Title: City of New Orleans v. Cook
Citation: 191 So. 2d 634, 249 La. 820
Docket Number: N/A
State: Louisiana
Issuer: Louisiana Supreme Court
Date: November 7, 1966

191 So. 2d 634 (1966) 249 La. 820 CITY OF NEW ORLEANS v. Emanuel COOK. No. 48372. Supreme Court of Louisiana. November 7, 1966. *635 Alvin J. Liska, City Atty., Richard C. Seither, City Prosecutor, for relator. George C. Ehmig, New Orleans, for respondent. HAMLIN, Justice. In the exercise of our supervisory jurisdiction (Art. VII, Sec. 10, La.Const. of 1921) we directed Writs of Certiorari, Mandamus, and Prohibition to the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans, in order that we might review its judgment which made peremptory the instant Writ of Habeas Corpus issued out of said court, set aside the conviction and sentence of the defendant, and ordered defendant released from the House of Detention. The record reflects that Emanuel Cook, seventeen years of age, was allegedly arrested on the night of August 7, 1966. On August 8, 1966, defendant and five other boys ranging in age between seventeen and eighteen were charged by affidavits filed in the Second Municipal Court, City of New Orleans, Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana, with violating Ordinance No. 828 M.C.S., Section 42-24,[1] relative to assault on complainant Peter Porretto at about 9:20 P.M. on Sunday, August 7, 1966. After stating that he pleaded not guilty to the above charge and was ready to stand trial, defendant was tried and found guilty on August 8, 1966, and on the same day was sentenced to serve ninety days in the House of Detention. (The five other boys made statements identical to that made by defendant; two received sentences identical to defendant's sentence and charges against the other three were dismissed.) On August 10, 1966, defendant, through counsel, prayed for a new trial. The record does not reflect what disposition was made of the motion, but the brief of the City of New Orleans contains an affidavit of the Honorable Andrew G. Bucaro, Judge of the Second Municipal Court, in which he states: On August 16, 1966, Odey Cook, as parent and guardian of the minor Emanuel Cook, applied to the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, alleging in part: The Writ of Habeas Corpus issued, accompanied by an order directed to Captain Harold E. Theard to show cause on August 19, 1966, why he was holding the defendant. The Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans rendered the instant judgment, for which the following reasons were assigned: Evidence was neither heard nor taken when the rule to show cause was heard in the Criminal District Court. Counsel for the City of New Orleans contends that the Sixth Amendment's (U.S. Constitution) right-to-counsel doctrine in "serious felonies," extended to state courts by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in the case of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S. Ct. 792, 9 L. Ed. 2d 799, does not apply to violations of Municipal Ordinances of the City of New Orleans, State of Louisiana. Counsel for defendant contends that the judgment of the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans should be affirmed. The question posed is whether defendant suffered a deprivation of alleged constitutional rights in the Second Municipal Court. Cf. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S. Ct. 792, 9 L. Ed. 2d 799; Escobedo v. State of Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S. Ct. 1758, 12 L. Ed. 2d 977; Tehan v. United States, etc., 382 U.S. 406, 86 S. Ct. 459, 15 L. Ed. 2d 453; Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Tellier, 383 U.S. 687, 86 S. Ct. 1118, 16 L. Ed. 2d 185; Westbrook v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 150, 86 S. Ct. 1320, 16 L. Ed. 2d 429; Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694. Defendant was charged with the violation of a municipal ordinance. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced in a municipal court. In the very recent case of City of New Orleans v. Adjmi, 249 La. 346, 186 So. 2d 616, we held that those charged with violating municipal ordinances are not entitled to the same constitutional protection as those charged under state statutes. We stated, "The reason is that violations of municipal ordinances are not, usually and properly, regarded as crimes, and trials for violations of municipal ordinances are not regarded as criminal prosecutions." We concluded with the well established rule that "violations of municipal ordinances are not to be regarded in the same manner as violations of state criminal laws." The case of Winters v. Beck (Arkansas Supreme Court), 397 S.W.2d 364, rehearing denied January 24, 1966, involved the identical legal issue herein presented.[2]*638 The Arkansas Supreme Court held that Gideon v. Wainwright, supra, was not applicable to a prosecution under a Little Rock municipal ordinance in a Little Rock municipal court, and that in such a prosecution the services of an attorney were not required at all. The United States Supreme Court on Monday, October 17, 1966, denied the petition for a Writ of Certiorari. In the instant case, it has not been shown by competent and legal evidence that defendant was held incommunicado and thus unable to secure counsel. However, taking the allegations of the petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, supra, as true, we conclude that defendant was not deprived of any constitutional rights to which he is entitled under the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Louisiana. Our appreciation of the rulings of the United States Supreme Court is that the provision of the Sixth Amendment guaranteeing an accused the assistance of counsel for his defense is not extended under due process (Fourteenth Amendment) to an accused charged with the violation of a municipal ordinance and tried in a municipal court. For the reasons assigned, the writs herein issued are made peremptory. The judgment of the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans is reversed and set aside, and the judgment of the Second Municipal Court, City of New Orleans, Parish of Orleans, is reinstated. [1] Sec. 42-24, Disturbing Public Peace, provides: "No person shall disturb the public peace by assaulting or beating another or by threatening to do bodily harm to another." [2] "On the 13th day of May, 1965, petitioner, Robert Winters, was convicted in the Little Rock Municipal Court of immorality, a misdemeanor under the provisions of Little Rock Ordinance 25-121. His punishment was fixed at 30 days in jail and a fine of $254.00, which included the costs. He has filed a petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, or alternatively for a Writ of Error Coram Nobis. He alleges that he is indigent and did not have benefit of counsel at his trial in the Municipal Court. He also states that he has sought post conviction relief, to no avail, in both the Little Rock Municipal Court and in the Pulaski Circuit Court. "In his petition here, petitioner alleges that his constitutional rights were violated because no lawyer was appointed to defend him on the misdemeanor charge in Little Rock Municipal Court. When his case was called for trial, he did not indicate that he wanted an attorney and he did not ask that the case be continued. We have held that no duty is imposed upon the trial court to appoint counsel for a defendant charged with a misdemeanor. Kirkwood v. State, 199 Ark. 879, 136 S.W.2d 174; Wimberly v. State, 214 Ark. 930, 218 S.W.2d 730. "On the strength of Ark.Stat.Ann. § 43-1203 (Repl.1964), the courts of this State have always appointed attorneys to represent indigent defendants in felony cases. Thousands of misdemeanor cases are tried in the Municipal Courts of Pulaski County annually. In most of these cases the defendants are not represented by counsel. But petitioner contends that on the strength of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S. Ct. 792, 9 L. Ed. 2d 799, it is now the duty of the courts to appoint attorneys for indigents in misdemeanor cases. We do not so construe Wainwright. There, the court was dealing with a felony case where the defendant had been sentenced to five years in the penitentiary. Here, the petitioner, Winters, had 30 days to take an appeal to the Circuit Court. He did not appeal, although the procedure for appealing from the Municipal Court is very simple. The services of an attorney are not required at all. "Petition denied."