State of Louisiana v. Quint Mire , 269 So. 3d 698 ( 2016 )

Supreme Court of Louisiana
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE NEWS RELEASE #005
FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
The Opinions handed down on the 27th day of January, 2016, are as follows:
PER CURIAM:
2014-K -2295 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. QUINT MIRE (Parish of Vermilion)(2nd Degree
Murder)
Accordingly, the ruling of the court of appeal is reversed and
defendant’s conviction for second degree murder and sentence of
life imprisonment at hard labor without parole eligibility are
reinstated.
REVERSED.
CRICHTON, J., additionally concurs and assigns reasons.
01/27/2016
SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
NO. 2014-K-2295
STATE OF LOUISIANA
VERSUS
QUINT MIRE
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL,
THIRD CIRCUIT, PARISH OF VERMILLION
PER CURIAM:
Defendant Quint Mire shot and killed Julian Gajan on February 9,
2011. They were hunting deer out-of-season in the Little Prairie marsh in
Vermillion Parish. Defendant shot the victim three times with a semi-
automatic shotgun, striking him in the head, neck, and torso from a distance
of approximately 40 to 70 feet. Defendant collected the spent shotgun shells
and left without trying to render aid and did not seek help. Defendant then
discarded the shotgun shells in a canal.
The victim was reported missing the next day. His body was found on
February 12, 2011, after a search by state and parish agencies and members
of the community. Defendant stood by while others diligently searched and
even took steps to divert attention from himself and cast suspicion on others.
On February 13, 2011, defendant finally admitted to detectives that he shot
and killed the victim. He claimed it was a hunting accident. He said the
victim was driving deer toward him and that he mistook the victim for a
deer. Defendant took law enforcement officers to the location where the
shooting occurred. Defendant was charged with second degree murder, La.
R.S. 14:30.1, and obstruction of justice, La. R.S. 14:130.1.
Defendant testified at trial. He characterized the shooting as a terrible
mistake. He said that he took up a position while the victim drove the deer
toward him. When he saw movement, he fired three times thinking that the
victim was a deer. When asked why he did not attempt to assist the victim,
defendant claimed he had a crippling fear of the dead. He also claimed it
never crossed his mind to call for help. He did not know why he did not
report the shooting other than that he was frightened and distraught by it.
The state’s witnesses described the tumultuous relationship between
defendant and victim over the years and their various business disputes.
Witnesses testified that the victim owed defendant over $1,000 for crab
traps, the victim had stolen from him, they had physically fought on one
occasion, they were evidently unable to reach an agreement over a lucrative
contract to provide catfish, and defendant had performed work for the victim
but felt undercompensated for it. One witness, Gregory Raspberry, testified
that defendant on three occasions speculated to him that he could kill the
victim and get away with it.1 Another witness, Captain Buatt, testified that
1
The court of appeal rejected defendant’s claim that he should have been granted
a new trial based on the state’s failure to disclose that Raspberry had worked as a
confidential informant in an unrelated narcotics investigation and, as a result, charges
against Raspberry had been dismissed. In his opposition to the state’s application,
defendant argues that the court of appeal erred in this determination. However, although
this filing was designated as an opposition, it did not exclusively “[set] forth reasons why
the application should not be granted.” La.S.Ct. Rule X, § 6. Instead, it effectively
constituted a cross-application because it sought substantive review of that portion of the
court of appeal’s opinion that upheld the district court’s denial of defendant’s motion for
new trial, and is therefore subject to La.S.Ct. Rule X, § 5(a), which provides: “An
application seeking to review a judgment of the court of appeal either after an appeal to
that court . . . shall be made within thirty days of the mailing of the notice of the original
judgment of the court of appeal.” Defendant filed this cross-application 40 days after the
court of appeal rendered its decision and notice of judgment was mailed. Therefore, this
claim, which was not timely made, is not considered.
2
he examined the place where the shooting occurred. From defendant’s
vantage point, there was a fairly open line of sight. He opined that fully
grown deer in that area were about 34 to 36 inches tall at the top of the
shoulders. The victim, who was shot in the head, was 67 inches tall.
The jury found defendant guilty as charged of second degree murder
and obstruction of justice. Defendant was sentenced to concurrent terms of
life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or
suspension of sentence for murder, and 10 years imprisonment at hard labor
for obstruction. The court of appeal, however, vacated defendant’s
conviction for second degree murder, entered a judgment of guilty of
negligent homicide, and remanded for sentencing because it found the
evidence insufficient to establish defendant’s specific intent. State v. Mire,
14-0435, p. 18 (La. App. 3 Cir. 10/8/14), 149 So.3d 981, 991 (“We find that
the State did not exclude every reasonable doubt that Defendant had the
specific intent to kill the victim. Accordingly, the evidence was insufficient
to support Defendant’s conviction for second degree murder.”). For the
reasons that follow, we grant the state’s application to reverse the court of
appeal and reinstate defendant’s conviction for second degree murder and
sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor without parole eligibility.
The lynchpin of the court of appeal’s analysis was its determination
that the state failed to establish a clear motive for the killing. See generally
State v. Mart, 352 So.2d 678, 681 (La. 1977) (finding “that a lack of motive
may properly be considered as a circumstance mitigating against specific
intent”). The court of appeal erred here in two aspects. First, the state, in
fact, presented abundant evidence of motive in the form of witnesses who
described the various disagreements and, at times, acrimonious relationship
3
between defendant and victim over the years. As the dissent correctly noted,
Mire, 14-0435, pp. 1–2, 149 So.3d at 996–97 (Amy, J., dissenting), the jury
was entitled to credit the state’s witnesses in this regard and reject the
defendant’s disavowal of these potential motives within the confines of due
process, which allows the trier of fact to make credibility determinations,
within the bounds of rationality, and accept or reject the testimony of any
witness; and thus, a reviewing court may impinge on the “fact finder's
discretion only to the extent necessary to guarantee the fundamental due
process of law.” State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305, 1310 (La. 1988). The
court of appeal acknowledged and summarized the abundant evidence
pertaining to potential motivations but then dismissed it all as providing
poor and inadequate justification to commit murder. For example, the court
of appeal opined:
Witness testimony did not establish a motive for Defendant to
kill the victim. If Defendant shot the victim over unpaid money,
he would not have left $527.00 in the victim’s wallet. If
Defendant wanted the fishing contract to himself, he would
require significant help to provide ten thousand pounds of fish
per week. The motives suggested by the witnesses simply do
not make sense.
Mire, 14-0435, p. 17, 149 So.3d at 991. However, the fact a defendant’s
motivations to commit murder are not objectively reasonable does not render
the jury’s determination he harbored these motivations and acted on them
irrational.2 The court of appeal erred in substituting its appreciation of the
evidence regarding defendant’s motive for that of the jury, and thus failed to
2
See, e.g., State v. Severin, 04-0326 (La. App. 5 Cir. 9/28/04), 885 So.2d 609,
writ denied, 04-2805 (La. 3/11/05), 896 So.2d 64. The Fifth Circuit in Severin rejected
the defendant’s claim that the evidence was insufficient because “the State failed to show
[he] had a motive for shooting the victims, and thus, failed to prove specific intent.” Id.,
04-0326, p. 9, 885 So.2d 609, 614. The Fifth Circuit found that defendant’s statement that
“someone in a bar had spilled a drink on him” and “pissed him off” suggested a motive
for defendant to shoot into a crowd outside the bar. Id., 04-0326, p. 15, 885 So.2d at 618.
4
correctly apply the due process standard of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S.
307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
Second, the court of appeal erred in its apprehension of State v. Mart,
supra. Defendant in Mart consumed a large quantity of beer and then fired
his shotgun at the home of his brother-in-law, with whom he was angry.
Afterward, possibly motivated by racial animus, he fired his shotgun at two
strangers. He claimed he aimed over their heads and shot only to frighten
them. However, one of the two died as a result and Mart was found guilty of
second degree murder.
This Court reversed the conviction because it found the trial court
erred in rejecting special jury charges requested by the defense regarding
intoxication:
In the present record, the evidence of the extensive pre-
crime drinking, coupled with the bizarre behavior before and at
the time of the crime, constituted appreciable evidence from
which the jury might draw the inference that the accused was
intoxicated. It was for the jury, not the judge, to determine what
effect, if any, this intoxication had upon the presence or absence
of the specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm required
for guilt of second degree murder (and not required for the
responsive lesser verdict of manslaughter).
The effect of the denial of the special written charges was
to deprive the accused of jury instructions and consideration of
his principal defense that he lacked the requisite specific intent
required for a conviction of second degree murder, as charged.
Therefore, we must reverse the conviction and remand for a
new trial.
Mart, 352 So.2d at 681. In addition, this Court (while recognizing that it was
unnecessary to make this determination after finding reversible error) found
the trial court erred in failing to qualify its general motive instruction:
Assignment 16 (objection to general charge on motive:
“The law considers that no man does any act without a motive
for doing it . . . it is not necessary to establish a motive to
warrant a conviction”). Once a charge concerning motive was
5
given, the charge was incomplete, since affirmative evidence
disclosed lack of motive: Under such circumstances, as
defendant requested, the jury should be instructed that a lack of
motive may properly be considered as a circumstance
mitigating against specific intent.
Id.Mart, notably, did not involve a question of the sufficiency of the
evidence. Under the standard of Jackson v. Virginia, “the relevant question
is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the
prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements
of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id., 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. at
2789 (second emphasis added). In the present case (in which the state did
not advance a felony-murder theory), the state was required to prove that
defendant killed a human being with the specific intent to kill or to inflict
great bodily harm. La. R.S. 14:30.1. Dicta in Mart notwithstanding, motive
is not an essential element of the offense and a jury need not find it proved
beyond a reasonable doubt. Although fairness may require that—once a jury
receives a general instruction that the state need not prove motive, and
affirmative evidence discloses a lack of motive—then, at defendant’s
request, the jury must be instructed that lack of motive may properly be
considered as mitigating against a finding of specific intent, that principle
was overextended by the court of appeal here, particularly considering that
the jury in the present case was not instructed regarding motive.3
3
Similarly, in State v. Trahan, 11-0148 (La. App. 3 Cir. 7/6/11), 69 So.3d 1240,
the same circuit court found evidence insufficient to prove the defendant’s specific intent
to kill or inflict great bodily harm because no evidence established a motive for the close-
range shooting by defendant of her boyfriend:
Here, though the victim was shot at close range, the “other
circumstances” needed to support a finding of specific intent are
noticeably lacking. Indeed, no evidence indicates that Defendant
possessed a motive for the shooting. Motive is not an essential element of
murder, but “a lack of motive may properly be considered as a
6
Although a jury may not speculate “if the evidence is such that
reasonable jurors must have reasonable doubt,” State v. Lubrano, 563 So.2d
847, 850 (La. 1990) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted), the
state here presented sufficient evidence, which when viewed in the light
most favorable to the prosecution under the due process standard of Jackson
v. Virginia, sufficed to establish defendant shot the victim with the specific
intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm. Defendant, an experienced hunter,
admitted he pulled the trigger three times. Each shot hit the victim, including
shots to the head and neck, which one witness testified was about 30 inches
higher than he should have aimed to shoot a deer. Defendant not only did not
circumstance mitigating against specific intent.” State v. Mart, 352 So.2d
678, 681 (La.1977). The State attempted to show motive by repeatedly
stating that Defendant and the victim argued the day of the shooting and
that Defendant was mad at the victim. The prosecutor's statements to the
jury were merely words. Not one piece of evidence was introduced to
prove an argument or that Defendant was angry at the victim.
The State presented no evidence to the jury that could have
allowed them to find that Defendant exhibited the requisite specific intent
to kill the victim. Though the State presented evidence showing that the
victim was shot in the back at close range, it presented no evidence
demonstrating that Defendant aimed the gun at the victim, how the gun
discharged, or, as previously discussed, that any acrimony existed between
Defendant and the victim. Thus, we can only conclude that the jury arrived
at its verdict because of statements made by the prosecutor and defense
counsel in their opening statements and in the prosecutor's closing
arguments.
Trahan, 11-0148, pp. 6–7, 69 So.3d at 1244 (footnote omitted). This Court reversed the
court of appeal and found the evidence was sufficient:
A rational trier of fact could find from this evidence that defendant
discharged the high-powered hand gun by pulling the trigger while
holding the gun no more than three or four feet from the victim as he stood
defenseless and bent over the washbasin in the bathroom with his back
turned towards her, and from that evidence, that defendant had the specific
intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm, although she may then have
become emotionally overwrought by what had just happened. Other
scenarios involving an accidental discharge of the revolver, but not
involving the failed hypothesis of innocence proposed by defense counsel
and rejected by jurors, were possible but not so probable that a rational
juror would necessarily have a reasonable doubt as to defendant's guilt.
State v. Trahan, 11-1609, pp. 10–11 (La. 7/2/12), 97 So.3d 994, 999–1000.
7
seek help but also took measures to conceal the shooting and misdirect those
searching for the victim. Witnesses testified as to the contentious
relationship between defendant and victim over the years and their financial
conflicts. One witness testified that defendant had previously spoken of
killing the victim. Defendant testified to try to explain his behavior after the
shooting and deny he had any reason to kill the victim, and the jury was able
to evaluate his credibility in that regard.
From this evidence, the dissenting judge in the court below correctly
found the evidence sufficient to prove defendant’s specific intent. Mire, 14-
0435, pp. 1–2, 149 So.3d at 996–97 (Amy, J., dissenting). In finding
otherwise, the court of appeal misapplied the due process standard of
Jackson v. Virginia, which “does not require the reviewing court to
determine whether it believes the witnesses or whether it believes the
evidence establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Major, 03-
3522, pp. 6–7 (La. 12/1/04), 888 So.3d 798, 802. Although the court of
appeal found the evidence of specific intent equivocal, the jury’s acceptance
of this evidence was not shown to be irrational. Thus, the court of appeal
erred in reversing defendant’s conviction because of the state’s failure to
prove a clear and reasonable motive. In accepting a hypothesis of innocence
that was not unreasonably rejected by the jury, the court of appeal impinged
on the jury’s discretion beyond the extent necessary to guarantee the
fundamental protection of due process of law. 4
4
As the Supreme Court explained in Jackson v. Virginia:
[T]he relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light
most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have
found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. This
familiar standard gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact
fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to
8
Accordingly, the ruling of the court of appeal is reversed and
defendant’s conviction for second degree murder and sentence of life
imprisonment at hard labor without parole eligibility are reinstated.
REVERSED
draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Once a
defendant has been found guilty of the crime charged, the factfinder's role
as weigher of the evidence is preserved through a legal conclusion that
upon judicial review all of the evidence is to be considered in the light
most favorable to the prosecution. The criterion thus impinges upon “jury”
discretion only to the extent necessary to guarantee the fundamental
protection of due process of law.
Id., 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. at 2789 (citation and footnote omitted).
9
01/27/2016
SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
NO. 2014-K-2295
STATE OF LOUISIANA
VERSUS
QUINT MIRE
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD
CIRCUIT, PARISH OF VERMILLION
CRICHTON, J., additionally concurs and assigns reasons:
I wholeheartedly agree with the result in the per curiam in this matter.
However, I write separately to emphasize two fundamental principles of Louisiana
criminal law. First, circumstantial evidence is competent, reliable and regularly
utilized in criminal trials. See La. R.S. 15:438 (“The rule as to circumstantial
evidence is: assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in
order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence”). As
the dissent astutely observes, there was an abundance of circumstantial evidence in
this case, which, in the jury’s eyes, excluded every reasonable hypothesis of
innocence.1 “The test of the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence is not whether
it produces the same conviction as the positive testimony of an eyewitness, but
1
In his succinct and well-reasoned dissent, Judge Amy wrote:
Notably, jurors heard Gregory Raspberry testify that, on several occasions, the
defendant spoke of killing the victim. Any assessment as to his credibility was
certainly within the province of the jury, as the trier of fact. See State v. Oliphant,
13-2973 (La. 2/21/14), 133 So.3d 1255. The jury also heard witness statements
indicating that the defendant and the victim had experienced conflict, that the
victim allegedly owed the defendant money, that the defendant admitted to
repeatedly discharging his weapon (resulting in multiple projectile injuries to the
victim), that the defendant left the victim in the marsh at the scene, and that the
defendant misled and misdirected those searching for the victim in the days after
the incident. Giving the jury’s fact-finding role and its apparent rejection of the
defendant’s version of events, I find these factors sufficiently support the jury’s
determination of specific intent to kill the victim or to inflict great bodily harm.
State v. Mire, 2014-435 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/8/14), 149 So. 3d 981, 996-7.
whether it produces moral conviction such as would exclude every reasonable
doubt.” State v. Shapiro, 431 So.2d 372, 385, (La. 1982), citing State v. Jenkins,
134 La. 185, 63 So. 869 (1914).
Second, and as important, I am compelled to note the well-settled principle
that the prosecution is not required to prove motive. “‘Motive’ is not an element of
second degree murder . . . . .[t]he state is not obligated to prove that the accused
had a cause or reason to commit the crime of second degree murder; it is required
to prove that the accused had the ‘specific intent' to commit the crime.” State v.
Johnson, 324 So.2d 349, 353 (La. 1975). As a result, the court of appeal
committed error in reversing the defendant’s second degree murder conviction
because of its misplaced view that the State failed to prove motive, which is not an
element of the charged offense.2
2
Incredibly, a majority of the Court of Appeal wrote:
No one witnessed this shooting, only Defendant knows absolutely what happened.
No physical evidence establishes or negates Defendant’s intent. Without
question, Defendant intentionally fired the shotgun. The issue, however, is
whether he intended to kill or cause great bodily harm to the victim.
State v. Mire, 2014-435 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/8/14), 149 So. 3d 981, 990-1.
The Court of Appeal further noted: “[t]he State presented no direct evidence to establish
defendant’s specific intent to kill. No witness established a motive for murder.” Id. at
991. (emphasis added)