State v. Washington

900 So. 2d 1072, 2005 WL 896442
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided April 6, 2005·No. 2005-K-0035·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

900 So.2d 1072 (2005)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Brent WASHINGTON.

No. 2005-K-0035.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

April 6, 2005.

*1074 Arcenious F. Armond, Jr., Stacey E. Stringer, A.F. Armond, Jr. & Associates, Gretna, LA, for Defendant/Relator.

(Court composed of Judge DENNIS R. BAGNERIS, SR., Judge MICHAEL E. KIRBY, and Judge TERRI F. LOVE).

*1073 DENNIS R. BAGNERIS, SR., Judge.

On April 8, 1982, the defendant was indicted for two counts of armed robbery, violations of La. R.S. 14:64, one count of aggravated rape, a violation of La. R.S. 14:42, and one count of crime against nature, a violation of La. R.S. 14:89.1. On March 2, 1983, a jury found him guilty as charged. A joint motion for a new trial was granted with respect to the aggravated crime against nature charge only,[1] and the State entered a nolle prosequi as to that count. On the remaining counts, on June 29, 1983 the district court sentenced relator to serve life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for aggravated rape, and thirty years at hard labor for each of the two armed robberies. The sentences are to run concurrently. This Court affirmed the rape conviction and sentence. State v. Brent Washington, KA-1812, unpub. (La. App. 4 Cir. 12/10/84). Relator did not appeal the armed robbery convictions and sentences.

The defendant has filed a number of writ applications in this Court and the Louisiana Supreme Court.[2] In pro se writ 95-K-1918, relator argued that the trial court had not ruled on his application for post conviction relief. On October 23, 1995 this Court denied the writ application. In pro se writ 96-K-1446 relator sought review of the denial of his application for post conviction relief at issue in writ 95-K-1918. *1075 On August 28, 1996 this Court denied the writ application. The Louisiana Supreme Court denied writs and reconsideration. State v. Washington, 96-2479 (La.9/19//97), 701 So.2d 150, and (La.10/31/97), 703 So.2d 6.

Relator then filed for a writ of habeas corpus in U.S. district court. The district court found the application was time barred, Washington v. Cain, 98-5584, unpub. (E.D.La.11/19/98), but the U.S. Fifth Circuit vacated the district court's decision and held that the petition was timely. Washington v. Cain, 98-31309, unpub. (5th Cir.5/3/00). On remand the district court dismissed the petition. Washington v. Cain, 98-0584, unpub. (E.D.La. 6/27/00).

According to the present writ application, defense counsel filed an application for post conviction relief in June 2004, which was denied on November 10, 2004.

DISCUSSION

The relator through counsel argues that the trial court erred by denying his application for post conviction relief. He raises eight claims: (1) the indictment is invalid because the system for selecting grand jury members in Orleans Parish is unconstitutional per se, or alternatively, susceptible to abuse so as to deny the relator his right to equal protection and due process of law by systemically excluding African-Americans from service on the grand jury; (2) the indictment is invalid because the grand jurors were selected pursuant to unconstitutional local laws; (3) the procedural bar of Deloch v. Whitley, 96-1901 (La.11/22/06), 684 So.2d 349, cannot withstand judicial scrutiny; (4) counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to quash the indictment; (5) the use of an erroneous reasonable doubt jury instruction diluted the standard of proof below the constitutional minimum; (6) the defective reasonable doubt instruction was a structural error, which requires vacating his conviction even in the absence of a contemporaneous objection; (7) the Cage claim is timely under La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.8(A)(2) because Humphrey v. Cain, 138 F.3d 552 (5th Cir.1998) (en banc), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 935, 119 S.Ct. 348 and 119 S.Ct. 365 (1998), first held that Cage was retroactive; and (8) the present method of transferring a juvenile for adult prosecution violates the Louisiana Constitution and the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

THE HEARING

On November 10, 2004 a number of cases were involved in the hearing. Brent Washington's case number, 288-737, is listed as one of the six cases. The State moved for summary dismissals because the applications for post conviction relief were untimely under La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.8. After discussing the Laugand case and several side issues, the State again argued that the applications should be dismissed (except Laugand) because pretrial motions to quash were not filed on the grand jury issue, citing to Deloch v. Whitley, 684 So.2d at 349. The court asked counsel if he were arguing that Deloch had been overruled. Defense counsel argued that the case upon which Deloch (which he argued should only apply to equal protection cases) was based, Francis v. Henderson, 425 U.S. 536, 96 S.Ct. 1708, 48 L.Ed.2d 149 (1976), had been overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, but noted that the Louisiana Supreme Court continues to use Deloch as a procedural bar for cases involving both equal protection and due process. The State countered that Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 119 S.Ct. 1827, 144 L.Ed.2d 35 (1999), appeared to be a case involving a federal conviction, and state procedural bars could not be overruled.

*1076 The trial court concluded: "All these applications are denied. The State's objection that these are procedurally and time barred is well founded."

CLAIMS 1, 2, 3, AND 4

By his first claim the relator contended that the indictment was invalid because the system by which grand jury members were selected in Orleans Parish at the time the indictment was returned unconstitutionally excluded African-Americans. By his second claim he argued that the indictment was invalid because it was returned by grand jurors selected pursuant to statutes applicable only to Orleans Parish, which were later found to be unconstitutional local laws by State v. Dilosa, 2002-2222 (La.6/27/03), 848 So.2d 546. Although the trial court concluded that all the claims were time-barred, counsel claimed that the application was filed in June 2004. If the application had been filed before June 27, 2004, the claims arguably stemming from Dilosa could be considered timely filed.[3]

The relator conceded that he did not file a pretrial motion to quash the indictment. The failure to file a motion to quash constitutes a bar to relief. In State v. Bradford, XXXX-XXXX, p. 9 (La.App. 4 Cir. 4/23/04), 846 So.2d 880, 887, writ denied, XXXX-XXXX (La.11/26/03), 860 So.2d 1133, this Court stated:

In Deloch v. Whitley, 96-1901 (La.11/22/96), 684 So.2d 349, the Louisiana Supreme Court made clear that an equal protection claim based upon discriminatory selection of the grand jury foreman is barred if the defendant fails to file a pretrial motion to quash saying:
All equal protection claims arising out of the selection or composition of grand juries in Louisiana remain subject to this state's procedural requirements. Francis v. Henderson,

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State v. Washington, 900 So. 2d 1072, 2005 WL 896442 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

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