Opinion
2018 KA 0427 R
09-30-2020
STATE of Louisiana v. Kendell Shanner CAGLER
Warren L. Montgomery, District Attorney, Matthew Caplan, Assistant District Attorney, Covington, Louisiana, Attorneys for Appellee, State of Louisiana Katherine M. Franks, Louisiana Appellate Project, Madisonville, Louisiana, Attorney for Appellant Defendant–Kendell Shannon Cagler
Warren L. Montgomery, District Attorney, Matthew Caplan, Assistant District Attorney, Covington, Louisiana, Attorneys for Appellee, State of Louisiana
Katherine M. Franks, Louisiana Appellate Project, Madisonville, Louisiana, Attorney for Appellant Defendant–Kendell Shannon Cagler
BEFORE:WELCH, CHUTZ, AND LANIER, JJ.
WELCH, J.
The State of Louisiana charged the defendant, Kendell Shanner Cagler, by an amended bill of information with one count of armed robbery with a firearm, a violation of La. R.S. 14: 64 and 14:64.3 (count I); one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a violation of La. R.S. 14:95.1 (count II); and one count of aggravated second degree battery, a violation of La. R.S. 14:34.7 (count III). Following a jury trial, a non-unanimous jury found the defendant guilty as charged on counts I and II, and not guilty on count III. On count I, the trial court sentenced the defendant to imprisonment at hard labor for sixty years, with an additional five-year imprisonment at hard labor pursuant to La. R.S. 14:64.3, the firearm enhancement statute. On count II, the trial court sentenced the defendant to imprisonment at hard labor for twenty years. The trial court ordered the defendant's sentences on both counts without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The trial court gave the defendant credit for time served. The trial court subsequently adjudicated the defendant a fourth-felony habitual offender and resentenced him on count I to life imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
This court affirmed the defendant's convictions and sentences on appeal. See State v. Cagler , 2018-0427 (La. App. 1st Cir. 11/7/18), 2018 WL 5876878 unpublished). However, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted the defendant's writ application and remanded the case to this court "for further proceedings and to conduct a new error patent review in light of Ramos v. Louisiana , ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 1390, 206 L. Ed. 2d 583 (2020) [,]" as the defendant's case was not yet final, but still pending on direct review. See State v. Cagier , 2018-02015 (La. 6/3/20), 296 So. 3d 1017 (per curiam ) (citing Griffith v. Kentucky , 479 U.S. 314, 328, 107 S. Ct. 708, 716, 93 L. Ed. 2d 649 (1987) ).
In Ramos , the United States Supreme Court overruled Apodaca v. Oregon and held that the right to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution, incorporated against the States by way of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, requires a unanimous verdict to convict a defendant of a serious offense. Ramos , 140 S. Ct. at 1397. The Ramos Court further noted that its ruling applied to those defendants convicted of felonies by non-unanimous verdicts whose cases are still pending on direct appeal. Ramos , 140 S. Ct. at 1406. Accordingly, the defendant's convictions and sentences are vacated, and we remand this case for a new trial.
Oregon's non-unanimous jury verdict provision of its state constitution was challenged in Apodaca v. Oregon , 406 U. S. 404, 412- 13, 92 S. Ct. 1628, 1634, 32 L. Ed. 2d 184 (1972). Johnson v. Louisiana , 406 U. S. 356, 92 S. Ct. 1620, 32 L. Ed. 2d 152 (1972), decided with Apodaca, upheld Louisianas then-existing constitutional and statutory provisions allowing nine-to-three jury verdicts in criminal cases.
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DECREE
In light of Ramos v. Louisiana , ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 1390, 206 L. Ed. 2d 583 (2020), we vacate the defendant's convictions and sentences and remand this matter for a new trial.