State of Louisiana v. Tyrone C Myles

• Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
• Decided: April 29, 2020
• Docket: 2019-KA-0965
• Status: Published

Opinion

STATE OF LOUISIANA * NO. 2019-KA-0965

VERSUS * COURT OF APPEAL

TYRONE C MYLES * FOURTH CIRCUIT

* STATE OF LOUISIANA

*******

APPEAL FROM CRIMINAL DISTRICT COURT ORLEANS PARISH NO. 545-160, SECTION “A” Honorable Laurie A. White, Judge ****** Judge Rosemary Ledet ****** (Court composed of Judge Roland L. Belsome, Judge Rosemary Ledet, Judge Regina Bartholomew-Woods)

Leon Cannizzaro, District Attorney Donna R. Andrieu, Assistant District Attorney Irena Zajickova, Assistant District Attorney DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, ORLEANS PARISH 619 S. White Street New Orleans, LA 70119

COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE/THE STATE OF LOUISIANA

Meghan Harwell Bitoun Louisiana Appellate Project P. O. Box 4252 New Orleans, LA 70178-4252

COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT

VACATED AND REMANDED

APRIL 29, 2020 RML This is a criminal case. The defendant, Tyrone Myles, appeals his conviction RLB RBW and sentence for second-degree murder. For the reasons that follow, we vacate and

remand.

BACKGROUND

On April 4, 2019, Mr. Myles was indicted for the second-degree murder of

Antoine Mr. Brumfield.1 Following a two-day trial, the jury found Mr. Myles

guilty as charged by a vote of ten-to-two. Subsequently, the district court sentenced

Mr. Myles to life imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of parole,

probation, or suspension of sentence. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

Mr. Myles assigns three errors on appeal. His third assignment of error—that

the jury’s non-unanimous verdict is unconstitutional—has merit. See Ramos v.

Louisiana, No. 18-5924, ___ U.S. ___, ___ S.Ct. ___, ___L.Ed.2d ___ (2020),

2020 WL 1906545 (holding that jury verdicts in state felony trials must be

unanimous). Because Mr. Myles’ case is pending on direct review, the Supreme

Court’s decision in Ramos applies here. See Schriro v. Summerlin, 542 U.S. 348,

1 See La. R.S. 14:30.1. Mr. Myles was also indicted for possession of firearm by a felon and pled guilty to that charge before trial. See La. R.S. 14:95.1. He was sentenced as habitual offender to forty years at hard labor. Neither that conviction nor that sentence is before us on appeal.

1 351, 124 S.Ct. 2519, 2522, 159 L.Ed.2d 442 (2004) (observing that “[w]hen a

decision of [the United States Supreme Court] results in a ‘new rule,’ that rule

applies to all criminal cases still pending on direct review”).

DECREE

For the foregoing reasons, the defendant’s conviction and sentence are

vacated and the case is remanded to the district court.