Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Carl Ray FOY and Arthur Berry
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1981-01-26
Citations: 401 So. 2d 948
Docket Number: No. 80-K-1814
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Carl Ray FOY and Arthur Berry.
Judges: MARCUS and LEMMON, JJ., dissent and assign reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 401
Pages: 948–953

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Carl Ray FOY and Arthur Berry.
No. 80-K-1814.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Jan. 26, 1981.
Dissenting Opinion Jan. 30, 1981.
On Rehearing July 2, 1981.
Raymond L. Cannon, Indigent Defender Program, Tallulah, for defendants-relators.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., James D. Caldwell, Dist. Atty., Crawford A. Rose, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiffs-respondents.

Opinion:
WATSON, Justice.
Defendants' application for supervisory writs was granted to consider their contention that this prosecution by the State places them twice in jeopardy for the offense of simple burglary.
Defendants, Carl Ray Foy and Arthur Berry, were arrested for breaking into the Tallulah High School. They pleaded guilty in the Tallulah Mayor's court to violation of three city ordinances including Section 12-71 of the City Code, burglary. Each was sentenced to a fine of $100 or thirty days in jail on the burglary charge. Defendants paid the fines.
Subsequently, the State charged defendants with simple burglary of the Tallulah High School in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:62. The trial court denied a motion to quash the informations on the basis of double jeopardy, adopting the State's argument that the Mayor's court did not have jurisdiction over the felony offense of burglary. LSA-Const. 1974, Art. 6 § 9(A)(1) provides that ,![n]o local governmental subdivision shall . . . define and provide for the punishment of a felony. . . ". The trial court concluded that the Legislature's definition of simple burglary as a felony offense had preempted the authority of a local government to punish the same conduct.
LSA-Const. 1974, Art. 1 § 15 provides that "[n]o person shall be twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense.. . ". Multiple punishments for the same offense are prohibited. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). When the same conduct violates two statutory provisions, the offenses are identical for double jeopardy purposes unless each requires proof of an additional fact that the other does not. Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977); Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932); State v. Doughty, 379 So.2d 1088 (La.,1980).
Section 12-71 of the City Code of Tallulah provides that burglary ". . . is the unauthorized entering of any vehicle, watercraft, dwelling or other structure, movable or immovable, with the intent to commit any forcible felony or any theft therein." The ordinance tracks the language of LSA-R.S. 14:62 and therefore defines the same offense as the state law. LSA — C.Cr.P. art. 596; State v. Doughty, supra. The fact that one provision is a city ordinance and the other a state statute does not defeat double jeopardy protection. Waller v. Florida, 397 U.S. 387, 90 S.Ct. 1184, 25 L.Ed.2d 435 (1970).
The State contends that the Mayor's court in Tallulah had no jurisdiction over the offense of burglary, because of LSA — C. Cr.P. art. 595 which provides that "[a] person shall not be considered as having been in jeopardy in a trial in which . . . [t]he court was illegally constituted or lacked jurisdiction . . . ". The article embodies a fundamental principle of double jeopardy law. Grafton v. United States, 206 U.S. 333, 27 S.Ct. 749, 51 L.Ed. 1084 (1907).
LSA-R.S. 33:401, states that:
"The mayor and board of alderman of every municipality shall have the . . . power:
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"(6) To make all police regulations necessary for the preservation of good order and the peace of the municipality; and to prevent injury to, destruction of, or interference with public or private property."
LSA-R.S. 33:441 provides for the establishment of Mayor's courts in municipalities "with jurisdiction over all violations of municipal ordinances," and LSA-R.S. 33:401(A)(32) authorizes punishment for each such violation by a fine of up to $200 or 30 days in jail. ". . . Mayor's courts are courts which have jurisdiction to conduct trials, determine guilt, and impose sentences including fines and imprisonment for breach of municipal ordinances." Sledge v. McGlathery, 324 So.2d 354 at 356 (La.,1975).
LSA-R.S. 33:401(A)(6), supra, and municipal ordinances passed under its authority, and presumed valid. Cf., State v. Skinner, 358 So.2d 280 (La.,1978); State v. Everfield, 342 So.2d 648 (La.,1977). A de fendant in custody for violation of an ordinance enacted by authority of LSA-R.S. 33:401(A)(6) has standing to contest the constitutionality of that statute under LSA-Const. 1974, Art. 6 § 9(A)(1). LSA-C. Cr.P. art. 362. The State does not. State v. Suire, 319 So.2d 347 (La.,1975).
The Mayor's court of Tallulah exercised jurisdiction within its statutory limits. Defendants have paid their fines for violation of a municipal ordinance and they have been discharged from custody. Their prosecution in the Mayor's court has ended. Double jeopardy protection prevents the State from litigating a collateral constitutional question, as a prelude for retrying them under a different statute and punishing them a second time for the same offense. Brown v. Ohio, supra; State v. Doughty, supra.
Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed and the motion to quash is sustained; the charge of simple burglary in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:62 against defendants is dismissed.
REVERSED AND RENDERED.
MARCUS and LEMMON, JJ., dissent and assign reasons.
BLANCHE, J., dissents.
. As in Suire, 319 So.2d 349, n. 2, there is no evidence of a collusive effort to avoid State prosecution.