Opinion ID: 1758925
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The right to resist an unlawful arrest

Text: Louisiana has long held to the rule of law that a citizen has the right to resist an unlawful arrest. State v. Lindsay, 388 So.2d 781 (La.1980); City of New Orleans v. Lyons, 342 So.2d 196 (La.1977). In this state, the right to resist an unlawful arrest is even considered statutory as it has been codified in LSA-R.S. 14:108 and LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 220. Id. This court proclaimed Louisiana's attitude on the right to resist an unlawful arrest in City of Monroe v. Ducas, 203 La. 971, 14 So.2d 781, 784 (1943), stating that: The right of personal liberty is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed to every citizen, and any unlawful interference with it may be resisted. Every person has the right to resist an unlawful arrest; and, in preventing such illegal restraint of his liberty, he may use such force as is necessary. Herein, defendant's right to personal liberty was in competition with the officer's abusive and self-proclaimed power. See City of New Orleans v. Lyons, 342 So.2d at 200. Personal liberty must prevail. Therefore, the price of exposing the officer to retaliatory force should be borne by the officer,and societyin order to protect the personal liberty of a citizen whose conduct violates no law. See Id. To the extent that Officer Taylor wished to be helpful, his deeds are to be applauded. But to take unwarranted advantage of another, under color of being helpful or under color of law is importunately disputatious. In United States v. Moore, 483 F.2d 1361, n. 3 (9th Cir.1973), the federal court quoted the following two passages from Chevigny, The Right to Resist an Unlawful Arrest, 78 Yale L.Rev. 1128 (1969), which epitomize my opinion of the right to resist an unlawful arrest: The right to resist unlawful arrest memorializes one of the principal elements in the heritage of the English revolution: the belief that the will to resist arbitrary authority in a reasonable way is valuable and ought not to be suppressed by the criminal law. In the face of obvious injustice, one ought not to be forced to submit and swallow one's sense of justice. More importantly, it is unconscionable to convict a man for resisting an injustice. This is indeed a value judgment, but the values are fundamental. 78 Yale L.Rev. at 1137-38. The freedom to refuse to obey a patently unlawful arrest is essential to the integrity of a government which purports to be one of laws, and not one of men. Unless, it is desirable to kill the impulse to resist arbitrary authority, the rule that such an arrest is a provocation to resist must remain fundamental. 78 Yale L.Rev. at 1147. Thus, it is my opinion that the officer violated defendant's constitutional right to be left alone and free of unwanted or unwarranted governmental interference; that defendant's conduct did not violate LSA-R.S. 14:103 and, therefore, this defendant merely exercised his constitutional and/or statutory right to resist an unlawful arrest. Under the facts, as I perceive them, the contest of wills should have ended in a draw. No lawful arrest was made. Society's demand for vengeance under these circumstances is egregious. I dissent.