Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 22 - CORRECTIONS, CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT › Part XV - Public Defender Board › Chapter 19 - Performance Standards for Criminal Defense Representation in Indigent Capital Cases › Section XV-1917 - Performance Standard 8: Post-Verdict Motions and Formal Sentencing

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. Motion for a New
				Trial and Other Post-Verdict Motions
1.
				Counsel should be familiar with the procedures and availability of motions for
				new trial, for arrest of judgment and for a post-verdict judgment of acquittal,
				including the time period for filing such motions, the formal requirements of
				each motion, the evidentiary rules applicable to each motion and the grounds
				that can be raised.
2. A motion for
				new trial should be filed in each case where a death verdict is returned by the
				jury. A motion in arrest of judgment or for a post-verdict judgment of
				acquittal should be filed in each case in which there exists a colorable basis
				for the relief sought to be granted.
3. In preparing the motion for new trial,
				counsel should conduct an intensive and thorough investigation designed to
				identify and develop: evidence of prejudice arising from any adverse rulings of
				the trial court; evidence not discovered during the trial that would likely
				have changed the verdict at either guilt or penalty phase; evidence of
				prejudicial error or defect not discovered before the verdict or judgment; and,
				evidence that would otherwise support an argument that the ends of justice
				would be served by the granting of a new trial.
4. Counsel should utilize all of the
				investigative tools described in these standards in conducting the
				investigation, including the use of fact investigators, mitigation specialists,
				experts, record requests, discovery requests, compulsory process and motions
				practice.
5. Recognizing that the
				post-verdict litigation represents a critical stage of proceedings that
				requires extensive investigation and development of potentially dispositive
				claims:
a. counsel should seek a postponement
				of formal sentencing for a sufficient period to allow adequate investigation
				and development of the motion for new trial or other post-verdict motions;
				and
b. counsel should seek
				additional resources sufficient to allow adequate investigation and development
				of the motion for new trial or other post-verdict motions.
6. In preparing and presenting claims in
				post-verdict motions, counsel should have particular regard to the need to
				fully plead the claims and their factual basis in a manner that will preserve
				the claims for subsequent review. Counsel should request an evidentiary hearing
				on the motion for new trial in order to present new evidence and preserve
				claims for appeal.
7. Counsel
				should prepare post-verdict motions urging that the death penalty is not a
				legally permissible penalty in the circumstances of the case, including that
				the death penalty would be constitutionally excessive, where such an arguments
				are available under existing law, or under a good faith argument for the
				extension, modification, or reversal of existing law.
8. Counsel should review the court record and
				ensure that it is complete and that matters relevant to any future review of
				the case are contained in the record including, for instance, race and gender
				of jurors in the venire, juror questionnaires, jury questions during
				deliberations, and all defense proffers appropriate to preserve any defense
				objections for review.
9. Following
				formal sentencing, counsel shall continue to conduct an intensive investigation
				designed to identify and develop evidence not discovered during the trial that
				would likely have changed the verdict at either guilt or penalty phase in order
				that any available motion for new trial may be filed within one year of the
				verdict or judgment of the trial court.