Past crimes ruled inadmissible
The judge scheduled to preside over the first-degree murder trials of five Angola inmates denied a prosecution motion Monday to give jurors information about the crimes that put the defendants behind bars.
Retired Orleans Parish Judge Jerome M. Winsberg recently set a March 21 trial date for Robert G. Carley, 42, in the beating and stabbing death of Louisiana State Penitentiary security Capt. David C. Knapps, 49, during an escape attempt from the prison’s Camp D education building.
Winsberg said prosecutors cannot tell the jury that Carley is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder from St. Bernard Parish.
Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Tommy Block, the lead prosecutor, argued Monday he should be allowed to present testimony that Carley was convicted of murder, sentenced to life in prison and legally confined at Angola when Knapps died.
Block said the state is required to prove that Carley and the other four defendants are guilty of first-degree murder and should receive the death penalty because Knapps was killed while they were attempting to escape from their place of confinement.
Block said state law allows him to use evidence of other crimes to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Carley is guilty of attempted aggravated escape.
The state Supreme Court halted the July trial of Jeffrey Cameron Clark, 50, in Knapps’ death after Block argued in his opening statement that Clark’s defense team would try to minimize his participation in the slaying and argue that he had no specific intent to kill the officer.
“They want felony murder. They want another life sentence,” Block told the jury picked in St. Tammany Parish for a trial in St. Francisville. The state Supreme Court held that the statement was prejudicial to Clark.
In addition to Carley and Clark, a West Feliciana grand jury indicted Davis Mathis, 34; David Brown, 37; and Barry S. Edge, 50, in the slaying.
Tommy Damico, one of Clark’s attorneys, told Winsberg Monday that Block was trying “the back door to getting in the background of my client.”
Carley’s attorneys told the judge that allowing testimony about Carley’s St. Bernard Parish conviction would be highly prejudicial and said they would not stipulate that he is legally confined at Angola.
Winsberg ruled that prosecutors may offer evidence to prove that Carley was legally confined at Angola when Knapps was killed and that he had not finished his sentence. The terms of his sentence or the crime may not be mentioned, however, the judge said.
Evidence of other crimes is admissible during the penalty phase of a first-degree murder trial as the jury decides whether the death penalty or a life sentence is appropriate.
Additional pre-trial motions will be heard Dec. 21 and Jan. 4, Winsberg said.
Winsberg also announced that he will convene court on March 21 but jury selection will not begin until the following day in order to accommodate St. Tammany Parish’s court schedule.
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