BR judge OKs suicide note use during civil trial
By ADRIAN ANGELETTE
[email protected]
Advocate staff writer
A state judge on Tuesday ruled that he will allow a suicide note, written by a woman who claimed to have been raped at a fraternity party in 2001, to be used as evidence during a civil trial.
State District Judge Duke Welch said he and attorneys in the case could find no other case in the state's history in which a suicide note was allowed as evidence in a civil trial. Welch ruled the suicide note is not a typical "dying declaration," which typically occurs when murder victims give details to police shortly before dying, but the note is "highly relevant" to this case.
Defense lawyers have fought the use of the suicide note during trial. They contend that the note should not be allowed because they have no chance to question the woman to determine whether the things she wrote are true.
The defendants in the lawsuit are Delta Tau Delta fraternity and a former fraternity member, Southeastern Louisiana University, the Hammond Police Department and one of its police officers.
The lawsuit was filed by the parents of Courtney Garza, 21, a Southeastern student. The parents contend that Garza attended an off-campus party given by Delta Tau Delta on Feb. 6, 2001. She was found hanged, along with the suicide note April 9, 2001.
At the party, a fraternity member forced Garza to have sex after she was served alcohol or drugged to the point of inebriation, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says that Garza reported the incident to the president of Delta Tau Delta and to a police officer with the Hammond Police Department.
The lawsuit also says Garza went to the university's counseling center and told a student counselor about the rape and the subsequent threats she received.
Thomas Balhoff, the attorney for Delta Tau Delta, argued that the suicide note should be considered as hearsay because he does not have the opportunity to put Garza in front of a jury and have that jury decide whether she is telling the truth.
"This is classic hearsay," Balhoff said.
Greg Rozas, the lawyer for Garza's parents, Thomas Garza Sr. and Sandra Garza, argued that "dying declarations" are used in murder trials, and defense attorneys don't get a chance to cross-examine the witnesses in those cases.
Rozas said it is evident that the suicide note was written immediately before her death because in one line she says, "I didn't know it would hurt this much."
"It could suggest she had the noose around her neck at the time she was writing," Rozas said.
The suicide note has not yet been introduced as evidence in the case and is not part of the public record. Based on statements made by the judge and attorneys, Garza gives the name of the man she says raped her and details how she tried in vain to get help before she says goodbye to her parents.
Welch ruled that the part of the suicide note where she says goodbye to her parents will not be allowed to be used during the trial.
A trial date has not been scheduled.
At the end of the hearing, Welch urged Balhoff to take the judge's ruling to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal for review. Welch gave Balhoff a month to take the ruling to the 1st Circuit.
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