Opinion
No. KA 08 01056.
April 1, 2009.
APPEAL FROM THE FOURTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF CALCASIEU, NO. 16313-04 HONORABLE D. KENT SAVOIE, PRESIDING.
John F. DeRosier, District Attorney, David L. Kimball, Assistant District Attorney, Carla S. Sigler, Assistant District Attorney, Lake Charles, LA, COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE: State of Louisiana.
Paula C. Marx, Louisiana Appellate Project, Lafayette, LA, COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT: Robert A. Caramanica.
Court composed of SYLVIA R. COOKS, J. DAVID PAINTER, and SHANNON J. GREMILLION, Judges.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Back in 1987, Defendant, Robert A. Caramanica, a/k/a Sonny Caramanica, and the victim, Gerald Murray, a native of Ohio, worked together in the carnival business in an area around Houston, Texas. On March 28, 1987, the victim's lifeless body was discovered near the Browning Ferris Industries (BFI) plant in Sulphur, Louisiana. The victim had been stabbed to death and his body was wrapped in a bedspread. The victim had no form of identification on his person. To identify the victim, his fingerprints were taken and his jaw bone was removed in the event it was needed for comparison to dental records. The fingerprints were sent to the FBI lab and, approximately a month later, the fingerprints were matched to the victim.
The victim's father reported he last spoke to the victim on March 27, 1987. Other witnesses to whom investigators spoke indicated they had seen the victim with Defendant late that same evening and the victim drove a Mercury Monarch. The witnesses also indicated the victim and Defendant left together in the victim's vehicle.
On April 27, 1987, investigators contacted Defendant by phone and learned he was in Milton, Florida, at the home of Betty Pound. Defendant acknowledged he had been with the victim on March 27, 1987. Defendant indicated he would come to Lake Charles to speak to investigators on April 29, 1987, but never showed up.
In June of 1987, Ms. Pound was interviewed by investigators at her home in Milton, Florida. Ms. Pound reported Defendant arrived at her home on March 29, 1987, driving a blue Mercury Monarch. Defendant told Ms. Pound he had purchased the car from a friend. He later removed the license plate from the car, telling Ms. Pound he did not have insurance on the vehicle. According to Ms. Pound, Defendant left her home soon after an investigator called on April 27, 1987, leaving the vehicle behind, and never returning. The VIN number on the car confirmed it was the vehicle belonging to the victim. During the search of the vehicle, a substance believed to be blood was found in the trunk.
A warrant was issued for Defendant's arrest and he was arrested in Gainesville, Florida, on May 28, 1988, and returned to Calcasieu Parish. Defendant voluntarily gave a recorded statement. In his statement, Defendant indicated he and the victim went to a lounge in Lake Charles, and the victim departed from the lounge, leaving his vehicle with Defendant. When the victim did not return, Defendant drove the vehicle to Ms. Pounds' home, arriving on March 28, 1987.
Over the next month, hair and blood samples were taken from Defendant for comparison to the samples found on the sheet and blanket found with the victim and in the victim's trunk. The blood found on the bedspread was determined to be "O" type blood, whereas Defendant's blood was determined be "A" type blood. Defendant was scheduled to appear before a grand jury, but refused to testify and was released from custody.
About fifteen years later, in April, 2002, the Cold Case Homicide Unit of the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office began a review of the victim's unsolved homicide. The victim's jaw bone with teeth was sent to the crime lab on April 12, 2002. Also, a section of carpet pad from the victim's trunk, along with a black rubber seal from the truck opening, were sent to the crime lab on May 31, 2002. In October of 2002, the North Louisiana Crime Lab obtained a complete male nuclear DNA (nucDNA) profile from the truck liner. In February of 2003, however, the lab was unable to obtain a nucDNA profile from the jawbone which investigators believed would match the blood found in the trunk.
Nuclear DNA (nucDNA) is the DNA of the chromosomes found in the nucleus of a cell and contains genes from both parents, allowing a match from either side of the family to be made.
In October of 2003, a nucDNA profile was obtained from the bedspread and was consistent with the profile obtained from the trunk liner. The profile was then compared to the nucDNA profile obtained from the victim's father which established a parent/child kinship.
Meanwhile, the investigation continued and Defendant was eventually arrested, and indicted by a grand jury on September 16, 2004 with the second degree murder of Gerald Murray in March of 1987, a violation of La.R.S. 14:30.1. He was arraigned on November 29, 2004. Additionally, in August, 2005, the crime lab requested an opportunity to re-examine the victim's jawbone because a new and more efficient method of tissue extraction had been developed. A partial DNA profile was obtained from the bone powder and was found to be consistent with the DNA profile obtained from the trunk liner and the bedspread. As such, the blood found in the trunk was positively identified as that of the victim.
A trial by jury began on November 13, 2007. After the trial resumed on November 16, 2007, Defendant entered a plea of no contest to the reduced charge of manslaughter. Defendant was sentenced on February 22, 2008, to twenty-one years at hard labor, with credit for time served from the date of his arrest. A Motion to Reconsider Sentence was filed and denied. Defendant is now before this court on appeal, asserting his sentence is excessive and his right to a fair trial was affected when the trial court allowed other crimes, wrongs or acts and extraneous and prejudicial remarks by a law enforcement officer to be introduced at trial. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Defendant's sentence.