Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Chadward Channell WELCH
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2016-11-15
Citations: 205 So. 3d 907
Docket Number: No. 2016-KP-0248
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Chadward Channell WELCH
Judges: 
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 205
Pages: 907–907

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Chadward Channell WELCH
No. 2016-KP-0248
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
11/15/2016

Opinion:
PER CURIAM:
|, Denied. Relator's sentencing claim is not cognizable on collateral review. La. C.Cr.P. art. 930.3; State ex rel. Melinie v. State, 93-1380 (La. 1/12/96), 665 So.2d 1172; see also State v. Cotton, 09-2397 (La. 10/15/10), 45 So.3d 1030; State v. Thomas, 08-2912 (La. 10/16/09), 19 So.3d 466.
Relator has now fully litigated his application for post-conviction relief in state court. Similar to federal habeas relief, see 28 U.S.C. § 2244, Louisiana post-conviction procedure envisions the filing of a second or successive application only under the narrow circumstances provided in La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.4 and within the limitations period as set out in La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.8. Notably, the Legislature in 2013 La. Acts 251 amended that article to make the procedural bars against successive filings mandatory. Relator's claims have now been fully litigated in accord with La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.6, and this denial is final. Hereafter, unless he can show that one of the narrow exceptions authorizing the filing of a successive application applies, relator has exhausted his right to state collateral review. The District Court is ordered to record a minute entry consistent with this per curiam.