State v. Lawson

338 So. 2d 627
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedOctober 6, 1976
Docket57730
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 338 So. 2d 627 (State v. Lawson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lawson, 338 So. 2d 627 (La. 1976).

Opinion

338 So.2d 627 (1976)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Isaac LAWSON, Jr., Appellant.

No. 57730.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

October 6, 1976.
Rehearing Denied November 5, 1976.

*628 John M. Lawrence, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise S. Korns, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

TATE, Justice.

The defendant Lawson was convicted of manslaughter, La.R.S. 14:31, and sentenced to fourteen years at hard labor. The conviction resulted from a second trial, since an earlier trial had been ended by a court-declared mistrial.

The principal contention on the present appeal is that the present re-trial constituted double jeopardy in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights. He argues that therefore the present conviction must be reversed and any (re)prosecution on the charge barred.

Context Facts

The defendant is charged with killing Evelyn Bass.

She was the common-law wife of Jefferson Barber. Barber had earlier slapped Lawson's common-law wife (Dorothy Robinson), following which the defendant Lawson came to Barber's home armed with a pistol.

The defendant Lawson shot Mrs. Bass when she shielded her husband with her body. She subsequently died. The chief *629 defense on the second (or present) trial[1] was to cast doubt on the veracity of Barber, the only eyewitness, on the basis of his prior convictions and of his perjury at the first trial in denying such convictions.[2]

The first trial ended when, after conference with the prosecutor and the defense attorney, the court declared a mistrial. The incident occurred during the state's direct examination of its rebuttal witness, Mrs. Dorothy Robinson, the common-law wife of the defendant. She was asked: "Are you aware that your husband is convicted of manslaughter?"

At this point, the defense counsel immediately objected: "Hold it. No. He's been admonished."[3] The witness never answered.

Legal Principles Applicable

Both state and federal constitutions prohibit the government from twice placing a person in jeopardy for the same offense. La.Const. of 1974, Art. 1, Section 15; United States Constitution, Fifth Amendment. Enforcing the constitutional guarantee, and more specifically barring the state from re-trying an individual for the same offense, the Louisiana legislature has enacted Article 591 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure:

"No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of life or liberty for the same offense, except, when on his own motion, a new trial has been granted or judgment has been arrested, or where there has been a mistrial legally ordered under the provisions of Article 775 or ordered with the express consent of the defendant."

The issue before us primarily concerns whether the present is "a mistrial legally ordered under the provisions of Article 775" of the Code (which we will quote below).

The constitutional protection against double jeopardy bars repeated prosecutions of an accused for the same offense, as well as repeated convictions and multiple punishments for it. Therefore, a mistrial declared by the trial court without the consent of the defendant will ordinarily bar further prosecution of him for the same criminal conduct. State v. Birabent, 305 So.2d 448 (La.1975); United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 91 S.Ct. 547, 27 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971), Noted, 32 La.L.Rev. 145 (1971).[4]

*630 This rule is subject to limited exceptions, where the court-ordered mistrial is regarded as justified in the interests of the accused or as required by physical or legal necessity. See Note, 32 La.L.Rev. 145 (1971) and Official Revision Comments (b) and (c), Article 775 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure. As these sources note, while the Louisiana and federal criteria are generally congruent, nevertheless the federal constitutional test justifying a mistrial (and thus not barring re-trial) is more general and in some respects broader, than is the more specific and somewhat more limited conditions provided by Louisiana's constitution and statutory law by which Louisiana trial courts may justifiably declare mistrials without the consent of the defendant.

(1)

For purposes of federal constitutional review, the declaration of a mistrial will not bar re-trial if it is dictated under restricted circumstances by the "manifest necessity" to do so in the interest of justice. Illinois v. Sommerville, 410 U.S. 458, 93 S.Ct. 1066, 35 L.Ed.2d 425 (1973); United States v. Perez, 9 Wheat. (22 U.S.) 579, 6 L.Ed. 165 (1824). As Sommerville notes, 410 U.S. 464, 93 S.Ct. 1070: "A trial judge properly exercises his discretion to declare a mistrial if an impartial verdict cannot be reached, or if a verdict of conviction could be reached but would have to be reversed on appeal due to an obvious procedural error in the trial."

The mistrial here ordered met this test, and the federal constitution does not bar re-prosecution as double jeopardy: The improper reference by the prosecutor as to an unrelated crime is regarded as so prejudicial to an accused as to mandate mistrial, if he moves for it. La.C.Cr.P. art. 770(3). The reference prohibited includes not only a prosecutorial statement but also suggestive prosecutorial question. State v. Meshell, 332 So.2d 767 (La.1976).

Under these circumstances, as we read the federal authorities, the trial court had reasonable grounds to conclude that since, after the prejudicial comment, an impartial trial could not be had, a manifest necessity existed for it to declare a mistrial. We are unable to find an abuse of its discretion to do so, insofar as permitted by federal constitutional principles relating to double jeopardy.

(2)

Nevertheless, the trial court's authority to declare a mistrial is, under the present circumstances, more limited under Louisiana state law. By the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure, our legislature has placed specific statutory limitations upon the trial court's right to declare a mistrial without the consent of the defendant. Article 591, quoted above in the opinion, then permits re-trial without double jeopardy only where, in the first trial, the mistrial was "legally ordered under the provisions of Article 775".

Article 775 notes only five specified situations in which the trial court may declare a mistrial upon its own motion.[5] Of these, arguably applicable to the present issue is that provided by 775(3): "A mistrial may be ordered, and in a jury case the jury dismissed, when: * * * There is a legal defect in the proceedings which would *631 make any judgment entered upon a verdict reversible as a matter of law. * * *"

Official Revision Comment (c) to this article specifically notes the article's intent to reject the federal "general test" of "manifest necessity" in favor of state criteria authorizing the trial court to declare a mistrial on its own motion to the five situations specified by the article.

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338 So. 2d 627, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lawson-la-1976.