State v. Warner

The State of Louisiana (plaintiff) charged Jimmie Warner (defendant) with second-degree murder based on the shooting of Walter Jovel. One of the prosecution’s witnesses, Nadia Stark, had previously given police a recorded statement and identified Warner as the shooter. However, the day before Stark’s scheduled trial testimony, Stark told the court that she planned to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege and not answer any questions because she had received threats to her safety and was afraid to testify. The court told Stark that she did not have a privilege against self-incrimination under the circumstances and ordered Stark to answer the prosecutor’s questions. The next day, right before Stark’s testimony, Stark’s counsel told the court that Warner possibly had contact with Stark on the way to the courthouse. When Stark took the stand moments later, she refused to answer any questions, including whether she gave a recorded statement to police and whether she could identify her voice on the recording. The court declared Stark to be an unavailable witness and ruled that Stark’s recorded statement was admissible, finding that Warner had forfeited his constitutional right of confrontation because he engaged or acquiesced in wrongdoing that was intended to, and did, prevent Stark from testifying. The jury ultimately found Warner guilty of negligent homicide, and he appealed.