Case Name: STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Shane Joseph DELAHOUSSAYE, Defendant-Relator
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1988-12-29
Citations: 535 So. 2d 1348
Docket Number: No. K88-1390
Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Shane Joseph DELAHOUSSAYE, Defendant-Relator.
Judges: Before GUIDRY, STOKER and YELVERTON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 535
Pages: 1348–1348

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Shane Joseph DELAHOUSSAYE, Defendant-Relator.
No. K88-1390.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.
Dec. 29, 1988.
Shane Joseph Delahoussaye, New Iberia, pro se.
Anne Stevens, City Prosecutor, New Iberia, for Plaintiff-Respondent.
Before GUIDRY, STOKER and YELVERTON, JJ.

Opinion:
ORDER
WRIT GRANTED AND MADE PEREMPTORY:
The Louisiana Supreme Court has recently adopted the position that indigent defendants may never be subjected to confinement in lieu of payment of a fine. State v. Grant, 490 So.2d 272 (La.1986); State v. Barlow, 488 So.2d 180 (La.1986); State v. Bartie, 488 So.2d 180 (La.1986); State v. Pinkney, 488 So.2d 682 (La.1986); State v. Williams, 484 So.2d 662 (La.1986). Also, this circuit has stated that a court cannot impose a fine as a sentence and then automatically convert it into a term of imprisonment solely because the defendant is indigent and cannot pay the fine. State v. Robertson, 517 So.2d 988 (La.App. 3 Cir.1987); State v. Davis, 514 So.2d 517 (La.App. 3 Cir.1987); State v. White, 476 So.2d 1162 (La.App. 3 Cir.1987), citing Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 103 S.Ct. 2064, 76 L.Ed.2d 221 (1983).
Relator's sentence of a fine of $459.00 for various traffic violations and in default of payment serving twenty-one days in the parish prison is an illegal sentence in accordance with the above mentioned jurisprudence. The sentence is amended to delete that portion which imposes time in the parish prison in default of payment of the fines.