State of Louisiana v. Bryan S. Gibson

• Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
• Decided: March 3, 2021
• Docket: 53,743-KA
• Status: Published

Opinion

Judgment rendered March 3, 2021. Application for rehearing may be filed within the delay allowed by Art. 922, La. C. Cr. P.

No. 53,743-KA

COURT OF APPEAL SECOND CIRCUIT STATE OF LOUISIANA

*****

STATE OF LOUISIANA Appellee

Versus

BRYAN S. GIBSON Appellant

Appealed from the First Judicial District Court for the Parish of Caddo, Louisiana Trial Court No. 354,739

Honorable John D. Mosely, Jr., Judge

LOUISIANA APPELLATE PROJECT Counsel for Appellant By: Peggy J. Sullivan

JAMES E. STEWART, SR. Counsel for Appellee District Attorney

TOMMY J. JOHNSON WILLIAM J. EDWARDS TRENEISHA J. HILL ALEX L. PORUBSKY Assistant District Attorneys

Before STONE, COX, and STEPHENS, JJ. STEPHENS, J.

This criminal appeal arises from the First Judicial District Court,

Parish of Caddo, the Honorable John Mosely, Jr., presiding. Defendant

Bryan S. Gibson was convicted by a non-unanimous jury of manslaughter

and sentenced to 35 years at hard labor. In light of the following reasons, we

vacate Gibson’s conviction and sentence and remand the matter to the trial

court for further proceedings.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On February 22, 2018, Gibson was charged by bill of indictment with

the second-degree murder of Larry Davis,1 a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1.

Gibson entered a plea of not guilty. On June 28, 2019, Gibson filed a

motion to require a unanimous jury verdict; the State filed an objection to

this motion. The motion was denied by the trial court on July 24, 2019. A

jury trial was held, and on September 30, 2019, the jury found Gibson guilty

of the responsive verdict of manslaughter, a violation of La. R.S. 14:31. The

jury was polled; 11 of 12 jurors concurred in the guilty verdict, resulting in a

non-unanimous verdict.

A motion for new trial filed by Gibson on October 18, 2019, was

denied by the trial court on October 28, 2019. On that same date, and

without a waiver of delay, the trial court sentenced Gibson to 35 years at

hard labor. Having been advised of his appeal rights and post-conviction

relief time limits, Gibson filed the instant appeal.

1 The offense occurred on January 3, 2018. DISCUSSION

The sole issue on appeal is the non-unanimous verdict. Gibson asked

this Court to set aside his conviction and sentence and remand his case for

new trial. The State, in its brief, concurred.

In the recent decision of Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. ___, 140 S. Ct.

1390, 206 L. Ed. 2d 583 (2020), the United States Supreme Court held that

the right to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,

incorporated against the states by way of the Fourteenth Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution, requires a unanimous verdict to convict a defendant of the

same offense. The Ramos court further indicated that its ruling may require

retrial of those defendants convicted of felonies by non-unanimous verdicts

whose cases are still pending on direct appeal. Ramos, 140 S. Ct. at 1406.

As the verdict in this case was not unanimous, we hereby vacate the

conviction and sentence, and the case is remanded to the trial court for

further proceedings.

CONCLUSION

For the reasons set forth above, Defendant Bryan S. Gibson’s

conviction and sentence are vacated, and the case is remanded to the trial

court.

VACATED AND REMANDED.