Opinion ID: 1854138
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Louisiana Constitutional Right to Appeal.

Text: Notwithstanding the federal precedent endorsing the state's constitutional right to seek the death penalty in cases in which the defendant's earlier capital case, subsequently reversed on appeal, resulted in a life sentence when the jury was deadlocked at the penalty phase, in State v. Washington, 380 So.2d 64 (La.1980)( Per Curiam ), this Court prohibited the practice as in violation of the right to appeal. As an initial matter, Washington anticipated the United State's Supreme Court's holdings in Bullington and Sattazahn. (We are satisfied that at the federal level, neither the protection against double jeopardy nor the due process clause absolutely bars the state from seeking the death penalty on retrial after appeal of a capital case in which the defendant has received a life sentence.) Id. 380 So.2d at 66. Nonetheless, the Court continued that when a defendant is faced with the possibility that a subsequent jury would sentence him to die, an accused may forego his appeal of a life sentence ... and accept what he otherwise feels is an unjust verdict and punishment. Id. Finding the practice inconsistent with policies underlying the constitutional right to appeal in Louisiana, the Court held that the state may not subject a defendant to a second prospect of death on retrial of a capital case in which he has received a sentence of life imprisonment. Id. 380 So.2d at 67.