STATE v. CALLOWAY (2020)

Defendant, Joshua Calloway, was charged by bill of indictment with second degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. He pled not guilty. After a trial by jury, defendant was found guilty as charged. The trial court imposed a term of life imprisonment at hard labor, to be served without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. Defendant now appeals.¹ In his sole assignment of error, defendant challenges his conviction by a non-unanimous jury verdict.

In the recent decision of Ramos v. Louisiana, ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S.Ct. 1390, 1397, 206 L.Ed.2d 583 (2020), the United States Supreme Court overruled Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U.S. 404, 92 S.Ct. 1628, 32 L.Ed.2d 184 (1972), 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. 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, 2020 WL, at *13.

Accordingly, defendant's conviction and sentence are set aside, and the case is remanded for a new trial.

CONVICTION AND SENTENCE SET ASIDE, REMANDED TO TRIAL COURT FOR NEW TRIAL.

FOOTNOTES

1.   Due to the United States Supreme Court's grant of certiorari in Ramos v. Louisiana, ––– U.S. ––––, 139 S.Ct. 1318, 203 L.Ed.2d 563 (2019), and because the constitutionality of defendant's conviction by a non-unanimous jury verdict is the sole assignment of error on appeal, this court stayed the instant matter until a ruling was issued in Ramos. See State v. Calloway, 2018-1724 (La. App. 1st Cir. 4/10/19) (unpublished order).

THERIOT, J.