STATE OF LOUISIANA v. DUSTIN MCDOWELL (2024)

“All crimes in Louisiana are statutory. There can be no crime which is not defined and denounced by statute.” State v. Trackling, 04-3222, p. 11 (La. 1/19/06), 921 So.2d 79, 85. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 814 does not provide responsive verdicts for domestic abuse battery with child endangerment. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 815 provides that responsive verdicts for crimes not provided in Article 814 are as follows: (1) guilty, (2) guilty of a lesser and included grade of the offense, or (3) not guilty. I find attempted domestic abuse battery with child endangerment is not a cognizable offense, and it is not responsive to the charge. The crime at issue is a battery; an attempted battery is an assault. The remaining elements of domestic abuse with child endangerment do not involve criminal behavior, but identify a specific type of offender and victim, and the presence of a child. Accordingly, I would grant Defendant's writ application and reverse the lower courts’ decisions.

Genovese, J., would grant this writ and the relief requested and assigns the following reasons: