State v. Neames

377 So. 2d 1018
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 4, 1980
Docket64044
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 377 So. 2d 1018 (State v. Neames) 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. Neames, 377 So. 2d 1018 (La. 1980).

Opinion

377 So.2d 1018 (1979)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Marion NEAMES.

No. 64044.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

November 1, 1979.
Dissenting Opinion January 4, 1980.

Lemuel E. Hawsey, III, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ossie B. Brown, Dist. Atty., Michael E. Ponder, Kay Kirkpatrick, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.

PER CURIAM.

The principal issue before us is whether a conviction of guilty, once set aside by the trial court, can be reinstated upon the trial court's subsequent conclusion that it had erred in the vacation of the original conviction.

After bench trial, unrepresented by counsel, the defendant was convicted of making harassing telephone calls to his sister and brother-in-law over a period of three months. La.R.S. 14:285(A)(2). He was sentenced on October 13, 1978 to two years in the parish prison.

Subsequently, on November 22, 1978, the trial court set aside this conviction and sentence, found the accused not guilty by reason of insanity, and ordered his commitment to a mental hospital for examination.

The accused, for the first time retaining counsel, then filed a writ of habeas corpus. The writ questioned the legality of the accused's commitment.

At the hearing on the writ, the trial court vacated its order of November 22 (which had vacated the earlier conviction in October). This had the effect of reinstating the earlier conviction and sentence.

The defendant's appeal questions the reinstatement of the original sentence.

I.

The colloquy at the time of the original sentence of October 13, at which at the urging of the trial court the defendant made statements which equivocally asserted an intent to appeal, indicates non-normal statements and attitudes on the part of the defendant. The trial judge indicated concern at that time with the defendant's adamant failure to request a sanity commission and his insistence that, despite mental troubles in the past, he was perfectly competent and sane.

After the sentence, the trial court ex proprio motu issued a rule to amend sentence. The hearing on the rule took place on November 22. The defendant was still unrepresented by counsel.

At this hearing, the conscientious trial judge stated that, based on the pre-sentence *1019 report indicating a medical opinion casting doubt on the defendant's competency, he had questioned another doctor (mentioned by the accused in the sentencing colloquy) and had become aware of a civil commitment hearing which had taken place. In that hearing, three psychiatrists and the coroner had concurred in the view that the accused could not distinguish between right and wrong.

The trial judge concluded: After lengthy conversation with doctors and people associated with the accused, "I have come to the conclusion in fairness and in justice I cannot let your sentence or conviction stand." The trial judge set aside the conviction and sentence based upon the accused's mental incapacity.

II.

The trial court thus concluded that this mental condition had caused the accused to refuse counsel at the trial or for the purported appeal. Because of his mental condition, the accused had likewise failed, despite requests, to take any requisite step to advance the purported appeal.[1]

The trial court noted that it had erroneously failed earlier to notice the accused's earlier mental incapacity. In effect, the trial court held that the accused's waiver of counsel, his failure to raise the defense of not guilty by reason of insanity, and his equivocal assertion of an appeal (which the accused had then refused to take steps to complete), were all ineffectual because of the accused's mental condition. Therefore, because the accused lacked the mental capacity to do so or to retain counsel to do so, the trial court set aside the original conviction and sentence as if the accused through counsel had properly raised these issues through appropriate post-conviction habeas corpus proceedings. See State ex rel. Clark v. Marullo, 352 So.2d 223 (La.1977).

III.

The issues thus posed concern the legality of the trial court's vacation of the initial sentence and the legality of the reinstatement of the sentence upon the habeas hearing, which had sought only the accused's release.

Under our jurisprudence, a trial court's vacation of a conviction, even if beyond its authority, effectively and conclusively invalidates the verdict thus invalidated.[2]State v. Reed, 315 So.2d 703 (La.1975); State Oglesby, 164 La. 329, 113 So. 865 (1927). This jurisprudential rule was adopted to effectuate double jeopardy protections of our state constitution, now La.Const. of 1974, Art. 1, Section 15.[3]

As a consequence, not only are the courts prohibited from resurrecting the vacated verdict under the jurisprudence cited, but likewise the state is barred from further prosecution on the charge. The present defendant is therefore entitled to be discharged, as urged by the habeas corpus writ filed in the present proceedings (questioning the commitment of the accused following the vacation of the original plea).

Decree

Accordingly, the defendant's conviction is reversed and set aside, and the defendant ordered discharged.

*1020 REVERSED; DEFENDANT ORDERED DISCHARGED.

MARCUS, J., dissents.

SUMMERS, C. J., dissents and assigns reasons.

BLANCHE, J., dissents and hands down reasons.

SUMMERS, Chief Justice (dissenting).

Appellant Marion F. Neames, Jr., was charged by bill of information filed on March 15, 1978, with two counts of harassing telephone calls to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hernandez over a period beginning April 24, 1977 and ending July 17, 1977. The offense, a misdemeanor, is defined by Article 285(A)(2) of the Criminal Code as follows:

"A. No person shall:

. . . . .
(2) Make repeated telephone communications anonymously or otherwise in a manner reasonably expected to annoy, abuse, torment, harass, embarrass or offend another, whether or not conversation ensues ...."

After trial on August 1 and 8, 1978, defendant was convicted on both counts and the trial judge ordered a presentence report. Although defendant refused counsel at his trial, the trial judge appointed an attorney to advise and assist him. On October 13, 1978 at the sentence hearing, with defendant and the appointed counsel present, a colloquy developed between the sentencing judge and defendant in which defendant stated that he was being railroaded because one of the judges had imposed an exhorbitant bail bond and the medical doctor at the jail suggested that he was "crazy". This was unreasonable, according to defendant, because, as he said, he worked with about 600 people who thought differently.

At this point the trial judge referred to the sentencing report and said, "A lot of people who know you think you have some problems, people who have your interest at heart, not your enemies." "Like who?", defendant asked, to which the judge replied, "Some of the people you work with." Defendant then asked, "Would you mind telling me who that was?" The trial judge refused.

Thereafter defendant was sentenced "to two years in jail." On defendant's oral motion the trial judge entered an order of appeal on his behalf, defendant having refused counsel. He was released on bail, pending appeal and the attorney assisting him was discharged.

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377 So. 2d 1018, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-neames-la-1980.