Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Noreen STEVENSON
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1974-03-25
Citations: 292 So. 2d 488
Docket Number: No. 54131
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Noreen STEVENSON.
Judges: BARHAM, J., dissents with reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 292
Pages: 488–491

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Noreen STEVENSON.
No. 54131.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
March 25, 1974.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jim Garrison, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellant.
John Wilson Reed, New Orleans, for defendant-appellee.
Robert Glass, New Orleans, amicus curiae.

Opinion:
SANDERS, Chief Justice.
The Grand Jury of Orleans Parish indicted the defendant, Noreen Stevenson, for murder. LSA-R.S. 14:30. The defendant filed a motion to quash the general venire, the petit jury venire, and indictment on the ground that women were excluded from jury service in violation of Article 7, Section 41 of the Louisiana Constitution (1921) and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. The Lial court granted the motion to quash. The State reserved a bill of exceptions and appealed. See LSA-C. Cr.P. art. 912, subd. B(1).
In quashing the indictment and jury venire, the trial judge relied upon the recent decision of the federal panel in Healy et al. v. Edwards et al., D.C., 363 F.Supp. 1110 (1973), holding the state constitutional and statutory provision relating to women's exemption from jury service unconstitutional.
The trial court erred in applying the decision of the lower federal court to strike down the state constitutional and statutory provision. As we noted recently in State v. Womack, La., 283 So.2d 708 (1973), the United States Supreme Court is the arbiter of federal constitutional questions for state courts under our dual system. In that case, upholding the women's jury exemption, we stated:
"In Hoyt v. Florida, 368 U.S. 57, 82 S.Ct. 159, 7 L.Ed.2d 118 (1961), the United States Supreme Court rejected an identical contention in upholding the constitutionality of a Florida statute similar to the Louisiana provision under attack here. Following Hoyt v. Florida, supra, we maintained the constitutionality of the exemption in numerous decisions. See, e. g., State v. Enloe, La., 276 So.2d 283 (1973); State v. Curry, 262 La. 280, 263 So.2d 36 (1972); State v. Daniels, 262 La. 475, 263 So.2d 859 (1972); State v. Reese, 250 La. 151, 194 So.2d 729 (1967), cert. den., 389 U.S. 996, 88 S.Ct. 485, 19 L.Ed.2d 495; State v. Comeaux, 252 La. 481, 211 So.2d 620 (1968); State v. Pratt, 255 La. 919, 233 So.2d 883 (1970); State v. Alexander, 255 La. 941, 233 So.2d 891 (1970), reversed on other grounds, 405 U.S. 625, 92 S.Ct. 1221, 31 L.Ed.2d 536; State v. Sinclair, 258 La. 84, 245 So.2d 365 (1971), death sentence vacated on other grounds, 408 U.S. 939, 92 S.Ct. 2871, 33 L.Ed.2d 760; State v. Millsap, 258 La. 883, 248 So.2d 324 (1971); State v. Am-phy, 259 La. 161, 249 So.2d 560 (1971), cert, den., 405 U.S. 1074, 92 S.Ct. 1502, 31 L.Ed.2d 807.
"We note the recent decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in Healy et al. v. Edwards et al., 363 F.Supp. 1110 (1973), holding the Louisiana provision for women's exemption from jury service unconstitutional. Decisions of the lower federal courts, of course, are not binding upon state courts. Under our dual system of courts, the United States Supreme Court is the arbiter of federal constitutional questions. Hence, we will continue to follow its last authoritative expression in Hoyt v. Florida, supra, until that Court has again spoken on the subject."
In this Court, the defendant contends that the Orleans Jury Commission is misapplying the exemption provision by failing to subpoena women whose names appear in the City Directory, used for securing the names of potential jurors. The defense reasons that if women were routinely summoned, some of them might elect to file the declaration for jury service. Defense counsel and the District Attorney stipulated that the 150-member Grand Jury venire had one woman on it but that no woman served on the Grand Jury itself.
The trial judge did not reach this contention, since he posited his ruling on the unconstitutionality of the exemption provisions on their face. However, we find no merit in the contention.
Article 7, Section 41 of the Louisiana Constitution (1921) reads:
"The Legislature shall provide for the election and drawing of competent and intelligent jurors for the trial of civil and criminal cases; provided, however, that no woman shall be drawn for jury service unless she shall have previously filed with the clerk of the District Court a written declaration of her desire to be subject to such service."
Article 402 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure provides:
"A woman shall not be selected for jury service unless she has previously filed with the clerk of court of the parish in which she resides a written decla ration of her desire to be subject to jury service."
We find nothing in the foregoing provisions that requires the Jury Commission to routinely summon women for jury service. The provisions are clear that a woman shall not be selected for jury service, unless she has filed the written declaration with the Clerk of Court. The exemption is automatic. Contrary to defendant's contention, no personal assertion of the exemption is required.
In oral argument, the defense also suggested that women who file their declarations with the Clerk of Court are not being selected for jury service. The record is insufficient to support this contention.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment of the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans is reversed, the motion to quash is overruled, and the case is remanded to that court for further proceedings according to law and consistent with the views herein expressed.
BARHAM, J., dissents with reasons.
TATE, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
CALOGERO, J., concurs and assigns reasons.
. Healy et al. v. Edwards et al., supra, is now pending in the United States Supreme Court and a pronouncement of that court on the issue should he forthcoming at an early date.
. The record shows only that when a woman files her declaration in the Clerk of Court's office, it is prepared in the duplicate.' One copy is retained by the Clerk of Court. The individual is instructed to take the second copy to the office of the Jury Commission, in the same building, where the declarant supplies the necessary information for jury service.