Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

391 So. 2d 1180

State v. Bernard

Supreme Court of Louisiana

Decided December 23, 1980

Supreme Court of Louisiana · decided 1980-12-23

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently May 1985

1 district ·

Relies on Burch v. State of Louisiana · Brown v. Louisiana

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1980-12-23

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

PER CURIAM.

¶1Defendant Albert Bernard was charged by bill of information with simple burglary, a violation of La.R.S. 14:62. On January 24, 1979, he was tried before a six person jury and convicted by a vote of five to one. Thereafter, defendant was sentenced as a second felony offender under the provisions of La.R.S. 15:529.1 to serve six years at hard labor. On appeal he urges six assignments of error, one of which relates to the less than unanimous verdict.

¶2Supplemental Assignment of Error No. 4

¶3By this assignment defendant contends that the 5-1 verdict returned in this case was unlawful.

¶4In Burch v. Louisiana, 441 U.S. 130, 99 S.Ct. 1623, 60 L.Ed.2d 96 (1979), the Supreme Court concluded that conviction by only five members of a six-member jury raised such doubts as to the jury’s representation of the true sense of the community as to violate the Sixth Amendment guarantee of trial by jury. In Brown v. Louisiana, 447 U.S. 323, 100 S.Ct. 2214, 65 L.Ed.2d 159 (1980), the Court determined that the rule of Burchwas fundamental to the integrity of the fact-finding process, and thus required retroactive application, at least to cases still pending on direct review. (See, Powell, J., concurring opinion).

¶5Accordingly, defendant’s conviction and sentence are reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings.

/391/so2d/1180 · .json · Public domain