Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Johnnie KELLY
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1996-02-02
Citations: 666 So. 2d 1082
Docket Number: No. 95-K-2335
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Johnnie KELLY.
Judges: CALOGERO, C.J., concurs and assigns reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 666
Pages: 1082–1083

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Johnnie KELLY.
No. 95-K-2335.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Feb. 2, 1996.

Opinion:
JiPER CURIAM.
Defendant was convicted of simple burglary and was adjudicated to be a second offender. The trial judge sentenced defendant to twenty-eight months at hard labor, below the statutory minimum of six years mandated for a second offender under La.R.S. 15:529.1. The court of appeal affirmed and the state now applies to this court.
Louisiana's judiciary maintains the distinct responsibility of reviewing sentences imposed in criminal cases for constitutional excessiveness. State v. Sepulvado, 367 So.2d 762 (La. 1979). However, in order to find the punishment mandated by La.R.S. 15:529.1 excessive, the trial judge must find that the sentence makes no measurable contribution to the acceptable goals of punishment or that the sentence amounts to nothing more than the purposeful imposition of pain and suffering and is grossly out of proportion to the severity of the crime. State v. Dorthey, 623 So.2d 1276 (La.1993).
Although the trial judge cited Dorthey in his reasons, it does not appear that he made a proper finding that imposition of the statutorily mandated sentence would be constitutionally excessive. Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeal is vacated and the case remanded to the trial court to justify its deviation from the statutorily-mandated minimum sentence in this case.
CALOGERO, C.J., concurs and assigns reasons.
WATSON, J., concurs and notes he does not think the sentence was unconstitutionally excessive.