Lousiana v. Bartie
Annotate this CaseIn 2006, defendant Dennis Bartie stabbed his former girlfriend more than 20 times in front of eyewitnesses in Baton Rouge and then stole her friend’s car, which he drove to Lake Charles and abandoned. He was found guilty of attempted second degree murder, and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment at hard labor. He was serving that sentence at Allen Correctional Center in 2016 when DNA testing connected him to the victim of an unsolved murder committed in 1998. In 1998, Rose Born was murdered at her donut shop in Lake Charles. She was stabbed more than 30 times. Her car was stolen and then abandoned about 4 miles away. Defendant was 17 years old at the time and lived in Lake Charles. Defendant was interviewed at the correctional center for the 1998 murder; he would have been categorically exempt from capital punishment because he was 17 years old at the time of that crime. Investigators informed defendant the law had changed and a special sentencing hearing was required before a person who commits second degree murder as a juvenile can be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole eligibility. Defendant thereafter confessed to the 1998 murder. When charged with the murder, defendant sought to suppress his statements to investigators. In its brief, the State characterized falsely informing defendant he would receive the death penalty if he did not satisfactorily confess as permissible tactical deception, and argued that, regardless of whether the deception was permissible, it did not render defendant’s confession involuntary because he was hardened, experienced in the legal system, and "unaffected by the toothless threats." The district court denied defendant's motion, finding that the totality of the circumstances indicated defendant’s statements during the recorded interview were free and voluntary. The court of appeal determined defendant repeatedly invoked his right to remain silent, but that police ignored the invocation. The Louisiana Supreme Court found defendant’s statements during the police interview from roughly the 48-minute mark onward were made in violation of Miranda, were not free and voluntary, and therefore not admissible for any purpose including impeachment at the trial. The Court reinstated the district court’s ruling that the first 48 minutes were admissible to the extent authorized by the rules of evidence. The matter was remanded to the district court for further consideration of whether defendant's statements during the police interview following the 48-minute mark were not free and voluntary.