State Of Louisiana v. Michael Joseph Brooks

• Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
• Decided: September 17, 2020
• Docket: 2017KA1755
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL

FIRST CIRCUIT

2017 KA 1755R

VERSUS

MICHAEL JOSEPH BROOKS, JR.

Judgment Rendered: STP 17 2020'

On Appeal from the Thirty -Second Judicial District Court In and for the Parish of Terrebonne State of Louisiana

Docket No. 703889

Honorable John R. Walker, Judge Presiding

Joseph L. Waltz, Jr. Counsel for Appellee District Attorney State of Louisiana

Ellen Daigle Doskey Assistant District Attorney Houma, Louisiana

Michael Joseph Brooks, Jr. Defendant/ Appellant Louisiana State Penitentiary In Proper Person Angola, Louisiana

Bertha M. Hillman Counsel for Defendant/ Appellant Louisiana Appellate Project Michael Joseph Brooks, Jr. Covington, Louisiana

BEFORE: WHIPPLE, C. J., McCLENDON., AND HIGGINBOTHAMj, JJ. McCLENDON, J.

Defendant, Michael Joseph Brooks, Jr., was charged by grand jury indictment

with one count of molestation of a juvenile ( under the age of thirteen years), a violation

of LSA- R. S. 14: 81. 2 ( count 1), and two counts of aggravated rape ( of a victim under

the age of thirteen years), violations of LSA- R. S. 14: 42 ( prior to amendment, which re-

designated aggravated rape as first degree rape) ( counts 2 and 3). He entered a plea

of not guilty and, following a jury trial, was found guilty as charged on counts I and 3,

both by eleven -to -one jury verdicts. Defendant was found not guilty on count 2

aggravated rape). Defendant filed a motion for post -verdict judgment of acquittal,

which was denied. On count 1, defendant was sentenced to twenty-five years

imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of

sentence; on count 3, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without benefit of parole,

probation, or suspension of sentence. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

affirmed the sentence for count 1, and as amended, affirmed the sentence for count 3.

State v. Brooks, 17- 1755 ( La.App. 1 Cir. 9/ 24/ 18), 258 So. 3d 944. 1 The Louisiana

Supreme Court subsequently denied writs. State v. Brooks, 18- 1718 ( La. 2/ 25/ 19),

266 So. 3d 289. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari, vacated the

judgment, and remanded the matter for further consideration in light of Ramos v.

Louisiana, 590 U. S. 140 S. Ct- 1390, 206 L. Ed. 2d 583 ( 2020). Brooks v.

Louisiana, U. S. S. Ct. —, 206 L. Ed. 2d 849, 2020 WL 1978928 ( 2020).

PRO SE ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

In a pro se assignment of error in the original opinion, defendant argued the trial

court erred in accepting non -unanimous jury verdiCtS.2

According to defendant, he was denied his due process by the trial court' s

instruction to the jury regarding a non -unanimous verdict. Specifically, defendant

I On appeal, this court found that defendant's arguments challenging the sufficiency of the evidence for both convictions were without merit. The facts of the case and treatment of the assignments of error are in the original opinion,

2 The jury verdicts on both counts I and 3 were eleven to one.

2 contended that LSA- C. Cr. P. art. 782A and the Louisiana Constitution provision for non -

unanimous jury verdicts violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause of

the United States Constitution.

In the recent Ramos decision, 140 S. Ct. at 1397, the United States Supreme

Court overruled Apodaca v. Oregon,3 406 U. S. 404, 92 S. Ct. 1628, 32 L-Ed. 2d 184

1972), and held that the right to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment of the United

States Constitution, incorporated against the States by way of the Fourteenth

Amendment of the United States Constitution, requires a unanimous verdict to convict a

defendant of a serious offense. The Ramos Court further noted that its ruling applied

to those defendants convicted of felonies by non -unanimous verdicts whose cases are

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

Accordingly, defendant's convictions and sentences for molestation of a juvenile

count 1) and aggravated rape ( count 3) are set aside. This matter is remanded to the

trial court for a new trial.

CONVICTIONS AND SENTENCES ON COUNTS 1 AND 3 SET ASIDE; REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL.

3 Oregon' s non -unanimous jury verdict provision of its state constitution was challenged in Apodaca. Johnson v. Louisiana 406 U. S. 356, 92 S. Ct. 1620, 32 L. Ed. 2d 152 ( 1972), decided with Apodaca, upheld Louisiana' s then -existing constitutional and statutory provisions allowing nine -to -three jury verdicts.