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State v. Robinson4/14/2004
as Kelly's blood were found on the bottom of defendant's left shoe and on the shoe lace. Defendant alleges that the small amount of blood found on his shoe is not consistent with the atrocious crime that occurred. Defendant asserts that it is impossible to shoot four people at close range and not have blood splatter onto his clothing, thus, he contends that the evidence supports his recitation of events: that he entered the house, and upon witnessing the bodies, panicked and fled. However, defendant's contentions are arguments, they are not evidence. DNA analysis is a well-established science, and Nicholas Kelly's blood, retrieved from defendant's shoe and shoelace at the time he was apprehended, prove that he was present at the murder scene. The DNA evidence presented, when considered in globo with the other evidence presented by the State, is sufficient under Jackson to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence and prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
In the instant case, the State presented ample evidence of defendant's guilt. All of the evidence presented supports and corroborates that Leroy Goodspeed, the jailhouse witness, was testifying reliably. Thus, the jury was within the bounds of rationality to reject as unconvincing defendant's hypothesis of innocence that, like Doris Foster, he also happened innocently upon the crime scene. Therefore, we find that defendant's sufficiency claim fails on the merits.
II.
A large portion of defendant's first and second assignments of error are intertwined. In much of his first assignment of error, defendant argues that the evidence presented by the State is insufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and without the testimony of the jail-house informant, Goodspeed, the conviction would not have been obtained. In his second assignment of error, defendant argues that the testimony of Goodspeed should have been suppressed as too incredible to be believed.
A. Credibility of Jailhouse Informant
Defendant alleges that Goodspeed suffered from such poor character that his testimony was not worthy of belief, and since Goodspeed's testimony is the foundation upon which defendant's conviction stands, the evidence presented is insufficient to support the conviction. We disagree, and find the trial court's decision to deny defendant's motion to suppress Goodspeed's testimony was reasonable; the court was well-informed of Goodspeed's character flaws and determined that his testimony was credible. We afford that decision due deference. Further, we find that the jury's decision to accept Goodspeed's trial testimony as credible was reasonable.
Clearly, as demonstrated by Section I, Subpart A infra, the quantum of the State's proof was significantly more than the testimony of Leroy Goodspeed. However, even accepting defendant's erroneous premise, La. C.E. art. 601 establishes the general rule that "every person of proper understanding is competent to be a witness except as otherwise provided by legislation." Furthermore, a witness may testify to a matter based on personal knowledge. La. C.E. art. 602. Finally, this Court has never ordered a blanket exclusion of jailhouse witness testimony. See State v. Divers, 94-0756, pp. 3-4 (La. 10/11/96), 681 So.2d 320, 322; State v. Martin, 93-0285, pp. 3-5 (La. 10/17/94), 645 So.2d 190, 193-94; State v. Carmouche, 480 So.2d 728, 729 (La. 1985), rev'd after remand, 508 So.2d 792 (La. 1987).
Further, this court's authority to review questions of fact in a criminal case does not extend to credibility determinations made by the trier of fact. La. Const. Art. 5, § 10(B); State v. Williams, 448 So.2d 753 (La. App. 2d Cir. 1984). A reviewing court a
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