Opinion
No. 2019-KH-02080
08-14-2020
Vincent SMITH v. STATE of Louisiana
Writ application denied.
Johnson, C.J., would grant and docket and assigns reasons.
On Supervisory Writ to the 24th Judicial District Court, Parish of Jefferson
JOHNSON, C.J., would grant and docket and assigns reasons:
I would grant the writ to clarify that the Supreme Court's recent decision in Ramos v. Louisiana , ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 1390, 206 L.Ed.2d 583 (2020) should be applied retroactively to cases on state collateral review. It is time we abandoned our use of Teague v. Lane , 489 U.S. 288, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989) in favor of a retroactivity test that takes into account the harm done by the past use of non-unanimous jury verdicts in Louisiana courts.
Regardless of the words or legal grounds a defendant uses to challenge his conviction, and for the reasons I explain further in State v. Gipson , 19-01815 (La. 06/03/20), 296 So.3d 1051, I believe Ramos should apply to anyone convicted by a non-unanimous jury.