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State v. Payton3/15/2002
ndant's fingerprints. At the multiple bill hearing, the State introduced the testimony of Officer Raymond Loosemore of the New Orleans Police Department, as an expert in the taking, examination, comparison and analysis of fingerprints. As to the defendant's first felony conviction, Loosemore identified State's Exhibit Two as the certified copy of the arrest register, with fingerprints, pertaining to the defendant and dated 2/25/93. On direct examination by the assistant district attorney, Loosemore indicated:
Q: And are you the custodian of that record?
A: Yes, sir, I am one of them.
Q: Any fingerprints on that record?
A: On the rear of the documents, yes sir, they do.
Q: And did you compare those fingerprints with the fingerprints on State's Exhibit One?
A: Yes, sir, I did. I compared those with the fingerprints of the subject I took today.
Q: And what were the results?
A: It was a positive match. The fingerprints come from one and the same subject. Transcript of Multiple Bill Hearing (8/24/98) at 6.
As to defendant's second conviction, for Attempted Theft of an Automobile, Officer Loosemore identified State's Exhibit Four as a certified copy of the defendant's arrest register dated 7/7/95. His comparison of the fingerprints on the arrest register with the fingerprints on State's Exhibit One yielded a positive match. However, upon examining State's Exhibit Five, the documents including the bill of information, arrest register, and guilty plea, Loosemore testified there were no fingerprints on any of the documents other than the arrest register. On cross examination by defense counsel, Loosemore testified:
Q: With respect to what I'm calling the second item, which was marked for identification purposes as Exhibit Five, you said that you were not able to get a satisfactory match with respect to Johnell Payton; correct?
A: The fingerprints on the court proceeding documents didn't match the man who I've fingerprinted here today.
Q: There were no fingerprints for Johnell Payton on that document, correct; only for Mr. Henry Montgomery?
A: Mr. Montgomery.
Q: So, with respect to the entry of the plea of the papers, there's nothing as to the 1995 charge where you had Johnell Payton's fingerprints as the individual that was fingerprinted after they entered a plea of guilty; correct?
A: No fingerprints; only the arrest register.
Q: All right. Now, so you can't say with any degree of certainty that the individual that presented himself in court on the day and entered a plea of guilty was in fact the individual who sits here today because you do not have fingerprints. Is that fair to say?
A: That's correct.
Q: All right. And there's no way for you to say with any degree of certainty whether the individual that sits here is, in fact, the individual that entered a plea of guilty on that day. Correct?
A: Not by the court papers alone. Transcript of Multiple Bill Hearing (8/24/98) at 11-12.
Although defense counsel focused on the lack of defendant's fingerprints on the bill of information and guilty plea form, this Court has held a conviction may be maintained by other competent evidence. "This Court has repeatedly held that [the Habitual Offender Act] does not require the State to use a specific type of evidence to carry its burden at an habitual offender hearing and that prior convictions may be proved by any competent evidence." State v. Lindsey, 770 So.2d at 344 n. 3 (citations omitted) (emphasis added). As such, we are unpersuaded by defense couns
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