People v. Desavieu

Rehearing denied January 11, 1984. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of murder and sentenced to a term of 40 years. On appeal, he contends that (1) the trial court should have instructed the jury, sua sponte, on voluntary manslaughter; (2) his conviction should be reduced to voluntary manslaughter; (3) he was denied his right to a fair and impartial jury when the court refused to ask the supplemental questions he submitted for voir dire examination; (4) he was deprived of his rights to be present at all stages of trial and to effectively communicate with counsel when he was prevented from seeing the juror cards; (5) he was denied his sixth amendment right to confront witnesses against him when he was prevented from (a) cross-examining a crucial State witness regarding his prior conviction and current use of drugs and (b) impeaching that witness with evidence of a motive to testify falsely; (6) prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury deprived him of due process; (7) he was denied a fair trial as a result of the prosecutor's (a) introduction of irrelevant and prejudicial evidence concerning decedent's family and occupation, (b) improper references to decedent as the victim and (c) repeated misstatements of law; and (8) the trial court's refusal to consider his claim of self-defense as a factor in mitigation resulted in an excessive sentence.