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State v. Looper2/3/2003
e the Court's view.
THE COURT: Well, do you have any authority that would support your view?
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: I think we can look to cases previously cited by the prosecution. I had the opportunity to walk through the Howard Baker, Jr., Senator Howard Baker, Jr., r tunda, the University of Tennessee Law School this weekend, and after marveling at its beauty, I went to research the cases previously cited by the prosecution, or I should say, miscited by the prosecution.
An alibi defense is invoked by the defendant himself if he chooses to take the stand, and corroboration may be necessary before the Court sua sponte must give the instruction. But there is nothing to suggest in those cases that anything that Mr. Trant did was outside the rule. If Mr. Trant did something outside the rule, I fear for the prosecution, because should they be so fortunate as to get a conviction, despite the paucity of evidence they have produced, then we will be revisiting this issue through habeas corpus, and the competence of Mr. Trant will well become the focus and the issue.
THE COURT: Okay. Yes, sir, you had something you want to present?
[THE STATE]: Nothing further, just a letter from this Court dated May 4th to Mr. Trant, and it makes a finding, and I quote from it: "Unless you can provide me with some authority to the effect that your response complies with Rule 12.1, I would have to find that it's non-responsive to the state's notice," and you extended to him an opportunity to find some authority.
So, what they have filed is something that has been determined to be non-responsive as an alibi notice.
THE COURT: Okay. I want to make you file that - make sure we've got . . . Oh, you found it for me, have you?
DEPUTY CLERK SMITH: Yes.
THE COURT: Okay, good. Where is my letter? Do you have it there, in response to this? Apparently, he's reading a letter that I sent Mr. Trant. What was the date of the letter? I'm sure it's in the correspondence file at the clerk's office.
[THE STATE]: It's dated May 4th. I was reading from paragraph 2. And there is a reply from Mr. Trant the next date that addresses the defendant's right to testify in his own behalf.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, that's not a document to which we are privy. Mr. Trant apparently has not felt it appropriate or necessary to give us documents that he would have received in return.
THE COURT: Here, I'll let you look at it.
(Counsel for the defense reviews document.)
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: It appears to be a restatement of what Mr. Trant had filed previously.
DEPUTY CLERK SMITH: Be May 4th of `99?
THE COURT: Yes, uh-huh. And May 5th, the response from Mr. Trant. Here are the two documents. I want to make sure the record has that in there.
[THE STATE]: We'd just like to request an order that, before they go into it in the presence of the jury, they have a jury-out.
THE COURT: Yeah. And I'm going to have to say to you that, I don't find that Rule 12 has been complied with here, and I'm going to cut that testimony off, so. And I agree with you, if Mr. Looper takes the witness stand, he may assert it, but the state was fair in their notice under Rule 12, and there hasn't been a reply that complies with Rule 12.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, I can't speak for Mr. Trant, though I can imagine his reasoning. I suspect, and the state has narrowed its parameters, surely Mr. Trant has properly responded to those parameters. I understand the Court's ruling. I would make certain offers of proof. I would also ask the Court
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