Opinion ID: 1725347
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Question of Expense

Text: Articles 296 and 529.8 of the 1928 Code of Criminal Procedure, it is said, create confusion regarding the parish which should bear the expense of prosecution in this case. Article 296 provides: The clerk of the court to which any cause shall have been thus removed shall, on receipt of the indictment and other papers, enter the cause upon the docket of his court; and it shall be heard, tried and determined in the same manner as if the proceedings had originally been instituted therein. Article 529.8 provides: All expenses incurred in the different parishes of the state and in the city of New Orleans by the arrest, confinement, maintenance and prosecution of persons accused or convicted of crimes, their removal to prison, the pay of witnesses, jurors and all expenses whatever attending criminal proceedings shall be paid by the respective parishes in which the offense charged may have been committed or by the city of New Orleans. The expenses shall be paid by the parish treasurer or by the city treasurer after an account of the expenses shall be duly certified to be correct by the presiding judge and the clerk of court. The fees, salaries, and expenses to be paid shall be fixed and regulated by the parish or city authorities unless otherwise provided by law. We do not share the doubt which has been expressed concerning the meaning of these articles. First, we think it is obvious that when the legislature enacted Article 529.8 it intended thereby to put at rest the confusion which would attend the payment of expenses incurred by several parishes in dealing with the same case. It did this by requiring that the parish where the crime was committed must pay the expense wherever incurred in connection with the case. Logically, this contemplates that the parish where the crime is committed will reimburse other parishes incurring expense in the case. In some measure this legislation would tend to encourage the various parishes to promote salutary policies aimed at suppressing violations of the State's criminal laws. Otherwise they must bear the expense burden wherever incurred incident to the offense committed in their parish. Secondly, we read Article 296 to mean that venue exists in the parish to which the cause has been removed just as venue exists generally in parishes where the crime is committed. Hence all procedural laws are applicable in the parish to which venue has been changed which would be applicable if it were the parish where the crime was committed. What the legislature dealt with in that article was the general effect of a change of venue on the procedural laws governing criminal prosecutions, announcing that the same procedural laws applied to the trial in the parish to which the cause had been removed. It did not purport to change the meaning of Article 529.8 of the Code, which comes later in the text and deals specifically with the expense problem where more than one parish is involved in a criminal case. The meaning we have ascribed to these articles is consonant with that fundamental principle of statutory interpretation which directs that, where conflict or ambiguity exists, special laws shall prevail over general laws. State Through Dept. of Highways v. Macaluso, 235 La. 1019, 106 So.2d 455 (1958); Berteau v. Police Jury of Ascension Parish, 214 La. 1003, 39 So.2d 594 (1949). We conclude, therefore, that the parish of St. Mary must reimburse the parish of East Baton Rouge for the expense attending this case as provided for by Article 529.8. For the reasons assigned, the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, East Baton Rouge Parish, has venue in this matter; the parish of St. Mary shall reimburse the parishes of St. Martin and East Baton Rouge the expense attending this case as provided by Article 529.8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (1928); the decree of the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, East Baton Rouge Parish, rejecting venue herein is reversed and set aside; and this cause is remanded to the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, East Baton Rouge Parish, for further proceedings consistent with this decree and the views herein expressed.