Court Opinion

ID: 9958591
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-09 17:07:12.227883+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:30.772072
License: Public Domain

STATE           OF   LOUISIANA                                                                    NO.        2024       KW    0280

VERSUS

LANDON           KYLE      PALMATURE                                                              APRIL                9,     2024

In    Re:              Landon          Kyle    Palmature,             applying          for       supervisory writs,
                       16th       Judicial          District          Court,         Parish        of        St.        Mary,       No.
                       20- 207349.

BEFORE:               WELCH,          WOLFE,       AND    STROMBERG,             JJ.

         WRIT DENIED.

                                                                 EW

                                                                 TPS

         Welch,            J.,        dissents          and    would       grant       the    writ.            In           order    to
meet        due       process           requirements, "               capital          and    other
                                                                                                        felony cases
must     be          allotted          for    trial ...       on a random or                      rotating basis or
under           some       other       procedure          adopted by the court                           which              does    not
vest        the        district          attorney              with       power      to    choose             the           judge    to
whom        a    particular             case       is    assigned.               See      State         v.    Simpson,              551
So. 2d          1303,      1304 (       La.    1989) (         per    curiam) (         Emphasis             added).                The
district              attorney          has        an    unfettered              right       to    call            a        case    for
trial.               See    La.       Code    Crim.       P.               61.
                                                                 art.
                                                                                     By not         calling                 the    case
for     trial,              the        District                                for
                                                         Attorney                    the      Sixteenth                     Judicial
District             can,        in    essence,          deselect          a    judge      before            whom           the    case
had    been           initially                                allotted.                                           I        find
                                          randomly                                   Accordingly,                                   the
Sixteenth               Judicial          District             Court' s         local      rule,         which              provides
that            criminal              sections          will         be     rotated
                                                                                              annually                  by        three
sections,             violates           relator' s            due    process          rights       as       the        procedure
is    subject
                           to manipulation by the district                                                              See       State
                                                                                           attorney.
v.    Reed,          95- 0648 (        La.    4/   28/ 95),       653      So. 2d      1176 (     per        curiam).

 OURT       OF APPEAL,                FIRST    CIRCUIT

            EPUTY          CLERK OF COURT
                      FOR THE          COURT