Court Opinion

ID: 4818787
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2021-08-22 01:32:52.976667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:10:57.356901
License: Public Domain

CRICHTON, J.,
would grant and assigns reasons.
hi first note that the record reflects that the trial court fully complied with the requirements of Code of Criminal Procedure article 894.1, and I agree with the trial court that the defendant’s crime warrants a substantial sentence. However, I would grant to consider the retroactive application of what, in my view, is a substantive change in the law to this defendant. The collision in this matter occurred on September 26, 2010. This Court’s decision in State v. Oliphant, 2012-1176 (La.3/19/13), 113 So.3d 165, in which the Court held vehicular homicide to be a crime of violence, was rendered in 2013. Because the decision in Oliphant occurred after the collision, I question whether its holding should apply to the defendant at all. In my opinion, a change in the law to classify vehicular homicide as a “crime of violence” is not retroactive and should only apply prospectively. See, e.g., Massey v. La. Dep’t of Public Safety & Corrections, 2013-2789, 149 So.3d 780. See also State v. Gerald, 2015-K-1370, 157 So.3d 585, 2015 WL 631150.