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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 97-K-3059 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. ROBERT LEE DUKE On Writ of Certiorari to the First Circuit Court of Appeal PER CURIAM:* In this prosecution for second degree murder, the defendant told jurors that he fired the fatal shot from the passenger seat of the truck driven by his girlfriend, Ann Marie Tuccio, and parked in a highway turnaround lane, as the victim reached into the vehicle's cab through the driver's side door and throttled Tuccio, a sometime companion of both men. The defendant gave a

similar tape recorded account to East Baton Rouge Parish deputies after his arrest. The state did not introduce that statement in

its case in chief but used portions of it to impeach specific details of the defendant's testimony, over defense counsel's repeated objections that La.R.S. 15:450 required the state to play the entire statement for the jury. Counsel renewed his

objections when the state called on rebuttal the detective who questioned the defendant and again referred to parts of the statement in its direct examination. The trial court once more

overruled defense objections but also informed counsel that in his cross-examination of the officer, "[i]f you want to ask him about the good parts, you'll be free to do that also." On appeal of the defendant's subsequent conviction and sentence for manslaughter, the First Circuit reversed and

*

Marcus, J., not on panel.

See Rule IV, Part II,

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Louisiana Law