Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Wilbert RIDEAU
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2001-11-29
Citations: 802 So. 2d 1280
Docket Number: No. 2001-KK-3146
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Wilbert RIDEAU.
Judges: KNOLL, J., dissented and assigned reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 802
Pages: 1280–1281

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Wilbert RIDEAU.
No. 2001-KK-3146.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Nov. 29, 2001.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM
Defendant has filed a writ of certiorari to this court claiming that the method of allotment of judges in the Fourteenth Judicial District Court in capital cases can be improperly influenced by the District Attorney. We find merit in the application.
Because the District Attorney has the ability, by process of elimination, to know the final judge in the pool to be assigned the next numbered capital case, and because the district attorney has the right to assign the case number in capital cases when indictments are handed down, in this case the system currently in use in the Fourteenth Judicial District Court violates the principles we adopted in State v. Simpson, 551 So.2d 1303 (La.1989).
Accordingly, defendant's application for relief as to the manner of allotment of the trial judge in his case is granted. The rulings of the lower courts are set aside and the case is remanded to the trial court with instructions that all judges in Fourteenth Judicial District be put into the capital allotment pool and this case be assigned at random by the Clerk of Court to the judge whose number is randomly 12drawn from the pool.
KNOLL, J., dissented and assigned reasons.
TRAYLOR, J., recused.
Retired Judge Robert L. Lobrano, assigned as Justice Pro Tempore, participating in the decision.