Case Name: STATE EX REL. Tara LANCASTER v. STATE of Louisiana
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2017-04-07
Citations: 215 So. 3d 219
Docket Number: No. 2015-KH-2150
Parties: STATE EX REL. Tara LANCASTER v. STATE of Louisiana
Judges: 
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 215
Pages: 219–220

Head Matter:
STATE EX REL. Tara LANCASTER v. STATE of Louisiana
No. 2015-KH-2150
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
04/07/2017

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 her 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 claim has now been fully litigated in accord with La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.6, and this denial is final. Hereafter, unless she can show that one of the narrow exceptions authorizing the filing of a successive application applies, relator has exhausted her right to state collateral review. The district court is ordered to record a minute entry consistent with this per curiam.