arrested for first degree murder.
On December 7, 1978, Stewart made his first judicial appearance pursuant to Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 230.1 as a suspect in the murder of Anthony Alexander. He was appointed counsel at that time. On December 19, 1978, a six-person physical lineup was conducted at the police station. Stewart requested the рresence of counsel and police asked the public defender's office to send an attorney to the station. The attorney did not show up, and police proceeded with the lineup. Green again identified Stewart as the perpetrator. Defendant was subsequently indicted by the grand jury for first degree murder. His first trial for first degree murder ended in a hung jury. He was tried again and ultimately convicted of second degree murder. He was sentenced to mandatory lifе imprisonment. The conviction and sentence were affirmed. State v. Stewart,
In Hattaway, supra, this court decided that a defendant has the right to an attorney "after the initiation of adverse judicial criminal proceedings and the appointment of counsel to assist the defendant, ... at any confrontation caused by the state that creates potential substantial рrejudice to his right to a meaningful defense or a fair trial, if the help of a lawyer would serve to avoid or reduce that prejudice." Id. at 798. Earlier cаses had held that the right to counsel does not attach until the time of indictment, Kirby v. Illinois,
The general rule is that new precepts of law are not to be applied retroactively. Teague v. Lane,
The second exception to the rule of nonretroactivity is "to be reserved for watershed rules of criminal procedure." Teague,
In United States v. Wade,
Stovall was decided before Teague, and therefore relied on the earlier retroactivity jurisprudence of Linkletter v. Walker,
In Stovall, Justice Brеnnan remarked that "[t]he extent to which a condemned practice infects the integrity of the truth-determining process at trial is a `question of probabilities.'"
Similarly, we conclude that the new rule of law announced by Hattaway should not be applied retroactively to police lineups conducted without benefit of counsel. The right to counsel at trial is indispensable to the fair administration of justice.[3] However, the need for counsel at an identification lineup, before the State has obtained an indictment and set its course on prosecution, is not such a "bedrock component" of the fair adjudiсation of a criminal case. It is neither so likely to result in prejudice, nor so damaging if it does. Moreover, the right remains with the defendant to prove unfairness depriving him of due process. Stewart has tried, and failed, to do so in this case. The new rule of Hattaway cannot now provide him relief.
The petition for post-conviction relief is DISMISSED.
JOHNSON, J., concurs in result.
LEMMON, J., concurs.
NOTES
Notes
[*] Kimball, J., not on panel. Rule IV, Part 2, § 3.
[1] Subsequently, in State v. Carter, 94-2859 (La. 11/27/95),
[2] The Teague opinion was based upon Justice Harlan's concurrence in Mackey v. United States,
[3] Gideon v. Wainwright,
